The Starwalker Saga: Part 1
An update on the erstwhile Starwalker “reality series”, for anyone who’s interested in that cosmic soap opera with more twists than Battlestar Galactica….
It seems that with the leaves turning Down Under, the Australian media have awoken from their summer slumber and are beginning to look into the show’s executive producer/bad filmmaker/disbarred attorney/crackpot UFOlogist Jonathan Nolan.  (How would you like that on your business card?)
Posting on the Starwalker: It’s All a Bad Fraud Facebook page, Robert Brand says that he will be filming a piece for Australian television about his experiences with Nolan. Brand says that he moved his family to take a job with the show only to be let go without being paid. He ran into serious financial difficulties, including nearly having his car repossessed, but has since found a paying job.
For those unfamiliar with this taudry story, here’s the first part of a long recap:
The reality show, designed to send the winners into space, was announced last November. The original press release made some rather bold claims, including the participation of famed physicist Stephen Hawking (false) and co-production credit by a UK-based special effects house (also false).
Nolan and his production partner, Greg Smith, claimed that the show was fully funded. But, they never revealed who was funding the show, which partners would provide the rides, or much of anything else. This is highly unsual in the space business, where such deals are usually finalized down to the last comma before they’re announced.
Nonetheless, the show began taking contestant registrations on Dec. 12, with the producers collecting fat fees for SMS text applications. Excited applications rolled in from starry-eyed would-be reality show contestants the world over. All looked good as Christmas approached. Or did it?
Before registrations began, the three ISU alumni attached to the program dropped out. They later said that Nolan had refused to sign a binding agreement with them. This withdrawal severely damaged the show’s credibilty within the rather small space tourism community, much of which is run by ISU folks and their friends. (Ooops!) It was also a harbinger of wierdness yet to come.
Contestants began receiving acceptance letters, which included the requirement that they pay their own way to as-of-yet-undetermined sites around the globe. That, in itself, is not unsual; “American Idol” holds auditions in different cities to which contestants must travel. But, in this case, they seem to have accepted everyone who ever applied.
The first episode would involve a doozy of a challenge – completing a 21-kiometer (13-mile) marathon. I’m not even sure that professional astronauts must complete such a task. It certainly wasn’t required of any of the billionauts who have flown to the International Space Station.
Strange? Yes. But, there were far stranger things yet to come…
TO BE CONTINUED…
6 responses to “The Starwalker Saga: Part 1”
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pssst…post title has a typo
Thanks!
A co-worker had mentioned this to me, and it has since become a topic of much discussion around the office (80+ employees). The drama around it is even tastier than the actual so called show. We’ve all been keeping abreast of the unfolding drama and like all good epics it’s good to see the tide turn and the bad guys are going to get their comeuppance.
The fee for entry if using the premium SMS service was over A$10 and just under US$10. It is hard to say how many SMSs were made, but there were many that I have come across – It was believed by meny that SMS registration would possibly get priority.
To be clear, I was in the middle of changing houses when I was not paid and had to cancel the move – my current house (there is pressure from the landlord for me to move) is tenuous at best and there is immense pressure for me to leave. My car is still under threat and I have to come up with $1550 by Tuesday this week. My work starts in 1 week and it may be a further 2 weeks before my first pay. It is a financial tight rope where I have to sell my assets to survive – thanks a lot Nolan.
The TV show will be one of those current affairs shows with their own investigative reporters. They have been doing the research into the forgeries and other documants. It is very clear that he was pulling the wool over the eyes of people internally although we has smart never to show me this document at the time – Starsem does not book people on Soyuz, only satellite payloads. Pity because this would have been made public long ago and I would have been better progressed.
Greg Smith was feed lies by Nolan and may have been unaware of Nolan’s lies. He may have been the one Nolan was fooling with the fake emails. Smith appears oblivious to the deception even with statements saying he thought smith to be less than worthy to receive payment and Brand and Smith would not be paid due to their troublemaking. All the while he was saying to us that we would get paid. Ahhh. The lies and deception run deep with Nolan. Yes, he is scheduled to get his comeuppance on Australian TV this week.
Thanks for this Doug.
The publicity surrounding Smith’s lawsuit is no doubt what we are expected to believe is the trouble making on Smith’s part but this was actually Nolan’s plan, it was Nolan who went around telling everyone that it was his lawsuit & that he would get rich off it.
This saga has just hit the Australian media.
http://www.smh.com.au/techn…