Character Insight No. 176: Ensign Williams

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Ensign Williams, the star of The Red Shirt Diaries YouTube series.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp176



Ensign Williams is a lower ranked security officer serving aboard the Starship Enterprise during Captain Kirk's five-year mission. Her daily logs are recorded in conjunction with each of the first 30 episodes of The Original Series TV show, and it's a funny and lighthearted take on both life as a red shirt security officer as well as someone living through the crazy times on the ship.

Some of these crazy times include the episode for The Naked Time, where Ensign Williams' quarters being right next to the recreation area leads to an invasion of people from the orgy on board. Awkward! In another episode based on Charlie X, Ensign Williams regales us with tales of all the different strange moves used during physical training led by another crewman named Sam. Of course, when Charlie and Sam come to odds, that leads to a great quote from the witness of the event, Ensign Williams:

"Sam was laughing at the kid and the kid just makes him disappear into thin air...It was AWESOME...not more PT!"

In later episodes, Ensign Williams moves beyond her quarters to provide field reports in her log as well. One of the most notable of these is in the episode about Arena, where Ensign Williams is apparently stranded on the planet with the Gorn and Captain Kirk. Like a good red shirt, she takes it mostly in stride:

"I changed my mind, I don't want to be an explorer anymore. I just want to go home and listen to my dad's dumb jokes the rest of my life. How am I supposed to contend with a space dinosaur?"

Other early highlights include both captain halves repeatedly invading her cabin in the episode for The Enemy Within, regardless of whether she locks the door or not, and the loss of some other red shirt friends in What Are Little Girls Made Of, where they become wonderfully creepy androids. Of course, later we also have episodes featuring the writing talent of Darrell and the voice talent of Mike from this very podcast. The adventures are never too much for this particular red shirt, but it's a wonder she does not go crazy considering all the crazy surrounding her.

The essence of a good fan film is to do something original and fun while honoring the original subject matter. There's little doubt the logs of security Ensign Williams do just this, as every episode should both help you recall some referential moments from the TOS episode while also causing some hearty laughs and chuckles. Regardless of whether this series continues beyond the 30 episode run it has been on thus far, we can say for certain that Ensign Williams is another great character now added to the extended Star Trek lore. To that, I say thanks to Ashley Robinson and Jason Inman for giving us yet another fun character to profile on this segment and enjoy in film form.

Until next time, keep away from danger, especially if you happen to be a security officer on the Enterprise.

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Feedback can be sent to me with future segment suggestions on Twitter @BuckeyeFitzy.

Character Insight No. 175 - Broik

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile Broik, one of the Ferengi waiters in Quark's Bar on Deep Space Nine.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp175



Many of the most frequent recurring characters in DS9 appear as part of the bar scene, and although 78 appearances ranks behind Morn, Broik is seen in more episodes than every other Ferengi except for Quark. That pushes this waiter to the second-most appearances of any background character in the series. He also appears in the Voyager premiere Caretaker, which makes him one of five characters to appear in two series premieres.

Broik receives his name on screen early, specifically in everyone's favorite Season 1 episode "Move Along Home." Bur he very rarely speaks any dialogue that can be heard, one example of which is in one of the final episodes of the series, "The Dogs of War."

Quark: Broik, water the drinks!
Broik: Yes.

That's also one of the only times that the role is credited to regular background character actor David B. Levinson. Levinson appeared in several other background roles in TNG and DS9, including as several different Ferengi, a patron in Vic's Lounge, as well as a Creole Kitchen waiter as Sisko's restaurant. I guess he never can stray too far from waiters.

He was also the primary stand in for Armin Shimmerman's Quark character as well, which explains why he was filmed on set in so many episodes. Why waste all that make-up time if you don't have to? Levinson can also be seen in the movie Saving Silverman and one episode of Family Matters, which is ironic considering the character of Urkel could be just as annoying as a Ferengi.

Much like the Leeta character, Broik is a necessary person to show for the development of Quark's character, specifically as a business owner. Quark's disagreements with Broik over a wrong shipment of yamok sauce and joining Rom's Guild of Restaurant Employees reveal additional parts that are vital to understanding the total complex picture of Quark's character. In this regard, Broik is one of the more valuable recurring characters as far as character development is concerned.

Until next time, tip your wait staff well, as you know Quark isn't paying well.

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Feedback can be sent to me with future segment suggestions on Twitter @BuckeyeFitzy.

Character Insight No. 174: (Medical Assistant) Martinez

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we profile the most prolific background character in The Next Generation, crewman Martinez.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp174

Martinez first shows up as a crewman grade officer in the season two episode The Child, although his first appearance as a medical assistant in sickbay came later in The Survivors. He then appears in many more episodes as a background sickbay character throughout season 3 through 7, totaling 84 episodes in all along with the movies First Contact and Insurrection.

