2014 feature press kit - axanar productions · 2018. 8. 27. · 4 contact: alec peters — axanar...

2014 FEATURE Press Kit

CONTACT: Alec Peters — Axanar Productions — 10901 Whipple St. #208, Toluca Lake, CA 91602 phone: 404-918-1701 — email: [email protected] — www.StarTrekAxanar.com

©2014 Star Trek: Axanar. STAR TREK and all related marks, logos and characters are owned by CBS Studios Inc. This website, the promotion thereof and/or any exhibi-

tion of material created by the operators of this website are not endorsed or sponsored by or affiliated with CBS/Paramount Pictures or the STAR TREK franchise.

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Table of Contents

The Story of Star Trek: Axanar

Synopsis & Essential Information

Featured Cast

Featured Crew

Production F.A.Q.

Star Trek Continuity F.A.Q.

Internet Resources & Video Links

Interview & Podcast Links

Production Contacts

Publicity Stills

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“Axanar” takes place 21 years before the events of “Where No Man Has Gone

Before”, the first Kirk episode of the original Star Trek. Axanar is the story of

Garth of Izar, the legendary Starfleet captain who is Captain Kirk’s hero. Kirk

himself called Garth the model for all future Starfleet Officers. Garth charted

more planets than any other Captain and was the hero of the Battle of Ax-

anar, the story of which is required reading at the academy. This is that story.

“Axanar” tells the story of Garth and his crew during the Four Years War, the

war with the Klingon Empire that almost tore the Federation apart. Garth’s

victory at Axanar solidified the Federation and allowed it to become the entity

we know in Kirk’s time.

It is the year 2245, four years into the war with the Klingons.

The Story of Star Trek: Axanar

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Star Trek: 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.

The story of Garth of Izar, a character only seen in one episode of the original

Star Trek, is one writer/producer Alec Peters first wrote 20 years ago. It was-

n’t until 3 years ago, after playing Garth in the well known Star Trek: Phase II

fan film, did Alec turn the story into a screenplay.

But making a fan film was not of interest to Alec. A veteran entrepreneur and

a 2004 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner, Alec decided that if

he was going to make Axanar, it needed to look like a real film. So Alec re-

cruited his good friend Christian Gossett. A visual artist whose ground break-

ing graphic novel “The Red Star” includes James Cameron and Ridley Scott

among his fans. His first short film has won several awards on the film festi-

val circuit and his second film looks like it has Oscar potential in the short

film category.

Axanar has already begun to attract attention from Star Trek fans who want to

see something new and innovative that honors the Star Trek they grew up

on. If hundreds of thousands of fans are willing to see fan films that recreate

TOS (The Original Series), then there is a huge appetite for something new

and original and professionally made.

Axanar will start shooting in May 2014 and be released Winter 2014.

Synopsis & Essential Information

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Richard Hatch as Commander Kharn

The world-famous actor and writer, Richard Hatch is best known for his roles in both the original as well

as re-imagined versions of Battlestar Galactica, as well as for his tireless attempts keep the series alive

in the public consciousness, notably in the form of his promotional trailer, Battlestar Galactica: The Sec-

ond Coming, as well as in a number of critically acclaimed novels. As the Klingon general in Axanar, he

is excited to be a part of the extended Star Trek universe, which inspired him as a young actor when he

first encountered the original series.

Featured Cast

Tony Todd as Admiral Ramirez

Tony Todd will be forever memorable from his titular role from the Candyman horror franchise, but science fiction

fans will also remember him from his vast array of roles. He's been a character on all three of the Star Trek: The

Next Generation era series, including the recurring character of Worf's younger brother, Kurn. His roles on Baby-

lon 5, X-Files, and Stargate SG-1 have made him a respected figure within the sci-fi genre. His credits include

more than 100 television episodes and dozens of feature films. His love of the stage has also kept him busy both

on and off-broadway. Todd's considerable theatre credits include the world premiere of award-winning playwright

August Wilson's "King Hedley II", where he originated the title role in Pittsburgh, Seattle and Boston. Variety com-

mented: "Todd's King Hedley dominates the stage. A sour-faced mix of rage and resolve, anger and vulnerability."

we're thrilled to have Tony joining Axanar where his firm determination and strength as Admiral Ramirez, su-

preme commander of Starfleet.

