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The Inspector Just Ran Out of Spacetime


Inspector Spacetime.jpg

?Last week, Rob reported how actor Travis Richey (who plays the Doctor Who-ish Inspector Spacetime on Community) had begun a Kickstarter campaign to create an actual web series based on his character. Alas, it was never meant to be. Once NBC and Sony heard about his plans, they shut him down. Here’s what Richey had to say about the matter on his Kickstarter page:

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.