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UPDATE: Lawyers from Sony and NBC have contacted me demanding that I cease production on an Inspector Spacetime web series. Though I firmly believe the law would be on my side in producing this parody, I have no wish or ability to fight a show that I love as much as "Community." I had hoped that they would embrace what is essentially a fan film and appreciate the value it adds to the character, and the audience that we would bring who are finding "Community" for the first time through this character, but alas, that's not the case. So, I will be removing all references to Inspector Spacetime from this series (it only happened in the title anyway), and altering the appearance of the Inspector so that he does not look like Inspector Spacetime. What remains is 100% the creation of myself, my writing partner, and you, the fans. If you would still be interesting in seeing the series that would have been Inspector Spacetime, I appreciate your support.What's especially interesting about this is that Richey has already raised $11,792 of his $20,000 goal to begin production on the series. He currently plans on continuing with the project that he is now calling "Untitled Webseries About a Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time." By using the concept but not the Inspector Spacetime character name or appearance, he should be able to avoid any lawsuits in the same way that NBC has stayed out of trouble with the BBC. But will fans still be interested? Hmm, hard to say. What is certain is that Community fans are having one hell of a shitty year thus far. March 15th is just around the corner folks, so hang in there.
Hey, America. We get it. You discovered that Doctor Who exists last year. It's great that you enjoy it. But if you could stop bandwaggoning it and turning a funny joke about it from a good show into a repellently over-exposed internet meme that actually retroactively makes me dislike the joke in the first place, that would just be fuckin' SUPER.
It is quite sad the the actor, the show's producers, and NBC Universal (and their legion of bloodsucking Blogon lawyers) couldn't work together. For heavens sake, NBC would get a web series for free paid by fans. How is that not a win win? Is NBC that afraid of getting sued by the Beeb? This is the same company that does SNL for heaven knows how many years. Never mnd all the shit they dk on fictional set SNL with 30 Rock.
NBC Universal really wants to stop a minor cameo actor from making a web series promoting a show that desperately needs promotion?
Why am I reminded of Conan O'Brien using the masturbating bear in his new show to see if NBC would sue him by arguing that the characterbof 'the masturbating bear was NBC's intelectual property? Casuse nothing says an intelectual property suit like a bear jerking off.
NBC has made a reputation for itself by being handed a successful concept and actively running away from it.
My day job is to inspect welding in a shipyard.... That picture is totally going on my hardhat.
To be honest I saw his panel on Youtube at a Con of some sort and he was pretty awfull. Very cringe worthy, it's a fun joke to do in Community and in the web but i don't really think it'll reach out farther than that. Video down below, do we really want to see a show with this guy? Ugh.
Oh, wow. I was actually at that convention, and I saw this on the program. We skipped it because, while it's cute and all... how do you make an entire panel out of a 30-second clip from an unrelated show?I guess the answer is "not very well"?
... but if it's not Inspector Spacetime anymore then what's the point in making it? It's just another Doctor Who parody now.
Maybe it can be the Americanbor Welsh Inspector Spacetime knockoff? Then again Community already did the reverse showing us the original BBC series CougarTown was based on.
There has to be some kinda way to spin off the parody of the parody and give an excuse why it isn't called Inspector Space time.
Though.. yeah.. now it does just seem like a wase of time and money.
The guy could probably have just asked Community to do a spin off for youtube and they would have given him permission to do it. Hey free advertisement. Kind of silly.
I kind of morbidly hope it means we get to see the Inspector vignettes tackle "transmogrification"!
ironically, if it was a porn, he'd get away with it.
maybe he should try it: "This Ain't Inspector Spacetime XXX"
Speaking of, I saw an ad for the Incredible Hulk one the other day on YT, and I cried. These were very much the non-joy kinds of tears.
thank. god.
look, i appreciate that this guy is really happy to have had some cameos as the Inspector on Community, but i don't want to see community spin offs written by non community writers.
it comes as no surprise to me that NBC shut him down. they should. he has no rights to the character. plus, the character is a parody to begin and i'm sure NBC doesn't want to get into anything that might go litigious with the now sue-happy BBC (sherlock). they have lawyers that wear wigs. its crazy.
but he ruined it. by doing it on his own he's tainted the fun of Inspector Spacetime. it used to be a treat when he showed up on COmmunity, and now this guy tried to make it all about him. its annoying.
and, you know, if this guy is a great writer and all that, this set back would be a perfect opportunity for him to work on some of his own ideas and use his new found "fame" to get his pitches and stories heard.
i wish him luck, but am glad his version of the Inspector is dead.
If you don't want to see Community spin-offs, then don't watch them. Besides, it wasn't a spin-off. It was a fan-vid. People do them all the time. It would've been extremely obvious that the man was working on his own with no assistance from NBC so the BBC would have very little footing to go after NBC. "Now sue-happy BBC"? "They have lawyers that wear wigs. It's crazy"? Brit-bashing much?
To comment on the BBC lawsuit, I wholeheartedly welcome it. I'd like nothing more than the US being prevented from remaking hit british TV programs. It's bad enough we have crap like "Being Human" and the aborted "Coupling", and I am also SUPREMELY glad that the "SPACED" remake got canned before it was optioned as a series. It's also super shady that after approaching BBC to remake the series in the US and being told "no way" that CBS is doing an end run around them and making their own anyway. There are so many original concepts out there, CBS should be looking at those instead of stealing from the British and watering down their good ideas.
The problem is that it's not parody, it's a direct continuation of the character who was parodying another character. The other problem is that, with Kickstarter funds, it's impossible to determine whether or not he's actually profiting off of using the character. Nobody can convince me that if he raises 40k instead of 20 he's not going to take a chunk of that as his own fee.
So working actor Travis Richey who was paid to act as a character decided upon himself that the character was so great that he would produce what is essentially a live action fan-fic without permission, and claim that it's parody? Smart move, guess who isn't reprising his Inspector Spacetime role on NBC in the near future?
People do fan films all the time.
What he *should* do is call it "Inspector Who" and cut out the middleman.
ETA: And I see in the Kickstarter comments that someone has suggested the even-better "Inspector Whom"
Nerd news, humor and self-loathing. Edited by Luke Y. Thompson
