Set phasers on stunned: The vast ecosystem of Star Trek fan productions is about to undergo a radical change after CBS and Paramount Pictures released a set of new fan film guidelines.

According to the 10-point guidelines released on Thursday, June 23, Trek fan productions cannot "exceed 30 minutes total, with no additional seasons, episodes, parts, sequels or remakes," cannot include "Star Trek" in their titles, cannot involve anyone who has worked on Star Trek films or series, and cannot raise more than $50,000 for an individual production. In return for following these and other guidelines, CBS and Paramount state they "will not object to, or take legal action against" any "non-professional and amateur" fan productions.

Most prominently, the guidelines would severely restrict plans for Axanar, the Trek fan film that CBS and Paramount sued for copyright infringement in December, and the production that appears to have sparked the guidelines in the first place. Gary Graham was set to reprise his role from Star Trek: Enterprise as a Vulcan ambassador; the production raised over $1.2 million in crowdfunding campaigns; and creator Alec Peters had planned for Axanar to be a feature-length production well over the 30-minute time limit.

The guidelines also seem to directly affect several of the most popular and well-regarded Trek fan productions over the past two decades seeing as they operate as ongoing "series," including Star Trek Continues and Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II. The former has raised well over $300,000 via several crowdfunding campaigns to support its elaborate recreations of the sets from the original Trek TV series, and the latter has featured episodes guest starring established Trek actors like Walter Koenig and George Takei.



Meanwhile, Star Trek: Voyager star Tim Russ is currently directing and starring in Renegades: The Requiem, originally a Star Trek fan film co-starring Trek alum like Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Terry Farrell, Robert Picardo, and Robert Beltran. On June 25, the production announced on Facebook that it would continue production "without any Star Trek elements … [as] a completely original and ongoing series."

In response to the guidelines, Star Trek Continues creator and star Vic Mignogna noted in a Facebook post that the production "has the utmost respect for CBS and their right to protect their property as they see fit," and that he is not yet certain what impact the new guidelines will have on his production. (The other aforementioned productions did not immediately respond to requests to comment, and a spokesperson for CBS said she could not comment on how the guidelines would affect individual fan productions.)



CBS executive John Van Citters said on the June 29 episode of the official Star Trek podcast, Engage, that CBS and Paramount will not be "retroactively" applying the new fan film guidelines to previously published Star Trek fan productions. "We're not going to be contacting YouTube and service providers and trying to scrub the internet of fan Star Trek," he said. "Anything that is already out there will remain out there. We have no intention of taking anything down."

He did not, however, specifically address whether the guideline that fan productions cannot include "additional seasons, episodes, parts, sequels, or remakes" would cause ongoing fan productions like Star Trek Continues to cease production.