Ironically, Martinez is nicknamed Dr. Death in many of the scripts for these episodes, despite being given a name early in Season 3. In addition to his medical duties, he is one of the parents with a child on board, as shown in the episode New Ground, which is a unique construct of this version of Star Trek. Although he initially appeared more on the bridge and in Ten Forward, once his character finds a groove as a medical assistant, he becomes more regular and rises up the ranks through ensign to lieutenant, junior grade. That's more promotion than you can shake a Harry Kim at!

Although Martinez does not have many speaking lines, he is one of a few background characters to merit some different bits of dialogue over the years. That being said, his most often-used phrase on camera is one to be expected:

"Yes, Doctor."

Although Alyssa Ogawa probably has the most fame for being on the medical staff under Dr. Crusher, Martinez is the steady hand you see both in the background of those sickbay scenes as well as at many other crew functions like birthday parties and formal dinners and ceremonies. It is a bit of a shame that we don't get to see more of his character other than in the job setting, although with such a big ensemble cast, it can be hard to expand the universe to be much bigger.

Martinez was played by regular background actor Michael Braveheart, who was not credited for his appearances despite collecting more appearances than any other background character in the series. He played various Klingons and other aliens in Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise, and he can also be seen in Cagney & Lacey as well as the Steven Spielberg film Always.

Until next time, be nice to your nurses, as they can save your life.

Character Insight No. 173: Legal Geek Breakdown of Axanar Copyright Suit [also Legal Geek No 60]

Welcome back to Legal Geek, I mean, Character Insight! This week, we take a look at the reasons for the copyright lawsuit against the Star Trek fan film Axanar and provide analysis of the merits of the claims for both sides. For those not familiar with my Legal Geek segments, if you enjoy hearing rapid breakdowns of trending topics where the nerd world meets the legal landscape, check out my segments like this every week on the Current Geek show by Frogpants. Now, let's dive in,...

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp173

As Mike and Darrell covered last week, Paramount and CBS, who jointly own IP rights to Star Trek, sued Axanar Productions and Alec Peters for copyright infringement. Why did this fan film production get singled out over others like Red Shirt Diaries and Star Trek Renegades?

It probably comes down to two factors: money, and the upcoming active use of the IP by both companies: Paramount with Star Trek Beyond, and CBS with the unnamed 2017 TV series. Axanar has raised $1.3 million, which is significantly larger than what other similar film projects have produced. For reference, Star Trek Renegades is the only thing in the ballpark money-wise, having recently Kickstarted for $400,000, but there's a ton of original Star Trek actors reprising roles in that production which may favor against stopping it with a lawsuit. That being said, I wouldn't be comfortable as Star Trek Renegades given what is now happening to Axanar, as it always comes down to money in the legal world. Otherwise, there's no reason to waste valuable resources on litigation.

But how will that all come out? Not well for Axanar, in my view.

First, Axanar is unabashedly infringing some Star Trek copyrights, including several characters like Garth of Izar and General Chang, the starship Enterprise, and several Klingon ships. That's enough to make a few actionable copyright claims, with damages of potentially $150,000 per creative item infringed.

Peters first noted that when his team met with CBS prior to production, the network would not offer any specific guidelines for what would make an acceptable fan film project. CBS apparently indicated he couldn't make money off the project, and Peters argues that he is not making money off the project so it has to be allowed. Copyright infringement and fair use is not such an easy equation, unfortunately. Merely making money or not does little to decide the issue.

Peters also argues that fan films like Axanar are fair use permissible despite the copyrights. Fair use is a four factor balancing test and it is possibly the most complex test in intellectual property law.

One factor is the purpose and character of the use, and fan films are more like disfavored commercial products than favored works like parody and commentary. Another factor is the nature of the copyrighted work, and specific film characters and specific starships in a fictional work is a highly creative work rather than less creative and less protected things like collections of facts. A third factor is the amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and with respect to the characters it's an absolute copy of all of the creative expressions and features of the character. The final factor is the effect of the use on the potential market for the original, and while Axanar argues this improves the market for Star Trek, it's a gray area when the original is also coming back on the market.

So all told, the first three factors strongly favor Paramount and CBS, and the final factor cuts down the middle. Even though Fair Use can be hard to predict, this seems like a rare clear-cut case where Fair Use does not apply.

The Bottom Line: Fan films are usually fun for consumers, but creators have rights that must be respected, and without the protections of Fair Use, Axanar is likely doomed unless a settlement on a license can be negotiated. If CBS and Paramount were willing to bring the lawsuit, it's not likely to make an easy settlement.

Character Insight will be back to normal next week, but if you enjoyed this, check out Legal Geek on the Current Geek show!