Here's proof of the illegitimacy of the Star Fleet Battles board game which impacts Interplay's Star

[J.Stone]

Hi . I'm here to present evidence that the Star Fleet Battles board game, the source of SFC1 to SFC2 Orion Pirates, when it first came out in the late 70s by Task Force Games, was not a legitimate official Star Trek game. Here's an example of an official Star Trek board game by Hasbro from the 70s:

VINTAGE 1974 Star Trek Game "Action and Adventure in Outer Space" Hasbro Toy
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3941785327...QXL+QJLBzGIBeH1lj4QCV/XES7|tkp:Bk9SR5zj5pnDYQ

The front of the box Star Trek Game has "1974 paramount pictures corporation."
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/P5wAAOSwnGRi4BtY/s-l1600.jpg

This is the older version of SFB:

Vintage 1983 Star Trek Star Fleet Battles "Only Box" Task Force Games
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1156196345...zyV24KfzSJ0TTcPmHkCb2tIg==|tkp:Bk9SR-a_26XCYQ

On the bottom left it only says "produced under license from Franz Joseph Designs" with no mention of Paramount anywhere but somehow it was copyrighted in 1983.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ztIAAOSwqudh7tq8/s-l1600.jpg

It appears that this is some sort of legal loophole at play which they think allowed them to publish the game without Paramount's permission but in any case without the exact same Paramount trademark on the box of Star Fleet Battles as the Hasbro box I can only conclude that Star Fleet Battles is an illegitimate Star Trek game and null and void in all respects. Amarillo Design Bureau may very well have a contract with Paramount these days but after seeing that box I no longer believe anything they say and I think they would have to suffer a monster sized class action lawsuit of injured consumers just to have a forensic documents expert prove that such a contract even exists and is dateable! If you ask me, that whole "produced under license from Franz Joseph Designs" line behaves just like a false maker's mark, allowing the counterfeit product to pass cursory inspection from the customer. Franz Joseph Schnaubelt never had the right to dictate what product is or isn't Star Trek, only Paramount can! Anyway, that not only screwed all of the Star Fleet Battles modules I got back in high school, it essentially screws over the Starfleet Command video game series as far as Starfleet Command 1 to Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates is concerned! At their core, as far as the Star Fleet Battles content is concerned, it's no longer Star Trek in my mind, just what someone cooked up to make a profit off the Star Trek brand's good name. Anyway I wanted to post this info along so people can make up their own minds about this situation. If anyone wants to post this info elsewhere to other communications outlets go for it.

Sincerely,

John Stone

P.S.: If anyone has an active dynaverse.net account please copy the above post to their forum and post a url for it here if you don't mind. The SFC gamers there could use this info too but I'm waiting for my account there to get approved by their admin.

(Additional forum threads about this subject:
@boardgamegeek.com's General Gaming Gaming Related Forums

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3022800/heres-proof-illegitimacy-star-fleet-battles-board

@steam's Star Trek: Starfleet Command Gold Edition General Discussions Forum
https://steamcommunity.com/app/364820/discussions/0/3762229949256484819/

 

[Kor]

I was about to offer some thoughts on this, but... it looks like these points of contention have been sufficiently addressed over at Board Game Geek. There isn't really anything to add here.

Kor

 

[NCC-73515]

And why does it matter?

 

[StarCruiser]

Dead horse - as in beating it...

Yes, Franz Joseph (U.S.S. Enterprise Blueprints and Star Fleet Technical Manual) technically gave a license to Task Force Games to produce that gaming system (still around, by the way).

I have that very set that I bought in about 1983 or 84.

 

[Tallguy]

I was about to offer some thoughts on this, but... it looks like these points of contention have been sufficiently addressed over at Board Game Geek. There isn't really anything to add here.

Kor

I was going to reply but you've taken a better path. Reading the Board Game Geek link is... Well, it's a kind of entertainment I suppose.

OK, I do have to add: Star Trek: Starfleet Command is unquestionably an Official Licensed Star Trek Product. It opens with the Paramount Mountain and everything. It has George Takei. Ron Jones wrote the music. And it's 100% based on Star Fleet Battles. What suckers!

 

[Mudd]

I've lain awake nights, wondering about this.

 

[daedalus5]

I have no idea why you are posting about this..... think I will close it down.