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Gary Graham as Vulcan Ambassador Soval

Gary has more than 80 credits to his name on television as well as movies, ranging from Moonlighting

and Alien Nation to Nip/Tuck and the Jace Hall Show. We're thrilled to have Gary with us as he will be

reprising his role of the Vulcan Ambassador Soval, whom he previously played on Star Trek: Enterprise.

He is also the author of Acting & Other Flying Lessons: A practical guide to acting on a film set.

J.G. Hertzler as Captain Samuel Travis

John has played a wide range of characters during his tenure on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Voyager,

and Enterprise. Having been alternatively a Klingon, Vulcan, Hirogen, and a shape shifter, he brings a

great background of experience in characterization to the cast of Axanar. Beyond the Star Trek fran-

chise, he has also been on many other shows, including Six Feet Under, Charmed, Quantum Leap, and

Highlander: The Series.

Featured Cast

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Kate Vernon as Captain Sonya Alexander

Kate has had an amazing career spanning more than three decades, from 80's classics Pretty in Pink

and Falcon Crest, to her recent renoun as Ellen Tigh on Battlestar Galactica, and as Vanessa Wheeler

on Heroes. Never one to be typecast, Kate's career has allowed her to work alongside many of TV and

Film Industry leading writers, directors & producers such as Spike Lee, Peter Medak, Ronald D. Moore,

David Eick, Joe Cacaci, David Weddle, Michael Nankin and John Woo. In Axanar, Kate will be Captain

Sonya Alexander: Sonya is a firebrand and hard driver, with a reputation of fierce determination. She is

second only to Garth in the number of Klingon ships destroyed during the war.

Featured Cast

Garrett Wang as Captain Morrock

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Featured Cast

Ana Alexander as (to be announced)

Alec Peters as Garth of Izar

The leader and visionary of the Axanar project, Alec is the epitome of someone who discovers their call-

ing and succeeds in pursuing it. Making the jump from lawyer to NCAA and US National team volleyball

coach to successful entrepreneur, developing a sports management firm, a technology company and a

successful auction house. His passion for Star Trek in particular has led him to become a producer and

actor. Alec had a cameo appearance as Garth of Izar in the Star Trek Phase II episode "Origins" which

lead to the development of "Axanar", which will explore the legend of the man who Captain Kirk consid-

ered his personal hero.

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David Gerrold Creative Consultant

David is a Hugo and Nebula award winning screenwriter and novelist (and also actor). His creations in-

clude some of the most critically acclaimed episodes from more than a dozen series including Star Trek,

Babylon 5, Sliders, and The Twilight Zone. He is the writer of The Trouble with Tribbles, the Star Trek epi-

sode which regularly tops the most-favorite lists. From screen to bookshelves, his novels, adaptations,

and shows continue to capture the hearts and imaginations of a new generation of fans.

Featured Crew

Christian Gossett Director

Christian Gossett was one of the first designers hired by Lucasfilm Licensing to retro-design the Star

Wars galaxy in 1993. Gossett was only 23 years old when his radical concept drawing of a ‘double-

bladed lightsaber’ was presented to George Lucas. George’s approval memo hangs in a frame on the

wall of Gossett’s studio. Seven years later, this design would be made famous as Darth Maul’s signa-

ture weapon in The Phantom Menace. Bringing this same unique talent to bear when designing charac-

ters and weapons for the film and video game industry, Gossett’s character and concept designs have

been sought by such visionaries as George Lucas, Peter Jackson, and Tim Burton’s new adventures of

Disney’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Gossett’s ongoing project, The Red Star, having successfully launched

as a PS2 / PS3 game, is now in development as a feature film at Warner Brothers.

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Tobias Richter VFX Lead

VFX wizard extraordinaire, Tobias Richter, comes to Axanar all the way from Cologne, Germany, where

he helms his own visual effects company, The Light Works. With an accomplished track record spanning

more than 20 years in both television and computer games, his work has been featured in the Star

Trek: The Next Generation Blu-ray box sets, the upcoming independent film The 5th Passenger, and a

large number of successful games, including the LucasArts Rogue Leader series.

