2014 FEATURE Press Kit

Home , Kate Vernon, Prelude to Axanar, Robert Meyer Burnett, Tony Todd

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. Table of Contents

The Story of Star Trek: Axanar Page 3 Synopsis & Essential Information Page 4 Featured Cast Page 5 Featured Crew Page 9 Production F.A.Q. Page 12 Star Trek Continuity F.A.Q. Page 13 Internet Resources & Video Links Page 15 Interview & Podcast Links Page 16 Production Contacts Page 17 Publicity Stills Page 18

“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.

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 breaking 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 festival 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.

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.

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.

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 franchise, he has also been on many other shows, including Six Feet Under, Charmed, Quantum Leap, and Highlander: The Series.

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.

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.

Garrett Wang  as Captain Morrock

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 calling 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.

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 characters 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.

David Gerrold Creative Consultant

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

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.

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.

Alexander Bornstein Composer

Alexander Bornstein is a composer currently based in Los Angeles. His music has been heard on television (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 experience 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 series. 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.

Is Star Trek: Axanar licensed by CBS/Paramount? How is Axanar being financed?

No, Star Trek: Axanar is an independent project that uses the intel- Axanar is being funded through a series of Kickstarter cam- lectual property of CBS under the provision that Axanar is totally non paigns. The short film Prelude to Axanar has executed a successful -commercial. That means we can never charge for anything. We fundraiser that has raised over $ 50,000. This will fully fund the will never sell the movie, DVD’s, T-shirts, or anything which uses short film and give the Axanar production team a start on the ex- CBS intellectual property. penses for Axanar.

So why are you making Axanar? How can I help?

Because we want to make something so spectacular, that it serves If you work in the film & television industry and want to be part of as a resume and calling card for our work in the industry. 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.

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 deflector 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.

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.

How did you design the world of “Axanar” 3. The Vulcans fully crew the USS Intrepid (destroyed in the Immu- nity Syndrome). Thus, this must be under Vulcan control, not Star- Designing the world of Star Trek that takes place 20 years before fleet. TOS is a very challenging endeavor. Many people complain that “Enterprise” didn’t seem to fit into the timeline. Meaning, how do 4. Kirk refers to UESPA, the United Earth Space Probe Agency, which you get from “Enterprise” to TOS? Unfortunately, TOS was designed we see in “Enterprise” as well and is referred to in both as “Starfleet in 1966 with an almost 50 year old view of what the future would be Command”. like. So it seems we don't have integrated crews 100 years after the When we now look at the future, things that were cutting edge like founding of the Federation. (Granted we see a few aliens in the crew desktop monitors and data PADDs are already obsolete by current of the Kelvin in the JJverse, but we assume they are exceptions). So standards. So we assume that Star Trek is simply one possible fu- from the above 4 facts, it appears that maybe each member of the ture, where the Eugenics Wars happened and history unfolded dif- Federation has its own fleet. And maybe they coordinate, but they ferently. We accept that the future looks like TOS and we try to esti- certainly don't integrate. mate what technology 20 years before TOS would look like. But we do that with our current view of technology and design aesthetics. 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.

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Richard Hatch as Commander Kharn

Tony Todd as Admiral Ramirez

J.G. Hertzler as Captain Samuel Travis

Gary Graham as Vulcan Ambassador Soval

Kate Vernon as Captain Sonya Alexander

Garrett Wang as Captain Morrock

Ana Alexander as (to be announced)

Alec Peters as Garth of Izar

U.S.S. ARES