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Prelude to Axanar

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Prelude to Axanar
Film poster
Directed byChristian Gossett
Screenplay by
Story byAlec Peters
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMilton Santiago
Edited byRobert Meyer Burnett
Music byAlexander Bornstein[1]
Production
company
Axanar Productions
Distributed byAxanar Productions
Release date
Running time
21 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$80,000

Prelude to Axanar (working title: Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar, and long title: The Four Years War Part III: Prelude to Axanar)[2] is a 2014 American fan made short film, directed by Christian Gossett and written by Christian Gossett and Alec Peters.[3][4] Funded through Kickstarter, production sought $10,000 in funding, but raised $101,000.[5] It had its public debut July 26, 2014 at the San Diego Comic-Con.[6][7]

Set in the Star Trek universe, the film stars Kate Vernon, Tony Todd, Richard Hatch, Gary Graham, and J. G. Hertzler, in a documentary-style film recounting the events surrounding the Battle of Axanar, a major clash between the Federation and the Klingons.[8][9]

Production

Alec Peters began work on the Axanar series in 2010. Paramount Studios, who owns the Star Trek franchise, traditionally allows fan-made projects to move forward just "as long as they agree not to sell anything—including tickets, merchandise, or copies of the finished film or series." These limitations made financing a fan film difficult, so Peters turned to Kickstarter and a fan funding campaign which eventually exceeded his initial funding goal of $10,000 by raising $101,000.[6][10]

The Kickstarter campaign raised over this amount by March 31, 2014,[11] and the film itself was shot in two days.[12] Cast includes Richard Hatch and J. G. Hertzler in principal roles, with Gary Graham reprising his role as Vulcan ambassador Soval. The film's purpose was to show that high quality Star Trek films can be made on a low budget.[4] The film's visual effects were done by Tobias Richter[12] and Tommy Kraft,[2] makeup was by Kevin Haney, and sound design was by Frank Serafine.[13]

Plot

The film is presented as an episode of a Federation documentary pertaining to the Four Years War with the Klingon Empire, narrated by noted historian John Gill (who appeared in "Patterns of Force") and featuring interviews of actual participants on both sides. It begins on Stardate 2241.03, two decades before the original series, with the war's opening battle at Arcanis IV, a prosperous Federation colony along the Klingon border. The Klingons, who did not consider the Federation to be a worthy adversary, maintained the initiative for the first six months of the war, with a number of victories under the leadership of their supreme commander, Kharn. The Vulcan diplomatic delegation under Ambassador Soval (who appeared in Enterprise), overseeing negotiations with the Klingons, are left with little room to maneuver.

In response to the losses suffered in the war, Starfleet appoints a new Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Marcus Ramirez, who pledges in a fleet-wide broadcast to defend "the dream of the Federation" against the Klingons' commitment to its destruction. Ramirez oversees the creation of the Ares-class cruisers, Starfleet's first warships, to counter the Klingons' mainstay, the D6 battlecruiser. The introduction of the Ares turns the tide against the Klingons, who begin to give Starfleet its due as a worthy opponent, and particularly take notice of Garth of Izar (who appeared in "Whom Gods Destroy"), the captain of the prototype U.S.S. Ares.

To counter the Ares cruisers, the Klingons order the construction of a newer and more advanced battlecruiser, the D7, that would restore the Klingons' technical and military advantage. In response, Starfleet begins developing their own next-generation heavy cruiser, the Constitution-class, but construction falls behind schedule. To gain more time to finish their new heavy cruiser, Starfleet approves a plan proposed by Garth to fight the Klingons at Axanar, the planet where Kharn's spies have reported the Constitution prototypes (revealed to be the Constitution and the Enterprise) are being built. The film ends on Stardate 2245.1, just before the battle at Axanar, when the first three D7s enter the war.

Cast

Reception

Jana Monji of RogerEbert.com spoke during the film's private red carpet screening at the Horton Plaza UA Cinema prior to its debut at San Diego's Comic-Con, and offered that involvement of known acting talent dedicated to the genre and to Prelude to Axanar might increase Star Trek fan influence at such events. By way of example, the film's inclusion of Richard Hatch of the original TV series Battlestar Galactica would have the "fan-verse" of the two series collide in a positive manner.[3]

Houston Press called it a functional example of "demonstration of concept," and urged Star Trek fans to see the film. They praised the cast, writing "actors (Richard Hatch, Tony Todd, etc.) have some serious chops," and noted that the film's visual effects "are stunning."[14]

Home Media Magazine shared "the film’s high production values, cinema-quality special effects and the involvement of actors from the canonical Star Trek series elevates Prelude to Axanar beyond the status of a mere fan film."[15]

Author David Gerrold, writer of The Trouble With Tribbles and contributor to both the original Star Trek series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, after reading the Axanar script for the first time, stated "This is Star Trek." Liking the concept so much, and being so personally familiar with the Star Trek universe, he signed on as creative consultant.[13]

Guardian Liberty Voice wrote "The acting is superb, including appealing performances from Gary Graham as a Vulcan ambassador, Richard Hatch as the sweet-eyed Klingon General Kharn and the magnetic Kate Vernon as Starfleet Captain Sonya Alexander," and praised the film, writing "Prelude to Axanar is of the highest Hollywood-style production quality and a must-see for any devotee of the franchise."[10]

Entertainment News International drew the conclusion that "Axanar is a ground breaking independent film that proves the idea that a studio doesn't need to spend millions of dollars to produce a feature quality production. Axanar will be the first non-CBS/Paramount produced Star Trek to look and feel like a true Star Trek movie."[9]

