The fan-made Star Terk and Dr. Seuss mashup is officially done after Supreme Court ruling.
Bad news for author David Jerrold and ComicMix LLC, who had their mashup book denied a review by the Supreme Court. Jerrold took the premise of Dr. Seuss’s “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” and rewrote and re-designed the book using Star Trek as a starting point and refiguring everything to fit into the Star Trek universe. He then renamed the book, “Oh the Places You’ll Boldly Go!”
The book originally was struck down in the 9th Circuit, saying that the book wasn’t transformative in nature. As Reuters described the ruling;
"ComicMix’s book wasn’t transformative because it didn’t have a different purpose or character from Seuss’s or alter it with new expression, meaning, or message, McKeown said. McKeown found, among other things, that “Star Trek” characters “step into the shoes of Seussian characters in a Seussian world that is otherwise unchanged” in the mashup."
A fair ruling all things considered.
While it would’ve been great for the book to see the light of date, the facts are there. The book wasn’t transformative in nature. The book largely played out just like the original did, just swapping Seuss’s character for Trek-designed characters.
It’s hard to argue that the courts didn’t get this one right, even if we are disappointed.
Star Trek has a long history of fan-made things, which is a passion we here at Redshirts Always Die do our best to support and foster. It’s why we have a Star Trek Fandom tab for anyone who wants to see what the fans of Star Trek have been up to.
The number of original properties done in the vein of Trek is numerous. From fan-made movies to musicals at college theaters and even working Star Trek-designed technology. It would’ve been cool to add one more piece to the collection.