Robert Meyer Burnett Editor

Burnett directed the movie Free Enterprise and the short film, The Sacred Fire. He has edited over 10

feature films, and worked as a Star Trek consultant for Star Trek: The Experience. Working for NBC, he

wrote, edited, produced, or directed over 100 promotional clips for the Summer Olympics in Sydney,

Australia, and the 2000-2001 lineup. Burnett produced extras for special edition DVDs including Dis-

ney's The Fantasia Anthology and Snow White, and the Extended Editions of the Lord of the Rings films.

He has worked on the Special Editions of The Usual Suspects, Valley Girl, Superman Returns, Spider-

Man, X-MEN 1.5, and X2. Most recently, he edited, wrote and produced the special features for Saturn

Award winning Blu-ray releases of all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Featured Crew

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Featured Crew

Alexander Bornstein Composer

Alexander Bornstein is a composer currently based in Los Angeles. His music has been heard on televi-

sion (Showtime Network, Logo), independent feature films/documentaries in the festival circuit, and

concert halls around the U.S. His work has brought him through major music studios including Remote

Control Productions and Sonic Fuel Studios. Alexander is also a graduate of New York University’s music

composition program. Before this, he studied music and filmmaking at the University of Central Florida

in Orlando.

Mark Edward Lewis Post Production Supervisor

Highly inventive US film composer and post production supervisor, Mark Edward Lewis has combined

an industry recognized ability to develop production workflow processes along with fifteen years of ex-

perience as an editor and audio mixer. Never satisfied with wearing just one or two hats, he has moved

on to write and direct award winning documentaries and shorts. Having spent time as a Cinematogra-

pher for the Veria network, he shot nearly 50 television episodes and created the look for two full se-

ries. He continues to edit, compose, mix, conduct and even direct from time to time, but his passion lies

in bringing all the disciplines together in the story-making part of production: post production.

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Is Star Trek: Axanar licensed by CBS/Paramount?

No, Star Trek: Axanar is an independent project that uses the intel-

lectual property of CBS under the provision that Axanar is totally non

-commercial. That means we can never charge for anything. We

will never sell the movie, DVD’s, T-shirts, or anything which uses

CBS intellectual property.

So why are you making Axanar?

Because we want to make something so spectacular, that it serves

as a resume and calling card for our work in the industry.

How is Axanar being financed?

Axanar is being funded through a series of Kickstarter cam-

paigns. The short film Prelude to Axanar has executed a successful

fundraiser that has raised over $ 50,000. This will fully fund the

short film and give the Axanar production team a start on the ex-

penses for Axanar.

How can I help?

If you work in the film & television industry and want to be part of

the crew, please understand that everyone is working for free. If

you are still interested, contact us at [email protected].

Are you an actor? Most of the major roles have been cast. None

the less, there are many background and extra roles available in

both the Los Angeles and New York shoots. Contact us at cast-

[email protected].

Don’t have either of those skill sets? Axanar needs marketing asso-

ciates. People like yourself who love Star Trek can help spread the

word and be part of our team. Contact us at

[email protected].

And if you just want to spread the word on Facebook and Twitter, or

at the local conventions, join the Axanar Marines, our "street

team". Just search for Axanar Marines on Facebook.

Production F.A.Q. — Frequently Asked Questions

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When does Axanar take place?

Star Trek: Axanar is the story of Garth of Izar and the Four Years

War. It takes place in 2245, 9 years before “The Cage (2254) and

21 years before Where No Man Has Gone Before (2266). Axanar

takes place in the prime timeline.

Why does the USS Ares deflector look more like a

TMP deflector?

What did the Reliant’s deflector look like? What did the NX-01’s de-

flector look like? There are many different types of Starfleet ships

and many different types of deflectors. Some you can’t even see

(like the Reliant) as the function isn’t fulfilled by a “dish”. So that

being said, the USS Ares deflector is different as it is a different

class of ship. Why do the Ares crew have the Starfleet chevron on

their chest? Don’t ships of that era each have

their own patch?