Release

Prelude to Axanar released a three-minute teaser-trailer on June 11, 2014.[12] The completed 21 minute short film had a private red carpet premiere July 26, 2014 at San Diego's Horton Plaza UA Cinema and its public debut screening at the 2014 Comic-Con.[6][9] Available through the Axanar Productions YouTube page, the Prelude to Axanar film includes subtitles in eight languages: French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Czech, and Portuguese, as well as both American and British English.[16]

Planned feature film

Raising $638,000 on Kickstarter through the creation and release of Prelude to Axanar, Peters went into pre-production for the feature film Star Trek: Axanar, with production slated to begin in October 2015,[17] for an early 2016 release.[18] The original plan was to raise financing "in chunks", with the initial Kickstarter to raise enough money to obtain a warehouse, convert it to a sound stage and build sets.[13] Approximately $200,000 of the funding happened in the campaign's final 49 hours, after Star Trek alum, George Takei, shared his interest publicly, bringing production more than six-times the originally sought amount of $100,000.[18] The cast includes: Richard Hatch as Kharn the Undying (Klingon supreme commander); J. G. Hertzler as Admiral Samuel Travis (Captain of the U.S.S. Hercules); Gary Graham as Soval (Vulcan Ambassador to the Federation); and Kate Vernon as Captain Sonya Alexander (Captain of the U.S.S. Ajax).

On January 3, 2016, Alec Peters announced he would no longer portray Captain Kelvar Garth in the Axanar movie, stating that he wanted to hire a professional actor to fill the role, which would allow him to focus more on writing and producing.[19]

Lawsuit

On December 29, 2015, CBS and Paramount Pictures filed a copyright lawsuit seeking damages in the US District Court for the Central District of California, stating Axanar works infringe their rights by making use of the Klingon language and "innumerable copyrighted elements of Star Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and themes."[20]

On March 28, 2016, Axanar Productions filed a motion to dismiss or strike Paramount and CBS's claims, saying the elements mentioned in the court filing are not protected by copyright and it is seeking premature relief from a work, the Axanar film, that does not exist.[21]

On May 9, 2016, the motion to dismiss the lawsuit was denied. Later that month, J.J. Abrams said that "within the next few weeks, it will be announced this is going away". Abrams said he pushed the studio to stop the lawsuit because "we realized this is not the appropriate way to deal with the fans."[22] This statement by Abrams had no apparent effect on the Lawsuit.

On June 23, 2016, Paramount released new fan film guidelines, which Axanar staff described as "disheartening" and "draconian."[23]

References

  1. ^ "Prelude to Axanar (2014)". imDB. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
  2. ^ a b [per film's onscreen credits]
  3. ^ a b Monji, Jana (July 29, 2014). "Comic-Con 2014: Star Trek Kickstarter Film "Prelude to Axanar"". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Baumgartner, Alison (August 18, 2014). "Fans Make a 'Star Trek' Prequel That We Didn't Even Know We Wanted with 'Prelude to Axanar'". Science Fiction. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  5. ^ "Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar". Kickstarter. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c Devenish, Alan (July 22, 2014). "The Quest to Make a Studio-Quality Star Trek Movie on a Kickstarter Budget". Wired. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  7. ^ Jones, Christopher. "Axanar 1: Vintage Garth and Researching the Four Years War, an interview with Alec Peters and Christian Gossett" (podcast). Trek.fm. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  8. ^ staff (August 21, 2014). "Star Trek Fans Release 'Prelude To Axanar' And Plans To Trek Further". Inquisitr. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  9. ^ a b c Cochran, Jay (July 15, 2014). "Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar world premiere and Q&A at SDCC". Entertainment News International. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  10. ^ a b Baskin, Gregory (August 21, 2014). "Star Trek Axanar Just Released [Video]". Guardian Liberty Voice. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  11. ^ staff. "Funded: Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar". Kickstarter. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  12. ^ a b c Iacovino, Kayla. "Fan Films: 'Prelude to Axanar' Trailer Released". trekmovie.com. TrekMovie. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  13. ^ a b c Obenson, Tambay A. (August 22, 2014). "Tony Todd is Admiral Ramirez in Indie-Financed 'Star Trek' Extension Feature 'Axanar' (Watch 21-Minute Prelude)". Indiewire. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  14. ^ Cook, Phaedra (August 8, 2014). "First Look at The Houston Con". Houston Press. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  15. ^ Latchem, John (July 28, 2014). "Filmmakers Increasingly Turning to Kickstarter". Home Media Magazine. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  16. ^ Peters, Alec (August 19, 2014). "Prelude to Axanar Now Has Subtitles in 8 Languages!". Kickstarter. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  17. ^ staff (August 28, 2014). "The Future of Independent Trek: Star Trek: Axanar Raises More Than $650,000 Through Kickstarter". Broadway World. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  18. ^ a b Howell, Elizabeth (August 27, 2014). "George Takei Helps Beam $650K to 'Star Trek' Fan Film". Space.com. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  19. ^ Peters, Alec (January 4, 2016). "Casting Axanar Fan Film". Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  20. ^ Gardner, Eriq (2015-12-30). "Crowdfunded 'Star Trek' Movie Draws Lawsuit from Paramount, CBS". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2015-12-30. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ Copyright Does Not Protect the Klingon Language, Court Hears March 30, 2016
  22. ^ Fuster, Jeremy (May 20, 2016). "J.J. Abrams Says Paramount Will Drop Lawsuit Against 'Star Trek' Fan Film". TheWrap. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  23. ^ Rottenberg, Josh (June 23, 2016). "CBS and Paramount Pictures announce new guidelines on 'Star Trek' fan films". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
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