Prelude to Axanar (AKA
Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar and
The Four Years War Part III: Prelude to Axanar) is a 2014 fan-made short film directed by Christian Gossett and written by Christian Gossett and Alec Peters. Originally crowd-funded through
Kickstarter, raising over $100,000 (they only asked for $10,000). Debuted on July 26, 2014, at the San Diego Comic-Con.
Set in the
Star Trek universe, the short film is made as a documentary of the Four Years War fought between the
United Federation of Planets and the
Klingon Empire some time prior to
Star Trek: The Original Series. The title refers to the Battle of Axanar, a pivotal battle in the war, which the short film builds up to. The historian John Gill (the guy who would later bring Nazism to a planet) interviews several characters on both sides of the war: Kharn (Klingon Supreme Warlord), Admiral Marcus Ramirez (Starfleet Commander-in-Chief), Admiral Samuel Travis (USS
Hercules), Captain Sonya Alexander (USS
Ajax), Captain Kelvar Garth (AKA Garth of Izar, USS
Ares), and Soval (Vulcan ambassador).
The short film brings back such notable
Star Trek alumni as Gary Graham (reprising his role of Soval from
Star Trek: Enterprise),
Tony Todd (originally played Worf's brother Kurn in
Star Trek: The Next Generation and Kurn and Old Jake Sisko in
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; now cast as Admiral Ramirez), and J. G. Hertzler (originally played General/Chancellor Martok in
Deep Space Nine; now cast as Admiral Travis).
The interviews are overlaid with shots of speeches, starship construction, space battles, and diagrams, showcasing the Four Years War up to this point.
A full-feature film is currently in production called
Star Trek: Axanar, which has raised about $638,000 on Kickstarter (once again, much more than what was originally asked), partly thanks to
George Takei publicly expressing interest in the film. Besides the above-mentioned returnees, the film is set to cast Garrett Wang (Harry Kim in
Star Trek: Voyager) as a Klingon cruiser commander. Currently, the production of the film is up in the air after
Paramount slapped the company with a lawsuit. Additionally, Tony Todd tweeted that he has left the project several months prior to that.
Prelude to Axanar provides examples of:
- Batman Gambit: The first stage in Garth's plan is to feed the Klingons information that the new Constitution class ships are nearing completion at Axanar. This is actually a lie; when we see the ships in dry dock they're clearly in Earth orbit (and the Enterprise was built above San Francisco in canon).
- Beware the Nice Ones: The Federation after being pushed to the point of defeat by the Klingon Fleet. Ambassador Soval: 'An Andorian acquaintance once said: "Don't push the pink-skins to the thin ice." It wasn't very eloquent, but... the Klingons found it to prove quite prophetic.'
- The Captain: Admiral Travis (he was a captain during the actual war), Captain Alexander, and Captain Garth are the three most prominent Starfleet captains during the war.
- Cool Ship: The Ares-class cruisers are the first dedicated warships designed and built by Starfleet. They prove to be more than a match for the D6 battlecruisers, the current workhorses of the Klingon fleet, which were previously rolling over everything else the Federation had. Visually, it's similar to the Constitution class, but with the warp nacelles being below instead of above.
- Confusion Fu: When the Federation started to turn the tide, a factor that helped them was that the various species of the Federation liked to serve among their own kind and that they all had their own tactics and strategies. This made Federation starships incredibly difficult to predict, much to the frustration of the Klingons.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Near the end of the film, Admiral Ramirez asks his three most trusted and experienced captains to come up with a plan to hold off the Klingons while the new Constitution-class heavy cruisers are completed. The plan Garth comes up with is stated to be this trope, although the details are left to the feature film. The only thing stated is that the chosen battleground is the Axanar system, where two of the newest ships are being built (the Constitution and the Enterprise).
- Also, the maneuver Garth pulls off during the first engagement of the Ares-class cruisers. Himself commanding the lead ship USS Ares, he uses the distraction provided by Captain Alexander's USS Ajax to gun at full impulse straight at a D6, something no other Starfleet captain would be stupid enough to do due to the fact that it leaves his ship vulnerable. In the documentary, Alexander calls it "like a Klingon maneuver", while Garth himself merely states that he wanted to test if the ship really was as tough as the designers had claimed. She was. Totally unprepared for this, the D6 takes a pair of torpedoes right in the long "neck", blasting the ship in two. It's no wonder Admiral Travis calls Garth "that crazy Izarian son-of-a-bitch".
- Documentary Episode: The whole short film is an in-universe documentary made by the noted historian John Gill made some time after the end of the Four Years War.
- Lensman Arms Race: At first, the Klingons dominate the battlefield with their D6 battlecruisers. Then Admiral Ramirez commissions the construction of the Ares-class cruisers, the first dedicated Federation warships, which prove to be more than a match to the D6. In response, Kharn orders the design of the more advanced D7, which is supposed to be able to rip the Ares-class cruisers to shreds. As a counter, Starfleet is in the process of finishing the construction on the first of the new Constitution-class heavy cruisers. It's a race against time as to who can bring their ships into battle first.
- Let's Get Dangerous: The early stages of the war do not go well for the Federation, to say the least. The Klingons are dominating at every turn, and nothing Starfleet throws at them works. It's not until Admiral Ramirez is appointed Commander-in-Chief that he is determined to turn the tide by showing the Klingons that no one fucks with the Federation.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The Klingon High Council ignore Kharn's advice to accelerate the construction of their new D7 cruisers, not seeing the Federation as a real threat to their existing forces. The result is that the new Ares class ships are able to turn the tide against the D6 fleet instead of being shredded by the superior D7s. Kharn himself also does this, allowing his forces use "the strategy of least respect", purposely fighting in an inefficient manner to show contempt for their enemies. He notes in the documentary that this led to them squandering their initial momentum and advantage.
- Nicknaming the Enemy: After the introduction of the Ares-class cruisers, the Klingon start giving out nicknames to their captains, whom they now see as Worthy Opponents. Captain Kelvar Garth becomes "Garth of Izar", which he admits is not the worst name a Klingon can call you with, while Captain Sonya Alexander gets called the far less flattering "Queen Bitch Whore of the Federation".
- Prequel: To all Star Trek series except for Enterprise.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: The stated names of Ares-class ships all come from Classical Mythology (Ares, Ajax, Hercules). All warriors, as befits the first dedicated class of warships.
- Technical Pacifist: Vulcan refuses to contribute any actual weapon designs to the new Federation warships, although they do design some of the other systems. They are debating whether to withdraw support for the war effort entirely.
- Violence Is the Only Option: When interviewed, Soval regrets that the Vulcan diplomatic delegation has little room to maneuver, as the Klingons see the Federation as weak and unable to defend itself, so they see no reason to negotiate.
- Worthy Opponent: The Klingons finally start seeing the Federation as this after the introduction of the Ares-class cruisers. Specifically, they see the three most decorated captains (Travis, Alexander, and Garth) as this trope. Inverted earlier in the war, where they purposely use bad strategy as a mark of contempt and are only impressed by the Federation forces dying well.
