Brazeal Sells TrekUnited
3 min readThe domain name and rights of TrekUnited have been sold to the man who led a campaign for a Star Trek series featuring George Takei‘s Sulu as captain of the USS Excelsior.
Last week, Tim Brazeal, who began a “Save Star Trek: Enterprise” campaign that ended badly, emailed members of TrekUnited looking for a buyer for that site and for Scifiunited.com.
“Trekunited.com has been online for over six years now and has some of the finest members,” said Brazeal. “We have members from around the globe on our site. I have been very proud of what is has both been in the past and where it currently is.
“While it has become on of the best. largest and friendliest Trek sites online with over 700,000 post since its conception, it is time for me to move on.
“I announced that I was thinking about selling the site and received an offer of $2,500.00 right from the start. Then another counter offer for $5,000.00 was made and that is where it stands. As I said, rather than selling it to someone else, I want you guys to have a shot at buying the site from me. I want to keep it with YOU and the love of trek.”
Star Trek fans may remember the TrekUnited Save Enterprise campaign. In that effort, fans were asked to donate money toward funding a fifth season of Star Trek: Enterprise. However, even after it became made clear that Paramount couldn’t accept money for this purpose and that there was no chance of this campaign succeeding, Brazeal persisted in the effort. Only after investigations and stories from the Los Angeles Times and other websites, did Brazeal concede defeat and refund the money collected from the fans.
Russ Haslage, the founder of the International Federation of Trekkers (IFT), a Star Trek fan club, purchased the site from Brazeal. Other investors mentioned who were involved in the purchase include Jennifer Ramsey of Ramsey’s Replicas, and Doug McEntyre of the Star Trek Cruise.
The International Federation of Trekkers (IFT) was first organized in 1984 in Cleveland, Ohio. Now a nonprofit corporation, IFT’s purpose, is “To promote the humanistic philosophies and ideals portrayed in the Star Trek myths in a realistic fashion conducive to the continued existence and responsible advancement of human kind. To provide, promote, and support education and positive legal activism in the area of human rights, racial and sexual equality, environmental causes, and space exploration. To promote a more positive impression of Star Trek fans as intelligent, socially conscious, active individuals who are aware and concerned about the real world today.”
The members of TrekUnited were assured that things wouldn’t change much with the new ownership. “I want to say up front that although TU is a part of The Federation, we won’t be making any sweeping changes,” said Haslage. “Our goal is to support, promote and help the great things TrekUnited does to serve all Trek fans. Tom, Bill and all of the moderators and staff will stay. Nothing will change. This will remain the TU you all enjoy and we hope to make it even better with your help.”
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