Prelude To Axanar
This is an episode of a fan-made series whose storyline may be invalidated by later official studio productions.
Stardate 2241.03: Decades of long-simmering tensions between the Klingon Empire and the young United Federation of Planets explode into war when the Klingons attack the colonized Arcanis system, on the border between Federation and Klingon space. With Starfleet spread thin as the Federation expands, Arcanis falls quickly to the Klingons’ might, and the taste of fresh victory spurs to Klingons to continue their advance into Fedeation space. With the promotion of Admiral Ramirez to lead Starfleet, development begins on a new class of Starfleet vessel capable of meeting the Klingons on an equal footing. Captain Kevlar Garth and Captain Sonya Alexander are among the sharp tacticians who begin to turn the tide against the Klingons, handing them their first defeats.
written by Alec Peters & Christian Gossett
directed by Christian Gossett
music by Alexander BornsteinCast: Richard Hatch (Commander Kharn), Tony Todd (Admiral Ramirez), Kate Vernon (Captain Alexander), J.G. Hertzler (Admiral Travis), Ambassador Soval (Gary Graham), Alec Peters (Captain Garth), Orion Acaba (Narrator), Steven Jepson (Admiral Slater)
Notes: Tony Todd appeared as Worf’s brother, Kurn, in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Though often remembered as Ellen Tigh in the 21st century reboot of Battlestar Galactica, Kate Vernon has also appeared in Star Trek (namely, the In The Flesh episode of Voyager). J.G. Hertzler was a recurring guest star in Deep Space Nine’s fourth through seventh seasons as the Klingon General Martok, while former Alien Nation star Gary Graham appeared in many episodes of Enterprise as Ambassador Soval. Richard Hatch was Apollo in the original 1970s iteration of Battlestar Galactica, while narrator Orion Acaba is the voice of Clyde in Pac-Man And The Ghostly Adventures.
Garth of Izar was seen in the classic Star Trek episode Whom Gods Destroy, many years after the events of this story, by which point he had gone mad, gone rogue, and has been given shapeshifting ability; his historic feats at the battle of Axanar are briefly mentioned in that episode. This “historical film” is narrated by “John Gill”, a Federation historian who himself went rogue, also encountered by Captain Kirk and company in Patterns Of Force. The Four Years War between the Federation and the Klingons, the Arcanis surprise attack, and Garth’s command of the Marklin-class U.S.S. Xenophon, are lifted directly from the Four Years War expansion module of FASA’s 1980s Star Trek Role Playing Game; other characters, ships and locations are new creations. Co-writer and co-star Alec Peters has worked on Star Trek in an official capacity for CBS, overseeing the auctions of props, models and costumes from all of the television series following the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise; as head of his own company, he was instrumental in recovering the original ’60s Galileo shuttlecraft prop and arranging for its restoration, after which the prop “landed” at the visitor center at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Director and co-writer Christian Gossett is a well-regarded comic writer and artist, known for creating the military-sci-fi-with-magic comic The Red Star. His media credits include work on the 2005 King Kong remake, the screenplay for the video game Pitfall 3-D: Beyond The Jungle, and concept art for Star Wars Episode I and Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland.
Notes: The Doctor, in his tenth incarnation, encountered similar self-repairing robots aboard the S.S. Madame du Pompadour in The Girl In The Fireplace (2006), also written by Steven Moffat. This is the first post-regeneration story in the history of Doctor Who that features a new scene shot with the previous Doctor.
Jessica Marlowe arrives at space station Omega 76 to begin a tour of duty as the station’s second-in-command under uptight Captain Glenn, whose previous second-in-command left under mysterious (and much-gossiped-about) circumstances. She meets the station’s other personnel and spouses in rapid succession, including Ted and his wife Misty, the latter of whom has an oddly distant relationship with both her husband and their daughter, and Steve and Donna, both eager to move on to a better posting than Omega 76. Jessica, unable to have children of her own, quickly befriends Ted and his daughter, as Misty grows jealous of her presence. Glenn continually questions Jessica’s fitness for duty and her every suggestion, until she realizes that his relationship with her predecessor was more than just professional. She finds that her feelings for one of her new crewmates is entering that territory as well.
