tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Dec 24 17:25:47 1994
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Re: Big time exciting KLI news
- From: KLI Round Table Acct <klirt>
- Subject: Re: Big time exciting KLI news
- Date: Sat, 24 Dec 1994 20:25:46 -0500 (EST)
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> from "[email protected]" at Dec 24, 94 01:24:37 pm
>
> >On Fri, 23 Dec 1994, KLI Round Table Acct wrote:
> >> The Klingon Language Institute is proud to announce that we have just
> >> received a license from Paramount Pictures, making us officially the
> >> source for Klingon studies.
> >
>
> Well, I guess I'm just a killjoy, or a party-pooper or the like. Other than
> making the KLI "legal" I don't see anything good about it. I have this supreme
> *loathing* for Paramount, to put it *very* mildly. The *only* thing that is
> Paramount that I will even *consider* having anything to do with is Trek. As
> far as I'm concerned, they're not just Ferengi, but the most *dishonorable*
> sort of Ferengi that one can imagine. The only reason that I haven't *totally*
> boycotted Paramount and their products is because of their strangle-hold on
> Trek. Mark my words...they'll find *some* way to make a profit off of the KLI.
> Maybe not this year, or the next, but eventually. They are without honor.
>
> Alicia
I can appreciate this point of view. It's the reason I've been waiting
for the corporate lawyer types to show up since we first began. On the
other hand I can see Paramount's point of view too. They see Trek as an
enormous cash cow (and let's all admit it, it is). They see it as THEIR
cash cow, and if anyone is going to profit off of it, they want their
piece, prefereably a big juicy piece.
What's nice about this kind of rapacious capitalism is that it is easy to
understand. It lets us know where Paramount is apt to stand on any given
issue. They want to make money. They want to protect their interests.
Right now both of these are served by NOT squashing us like bugs and by
granting us a license.
Just what this will do for us (beyond ensuring our continued existence)
is not immediately clear. I believe though it will open up some other
doors to us which have previously been closed because of the corporate
attitude at Paramount and the "old boy network" mentality. We shall see.
If nothing else, it is a tremendous moral victory. Licenses from
Paramount typically run about $500,000. We got ours for free! As for
Paramount using the license to turn a profit off the KLI, before such a
thing can happen, the KLI needs to start turning a profit! Right now we
survive from one quarterly issue of HolQeD to the next, and only because
neither I, nor any of the other people who put in time here, are
receiving any remuneration for our efforts. But, who knows, that too may
change.
Lawrence
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:: Dr Lawrence M Schoen, Director :: The KLI is a nonprofit ::
:: The Klingon Language Institute :: tax exempt corporation ::
:: POB 634, Flourtown, PA 19031 USA :: DaH HuchlIj'e' ghonob ::
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