Since our launch two weeks ago, we’ve received a number of public and private inquiries about our reasons for moving our Star Trek Re-Watch to The Viewscreen. We probably should have addressed the topic earlier and we’re sorry for the confusion and concern that arose as a result.
We wish we could say it was because of a bold desire to strike out on our own, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Just after we completed Season 2, we received a new blogger agreement from Tor.com. Without getting too specific, it asserted a view of our intellectual property that we weren’t comfortable with. We presented our concerns but alas, the new contract was non-negotiable, so we reluctantly chose to resign as bloggers.
The rights associated with our work are as important to us as the work itself. We decided to launch our own site and release all of our writing under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. Likewise, we’re using the open-source platform WordPress with the Arras theme, as designed and modified by Torie.
We always planned to finish the series we began over a year and a half ago. As for the continuation of the re-watch on Tor.com, we were as surprised as many of you were. It is of course their right to do so and we wish the new bloggers well.
To those of you who have found us here: thank you. This is now solely a labor of love. It means a great deal that so many of you enjoy our little project and we’re delighted to share it with you.
You two are the one and only, inimitable Star Trek Rewatch, and you’re thoroughly awesome. Thanks for the great times. I feel like I’m sitting in a pub with a bunch of aging (and not-so-aged) fans, chattering about things that truly matter (as opposed to what the Government’s planning on doing to us, which is simply a nightmare from which I hope to soon awaken…).
Aha! Thanks for letting us know. I’ve become a strict devotee of your re-watch, and look forward to whatever you’ve got planned for after the pain of S3 is past. :)
@ 1 NomadUK
You’re making me blush! Thank you so much. The real praise goes to Star Trek for consistently giving us stories about things that truly matter–people and ideas that are big enough to struggle with, question, and love.
If you’re ever in New York we will totally make the pub thing happen.
@ 2 CatieCat
Thank you so much! We are so glad to have you and I always look forward to your comments.
Torie@3: If you’re ever in New York we will totally make the pub thing happen.
It will be the high point of any trip I make there. And if either of you find yourselves in or near Oxford, I’ll show you what real beer tastes like.
@1 NomadUK @2 CaitieCait
Thanks, you two! I look forward to our discussions every week, and I expect we’re going to need you more than ever to get through the rest of this season.
@4 NomadUK
That’s a definite possibility for me. I have been meaning to get back over to the UK for quite some time, and now I actually have some friends there who I can hopefully impose on to make it more affordable.
I’m glad I found you guys again! I tried reading That Other Rewatch, but it’s just not the same. You, Torie and Eugene, are much funnier and much more insightful. (Who else would have come up with the idea of space douches and half-naked man wrestling?) So keep up the good work. Reading your posts is one of the highlights of my week!
@6 trekkiechick
Thanks! It wasn’t the same without you too. :)
@ 6 trekkiechick
We’re so glad you found us! And yes, well, we call ’em like we see ’em. Thank you for the kind words and hopefully we’ll see you around here often. :)
I tried reading That Other Rewatch, but it’s just not the same.
I see what you did there.
Maybe a Star Trek rewwatch meet-up at the next WorldCon
@ 10 bobsandiego
That’s a great idea! But Worldcons are usually much too expensive for me… I guess we’ll see how it works out next year in Reno. If they’ve re-opened The Star Trek Experience by then, I will definitely find a way to make it out there!
@11 torie
I hear you. I have never attended a Worldcon without a roommate of some sorts to bring down the costs. (I’ve missed the last two, grumble grumbler, grumble.) Reno is driving distance and I never miss a worldcon that is that close.
Any west cost/LA re-watchers here?
I’d always wondered what happened. Thanks for the explanation.
Now I’m doubly bummed I haven’t read this post yet because I’ve been in NYC about four times since this post was published. Beers with cool other Star Trek geeks would be tres awesome.
Well if you ever come by again…! I’m still in NYC, though Eugene has since moved to Philadelphia. The eastern seaboard is pretty close together, though. I wish we could do a re-watch meetup globally! Someday…
Torie:
I’m certain to be coming back to NYC. I might even wind up moving back at some point in the next few months depending on how the winds of fate blow. I’ll be sure to comment on it when it happens. I’m always walking past the Flatiron building and regretting that I don’t actually know any of the people I “know” online.
@15 Toryx
I’ll come back to NYC to hang out with you! Especially if it’s over a weekend.
I’m going to meet at least some of you in person one day, and I’m looking forward to it! But what will we talk about? :P
Eugene @ 16:
I’ll be sure to give you plenty of notice the next time I’m in town then!
I think we’d have to spend at least 15 minutes on why they didn’t bring up the IDIC thing more than once, even though it was such a clear (yet clever) marketing ploy.
I wonder if Roddenberry actually made any money on that?
@17 Toryx
I don’t know about the IDIC pin in particular, but Roddenberry’s Star Trek memorabilia company, now known as Lincoln Enterprises, did well enough, I imagine. I do wonder how prevalent that kind of product placement was back then, given how commonplace it is now. I know cartoons in particular, at least in the 80s, were little more than TV ads for cartoon lines. I suppose this was a precursor to that.