Victor Togunde (James), Jonny Jay (Trucker), Mike Stoyanov (Dr. Bot), Susan Currie (Steve’s Mom), Hart Keathley (Donna’s Baby), Anna Sophie Burglund (Star Angel), Sam Pancake (Saul), Katherine Ann McGregor (Janice), Julia E.L. Wood (Susan), Phillip Agresta (Crew Member), Kevin Beltz (Crew Member), Billy Brooks (Crew Member), Dan Burks (Crew Member), Melodi Hallenbeck (Crew Member), Marianne Heath (Crew Member), Matthew Horn (Crew Member), Shannon Jones (Crew Member), Alexander Koehne (Crew Member), Ilana Marks (Crew Member), Ken Koyasu Park (Crew Member), Jack Plotnick (Crew Member), Rachel Ward (Crew Member), Garrett Watts (Crew Member)
Notes: Star Wars: Rebels takes place five years before the original Star Wars, and 14 years after Revenge Of The Sith. Few Jedi escaped the Order 66 massacre in the latter movie, but Kanan Jarrus was a young Jedi at the time and has escaped detection by putting his Force abilities to use as a privateer. The Jedi Holocrons were first seen on TV in Rebels’ predecessor series, Star Wars: Clone Wars, but mentions of them in print media preceded their appearance in filmed media. Many of the show’s designs were based on unused or early Ralph McQuarrie designs for the original trilogy.
Cast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Amda Wabo / Stormtrooper Commander), David Oyelowo (Agent Kallus), Phil LaMarr (Bail Organa), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Keith Szarabajka (Vizago / Dispatcher / Imperial Officer), Kath Soucie (Minister Maketh Tua), Paul Reubens (RX-24)
Notes: Anthony Daniels continues his hat trick of having played C-3PO in nearly every audiovisual offshoot of the Star Wars universe, including the original films. Phil Lamarr reprises the role of Bail Organa, who he voiced in many Clone Wars episodes (as well as other characters such as Jedi Knight Kit Fisto). Paul Reubens originated the voice of RX-24 in Disneyland’s long-running Star Tours ride in 1987, which was also the source of the passenger vehicle piloted by RX-24 in this episode, marking the first on-screen validation of Star Tours.
Cast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Stormtrooper Commander), David Shaughnessy (Vendor 1 / Imperial Transport Driver), Liam O’Brien (Yogar Lyste / Morad Sumar / Stormtrooper 1), Greg Ellis (Baron Valen Rudor)
upon 
Cast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus / Stormtrooper 1), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Alton Kastle / Stormtrooper Commander), Brent Spiner (Gall Trayvis), Greg Weisman (Stormtrooper 3), Jason Isaacs (The Inquisitor)
apprentice of Jedi Master Depa Bilaba, a fact confirmed both by the Rebels prequel novel A New Dawn and future episodes of the series. Luminara Unduli’s death in Imperial captivity contradicts some earlier accounts of the Jedi Master’s death; those earlier reports of her death on Kashyyyk have been relegated to the “Legends” timeline, along with much of the Expanded Universe predating the Lucasfilm sale to Disney. Guest star Brent Spiner played Lt. Commander Data in every season and movie spinoff of Star Trek: The Next Generation; this is his first role in a Star Wars production.
Cast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus / Stormtrooper 1), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Walker Pilot), David Oyelowo (Agent Kallus), David Shaugnessy (Commandant Aresko / Taskmaster Grint), Liam O’Brien (Commander), Dante Basco (Jai Kell), Eric Lopez (Nazhros Oleg / Technician), Jason Isaacs (The Inquisitor), Bryton James (Zare Leonis)
Cast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus / Stormtrooper 1), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb)
Cast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Alton Kastle / Stormtrooper Commander), David Oyelowo (Agent Kallus), David Shaughnessy (Commandant Aresko/ Stormtrooper / Taskmaster Grint), Dee Bradley Baker (Ephraim Bridger / Old Jho), Brent Spiner (Gall Trayvis), David Acord (Lead TIE Fighter Pilot / Pilot #2), Kath Soucie (Minister Maketh Tua / Mira Bridger), Jason Isaacs (The Inquisitor), Peter MacNicol (Tseebo)
Cast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Alton Kastle / Stormtrooper Commander), Dee Bradley Baker (Admiral Kassius Konstantine), Matthew Wood (Stormtrooper Squad Leader), Jason Isaacs (The Inquisitor), Peter MacNicol (Tseebo)
Cast: Peter Capaldi (
Notes: Michael Troughton is the son of Patrick Troughton, who was the second Doctor from 1966 through 1969; Michael’s brother David appeared in the David Tennant episode Midnight. Nick Frost has co-starred with Simon Pegg (the Editor from The Long Game) in a number of movies co-written and produced by Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shaun Of The Dead, and The World’s End), as well as co-starring in the series Spaced with Pegg.
Cast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb), Jason Isaacs (The Inquisitor), Frank Oz (Yoda)
Cast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steven Blum (Zeb / Scanning Technician), Dee Bradley Baker (Admiral Kassius Konstantine / Old Jho / TIE Pilot #2), James Hong (Azmorigan), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Ben Diskin (TIE Pilot #1)