Prelude to Axanar (full title: The Four Years War Part III: Prelude to Axanar) is a 2014 fan-made short film, 22 minutes long, directed by Christian Gossett and written by Christian Gossett and Alec Peters. Funded through Kickstarter, the production sought $10,000 in funding, but ultimately raised $101,000. It had its public debut July 26, 2014, at San Diego Comic-Con.

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, the climactic clash between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire.

Peters was to portray the hero of the battle, the renowned Starfleet captain, Kelvar Garth of Izar.

Alec Peters portrayed Garth of Izar in Prelude to Axanar

Peters announced his intention to produce the feature-length Axanar in 2012. CBS and Paramount Pictures, which own the rights to Star Trek had traditionally allowed 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.”¹⁾

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. The campaign met its goal by March 31, 2014, and principal photography was in Los Angeles over the course of two days.

STELLAR CAST The cast of Prelude to Axanar, (from left) Kate Vernon, J.G. Hertzler, Gary Graham, with director Christian Gossett, producer Alec Peters and actor Richard Hatch.

Prelude was conceived as a “proof of concept” for the Axanar feature. The short film’s renown helped Peters raise nearly $1.2 million on Kickstarter and Indiegogo and an estimated $500,000 in direct donations and merchandise sales.

The feature project was derailed by a slowdown in crowdfunding donations and a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against Peters and Axanar Productions by Star Trek’s owners, CBS and Paramount Pictures, in 2015. The case was settled out of court in January 2017.

The settlement allowed Peters only to produce two 15-minute films, mostly beholden to the fan film guidelines CBS announced in June 2016. Those films, nicknamed Axanar Lite, were to be produced in the same faux documentary style as Prelude.

The cast included Hatch and Hertzler in principal roles, with Graham reprising his role as Vulcan ambassador Soval. The film’s purpose was to help raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to produce the Axanar feature. The film’s visual effects were done by Tobias Richter and Tommy Kraft, makeup by Kevin Haney, and sound design by Frank Serafine.

Prelude is presented as an episode of a Federation documentary pertaining to a non-canon conflict, the Four Years War with the Klingon Empire, narrated by noted historian John Gill (who appeared in the Original Series episode, “Patterns of Force”) and featuring interviews of participants on both sides of the battle. It is set two decades before the original series. The film focuses on the wartime exploits of Garth of Izar (who appeared in “Whom Gods Destroy”), captain of the prototype battlecruiser, the U.S.S. Ares, which turns the tide of the war. Prelude ends on Stardate 2245.1, just before the battle at Axanar, which was to be portrayed in the feature film.

Since its release, Prelude has screened at many film festivals around the world and, according to Axanar spokesman Mike Bawden, won 45 awards. Meanwhile, Peters for years had publicly and inaccurately cited the number of the short film’s awards as 47.

See also: The Story Behind Prelude to Axanar's ‘47 Awards’

AxaMonitor compiled this list because until January 3, 2018, Peters’ Axanar Productions website did not name the awards about which he boasted.²⁾ Bawden added the list to Axanar’s press website on January 3, only after AxaMonitor‘s inquiry.³⁾

The following may have been counted by Alec Peters as awards when claiming Prelude had won 47. However, neither was an actual award.

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.⁴⁾

The Houston Press called it a functional example of “demonstration of concept,” and urged Star Trek fans to see the film. It praised the cast, writing, “actors (Richard Hatch, Tony Todd, etc.) have some serious chops,” and noted that the film’s visual effects “are stunning.”⁵⁾

Home Media Magazine highlighted “the film’s high production values, cinema-quality special effects and the involvement of actors from the canonical Star Trek series, [elevating] Prelude to Axanar beyond the status of a mere fan film.”⁶⁾

Scifi writer David Gerrold (Photo/David Gerrold Facebook profile)

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 Axanar 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.⁷⁾

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.“⁸⁾

Entertainment News International concluded, ”[Prelude to] 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⁾

Prelude to Axanar itself had a three-minute teaser-trailer, released June 11, 2014. The completed 22-minute short had a private red carpet premiere July 26, 2014. at San Diego’s Horton Plaza UA Cinema and its public debut at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con. Available through the Axanar Productions YouTube page, Prelude to Axanar includes subtitles in eight languages: French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Czech and Portuguese, as well as both American and British English.

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