NBC Cease and Desists ‘Inspector Spacetime’ Web Series

You know that clip of a Doctor Who spoof that aired on NBC’s Community called Inspector Spacetime that’s going to get its own web series if enough people contribute to its Kickstarter campaign and the show’s creator, Travis Richey meets or exceeds his $20,000 fundraising goal? Well, there’s still going to be a Doctor Who spoof created by Travis Richey that will get its own web series if enough people contribute to its Kickstarter campaign, except it won’t be called Inspector Spacetime.

Like major multi-million dollar entertainment companies are apt to do (and sometimes regret doing) when fans borrow their intellectual property to create fan made entertainment properties of their own, Sony and NBC both recently contacted Richey demanding he cease and desist production on Inspector Spacetime.

So, Richey is cease and desisting production on Inspector Spacetime

and starting production on the exact same project with a new wardrobe and new title. It’s now called Untitled Webseries About A Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time. Here’s the update from Richey’s Kickstarter page:

Lawyers from Sony and NBC have contacted me demanding that I cease production on an Inspector Spacetime web series.

Though I firmly believe the law would be on my side in producing this parody, I have no wish or ability to fight a show that I love as much as Community. I had hoped that they would embrace what is essentially a fan film and appreciate the value it adds to the character, and the audience that we would bring who are finding Community for the first time through this character, but alas, that’s not the case. So, I will be removing all references to Inspector Spacetime from this series (it only happened in the title anyway), and altering the appearance of the Inspector so that he does not look like Inspector Spacetime. What remains is 100% the creation of myself, my writing partner, and you, the fans.

As Lauren Davis at io9 notes, it’s probably all for the best as Untitled Webseries About A Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time is a better web series title anyway. And if you haven’t already donated to see the show come to fruition, maybe watching an illustrated animatic of the proposed first episode will convince you to part with some cash.