In TOS season one’s “Court Martial”, we see that everyone in Star-

fleet has a chevron patch. But in season two, we see unique ship

patches for the Exeter (Omega Glory) and the Constellation (The

Doomsday Machine). This is an internal contradiction that cannot

be reconciled. Even Mike Okuda agrees this is the case. And as

Mike explained, Bob Justman the producer wanted everyone to use

the Starfleet patch (presumably for financial reasons) while it was

Bill Theiss, the costume designer, that introduced separate patches.

So BOTH of these are correct. We choose to honor this by giving the

crew of our Starships both the Starfleet patch AND their own ship

patch.

Star Trek Continuity F.A.Q. — Frequently Asked Questions

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Will there be Aliens on the USS Ares?

Since Axanar takes place in the Prime universe, 20 years before

TOS, we try to fit into what we see in TOS. So, the question is not

only are there aliens aboard the USS Ares, but are there aliens in

Starfleet in the Prime universe?

Well, let’s see what TOS had to say about those questions…

1. There are no aliens on the USS Enterprise in TOS. The only ex-

ception is Spock, who is half-Vulcan.

2. Spock is the only alien we see in Starfleet until TMP.

3. The Vulcans fully crew the USS Intrepid (destroyed in the Immu-

nity Syndrome). Thus, this must be under Vulcan control, not Star-

fleet.

4. Kirk refers to UESPA, the United Earth Space Probe Agency, which

we see in “Enterprise” as well and is referred to in both as “Starfleet

Command”.

So it seems we don't have integrated crews 100 years after the

founding of the Federation. (Granted we see a few aliens in the crew

of the Kelvin in the JJverse, but we assume they are exceptions). So

from the above 4 facts, it appears that maybe each member of the

Federation has its own fleet. And maybe they coordinate, but they

certainly don't integrate.

In Axanar you WILL see Vulcans in the Federation, and you WILL see

an Andorian captain. And if we play it right, a whole ship crewed by

Andorians.

How did you design the world of “Axanar”

Designing the world of Star Trek that takes place 20 years before

TOS is a very challenging endeavor. Many people complain that

“Enterprise” didn’t seem to fit into the timeline. Meaning, how do

you get from “Enterprise” to TOS? Unfortunately, TOS was designed

in 1966 with an almost 50 year old view of what the future would be

like.

When we now look at the future, things that were cutting edge like

desktop monitors and data PADDs are already obsolete by current

standards. So we assume that Star Trek is simply one possible fu-

ture, where the Eugenics Wars happened and history unfolded dif-

ferently. We accept that the future looks like TOS and we try to esti-

mate what technology 20 years before TOS would look like. But we

do that with our current view of technology and design aesthetics.

Star Trek Continuity F.A.Q. — Frequently Asked Questions

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Internet Resources & Video Links

Website

http://startrekaxanar.com/

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/StarTrekAxanar

Twitter

https://twitter.com/StarTrekAxanar

YouTube

http://linku.la/c1xe3

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Interview & Podcast Links

Priority One Podcast #163

http://linku.la/bxzjk

Starfleet Escape Podcast #34

http://linku.la/bxzht

Trek.fm—Matter Stream #21

http://linku.la/bxzha

1701 Podcast

http://linku.la/bxzgx

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Production Contacts

Crew Inquiries

[email protected]

Casting Inquiries

[email protected]

Marketing Inquiries

[email protected]

Interview Inquiries

[email protected]

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Richard Hatch as Commander Kharn

Publicity Stills

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Tony Todd as Admiral Ramirez

Publicity Stills

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J.G. Hertzler as Captain Samuel Travis

Publicity Stills

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Gary Graham as Vulcan Ambassador Soval

Publicity Stills

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Kate Vernon as Captain Sonya Alexander

Publicity Stills

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Garrett Wang as Captain Morrock

Publicity Stills

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Ana Alexander as (to be announced)

Publicity Stills

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Alec Peters as Garth of Izar

Publicity Stills

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U.S.S. ARES

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2014 feature press kit - axanar productions · 2018. 8. 27. · 4 contact: alec peters — axanar...

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