No More Stage 9

A couple weeks ago, I post a quick little video showcasing some gameplay from the amazing Stage 9 fangame, which was a nice little interactive simulator that let you run around the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-D and do a bunch of little things... like phasering everyone in sight like a crazy man and blowing up a small research outpost with a photon torpedo. It was a fun time and I wanted to do more of these little videos to showcase what I thought was a pretty cool little fan project.

Little did I know that a couple weeks prior, CBS sent a cease-and-desist letter to the creators, prompting said project to shut down, never to be seen again.

So... yeah. Terrible timing on my part, I suppose.

I understand the CBS mindset here; they're just protecting their IP and I think the whole Axanar thing has put them on a bit of an edge that some would consider the brink of madness. It's sort of the same way Nintendo is with fan games and rom sites. I'm not mad or sad or anything like that because that's just the way things are. I'm just happy to have been able to sample this slice of Star Trek fandom before it went away forever.

And perhaps most importantly, I wish the creators of this wonderful project all the best in their future endeavors and offer a thank you for their brief moment in the sun.