Public Domain Tv Shows

'Wizard' ruling sows caution

At issue is a merchandiser who sold products such as t-shirts, figurines, water globes and action figures based on public-domain publicity images from "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone With the Wind," as well as several animated short films from cat-and-mouse duo Tom & Jerry. In a ruling issued Tuesday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals largely sided with Warner Bros.' contention that even though the images were in the public domain, Avela Inc. modified the material enough to evoke the characters in the movies that are still under the studio's copyright protection.

"Even if we assume that each composite work is composed entirely of faithful extracts from public-domain materials, the new arrangement of the extracts in the composite work is a new increment of expression that evokes the film character in a way that individual items of public domain material did not," the court stated in its ruling.

Decision could be a warning shot to other studios and producers developing Wizard of Oz projects, including Disney, which is planning "Oz: The Great and Powerful," to be directed by Sam Raimi. Although the L. Frank Baum book, written more than 100 years ago, is in the public domain, the ruling adds a layer of complexity. Other studios will have to be cautious about which character traits belong to the book and which belong to the 1939 MGM classic.

The court did say that the merchandiser was allowed to make products based on the images in the publicity materials, but Avela is limited largely to reproducing the photos as is. The publicity stills were sent out to theaters, newspapers and magazines -- without a copyright notice attached -- to build buzz for "Wizard of Oz" and "Gone With the Wind" some 75 years ago.

"At the very least, the scope of the film copyrights covers all visual depictions of the film characters at issue, except for any aspects of the characters that were injected into the public domain by the publicity materials," the court said.

The latest ruling also further bolsters legal case law that characters, and not just the movies and TV shows they appear in, are protected by copyright "to the extent that such characters are sufficiently distinctive," the court said.

Things Get Serious Again in Lexx Season Three | Suite101.com

Finds the crew of the organic starship back in the Dark Universe – and involved in stories that are presented in a much darker tone.

Season one introduced viewers to the four-person crew of Lexx. There’s Captain Stan; love slave/lizard cross Xev; Kai, an assassin who is dead himself; and 790, the head of a robot. As the crew flees the clutches of the evil Divine Order, the storylines are earnestly serious.

Season two takes us along on the lust-fuelled adventures of the crew in episodes that are written in a decidedly absurd and humorous vein.

But things get serious once again in season three, as the Lexx finds itself caught in the orbit of two planets in the Dark Universe called Fire and Water.

The stories told have only a bit of humor, and when it surfaces it is quite dark.

Nearly every episode of season three begins with the crew deciding which planet to approach for supplies and food for Lexx. They encounter trouble at every turn, mainly on the planet Fire.

Fire is brutally hot, as it is mostly desert, and it’s populated by incredibly evil people who fight with each other for limited resources. The planet’s ruler is Prince (Nigel Bennett), who has the power to punish anyone at any time in the most brutal manner. Prince’s constant desire is to get his hands on the key to the powerful Lexx from Stanley.

The planet Water is Fire’s polar opposite.

It is cool, calm, and water-filled. Its inhabitants are beautiful inside and out. On Water, the crew meets Bunny (Patricia Zentilli), who falls in love with Kai and accompanies the crew on some of its travels between the two planets.

Each episode in season three has some individuality in plot, but since the entire 13-episode season takes place in the world of the Fire and Water planets, the stories inevitably flow together at several points.

It is puzzling to think why producers and writers decided to set the entire season in one location and make the tone so dark.

The grimness of planet Fire and the battles that take place on it makes a viewer occasionally long for the zany adventures presented in Season two.

But a viewer doesn’t have to wait for long.

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