I'm sure many of you remember that Simon & Schuster published two software titles for DS9 and TNG, calling them "companions." They didn't really have anything to do with the better-known hardcopy companions that were focused more on behind-the-scenes information and the like. The computerized companions, though, WERE notable because they included copies of every script for each series. (It's really a shame that they never published them for TOS, or even Voyager...)
Now, these titles came out more than four years ago, in 1999. I got tired of having to boot up Classic mode just to view the scripts inside the relatively stylish yet incredibly clumsy LCARS interface that the whole thing is wrapped in. (Since the Mac version was published way before OS X was even announced, there's no other way to access the program.) So I took a quick browse through the CD, digging through a few directories full of code and gibberish, and dug out the files that contained the scripts themselves. I then used an extremely handy program called BBEdit to do a complete find-and-replace in every file, and cleared out all the gibberish, leaving just the important stuff behind. Finally, I renamed all the files to give them text extensions, so they're properly recognized.
Considering the amount of research that's done by folks on this board, I figured that I probably wouldn't be the only one interested in these cleaned-out files. My question, though, is whether it would be considered legal to distribute them. I'm not just talking about the "Star Trek belongs to Paramount" thing, but more along the lines of copying mass quantities of data like this, from a source that's bought and paid for.
What do you guys think? Would posting the whole collection of scripts online push the line too far beyond what all of us already do with our various sources? It's certainly not as if I'm not giving credit -- I'm certainly not stripping out or altering any actual content in these files. I took a quick look at Amazon.com and found only the DS9 Companion available, not the TNG Companion. (There wasn't even an entry saying the TNG Companion was no longer being produced, or anything to that effect.)
Posted by Capped in Mic (Member # 709) on :
i did the same thing to the omnipedia a while back.. the omnipedia is a bitch to use in windows, LCARS sux, etc..
but a while back, as i was manually copying entries out of the Okudapedia book for my site, i realized that it was already digitized on that CD, it took some doing but the entire ST Encyclopedia (1st ed.) exists as a single file, several MB in size.. formatting it would take forever, but i copied out most of the Encyclo. and Chronology into a 3MB text file that i use to copy pre written entries out of
no idea how legal it would be to duplicate the scripts for use, i know there are many websites that do just that, perhaps look into their copyright notices and see how they think they're getting away with it.. (most of the scripts are available in hardcopy through dealers and at conventions, too)
since my site is intended to be used as an information resource, and bears little resemblance to Okuda's work after i edit it, i recognize the Encyc. as a source and thats about it
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I'm not an expert on copyright law, but I suspect that reproducing copyrighted scripts of two full TV shows in their entireties without permission of the copyright holder(s) would be a violation.
That said, I wouldn't mind getting ahold of the TNG scripts as, by the time I bought the DS9 Companion, the TNG one was no longer available.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
quote:Originally posted by TSN: I'm not an expert on copyright law, but I suspect that reproducing copyrighted scripts of two full TV shows in their entireties without permission of the copyright holder(s) would be a violation.
That said, I wouldn't mind getting ahold of the TNG scripts as, by the time I bought the DS9 Companion, the TNG one was no longer available.
Ditto, on all points. I actually have two copies of the DS9 companion for reasons I'd rather not discuss. One of which is still sealed and destined for Ebay. Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
No question...it'd be a copyright violation.
The bulk or entirity of ANY copyrighted item (such as a script) cannot be duplicated or distributed -- except to make personal backups -- without being considered a violation of copyright.
"Fair use" allows small samples of copyrighted works to distribted. This would be like printing a few lines of the script.
Posted by Futurama Guy (Member # 968) on :
Well, apparently you are not aware of this website, but it was, however though flare that I learned of its existance in one of its various incarnations.
Which moreless did what you want to do, with both the DS9 and TNG scripts (not to mention a nifty little search engine embedded into the site to search the articles) and apparently he has been doing this for 3� years. Best I can tell the only problems he has had is that with bandwidth, and apparently nothing legally as far as with Paramount, et. al.
Myself, I just got the DS9 Companion at an software store in the mall on clearance for $4.25 about a month ago. Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Hmm... interesting, that site...
Of course, just because someone else is doing it doesn't make it right... but I just might go ahead and set up the scripts anyway. I can always take them down if there's a complaint, and from all other instances of Paramount complaining to various websites for copyright infringement (like www.vidiot.com), they're allowed to keep functioning as long as they remove the offending content.
I think that this would be too useful a resource to not provide, especially considering that they're not even selling the TNG companion CD anymore...
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
"Registration for a particular script applies only to the copyrightable material in that script"
I guess that is vaguely relevant. Although I find it a bit strange that scripts should not be 'copyright-able'.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Well, that's something else I was thinking of... that since the television is the primary medium, there's not a huge market for the scripts themselves. It's not as if they're making a huge effort to sell those things, anyway...
There was one VERY interesting item in that page that Harry linked to, though:
quote:The title of a program or series of programs cannot be copyrighted;
So, that means that the words "Star Trek" are not actually copyrighted, they're simply trademarked (for business purposes). Of course, the actual ideas ARE under copyright, but that increasingly validates (in my mind) the existence of the vast forms of fan fiction out there, especially "Renaissance," the series I'm a part of. I'll have to keep that link...
Anyway, concerning the scripts from previous series -- I think I'm going to go ahead and put them up some time soon. The more I think about it, the more I think that it's only a question of the scale -- I'm already doing plenty that's considered a violation of copyright law, after all... the only reason it's not a big deal is because it's so widespread thanks to the very nature of the Web.
I don't think it's really that bad if they're not selling them... because if they're not selling them, then I can't be "cutting into" their market, right? And it's not like anyone in their right minds will pay the folks at www.roddenberry.com $8 each for a photocopied script -- that's just the labor and materials, anyway. (I'm not even sure how they're selling scripts from "Enterprise"...)
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
What would be more useful than filming scripts would be continuity scripts, which have all the words actually spoken on screen. Filming scripts are nice to read for historical purposes and divining unspoken intent, however.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Well, of course there's often changes that get made in the dialogue at the last minute, not to mention cut scenes and the like... but unless someone wants to try to extract all the closed captioning text from every single episode of the series, I seriously doubt that's going to happen... Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
I was thinking a person would need even less of a life than I have to do this....
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
Look at it as an act of devotion! It's been done for TOS.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
quote:Originally posted by Ritten: I was thinking a person would need even less of a life than I have to do this....
And you call yourself a fan.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Well guys, I've got them uploaded. I also managed to get a really simple list of the episodes... I just exported the list of names, used BBEdit to fill in the numbers, and formatted the list into HTML in about thirty seconds.
(And thanks to Topher for already having those movie scripts collected, which I also decided to add for the heck of it.) Posted by Prowl Alpha (Member # 1139) on :
Sweet. It is a little difficult to read but that is a small obstacle that was overcome.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
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