Christian Gossett (comic book artist, and the man who invented the beloved double-bladed light sabre) and Alec Peters (a bonafide ‘Star Trek’ archivist who worked on traveling ‘Star Trek’ exhibitions’) have released an extended teaser of a documentary featuring the Four Years War, called ‘Prelude to Axanar.’

The purpose of the film (other than make something awesome) was to prove that high quality ‘Star Trek‘ films can be made on a low budget. And boy, did they succeed.

The Four Years War is an event usually only referred to in ‘Star Trek’ canon in passing in order to illustrate the tensions that still exist between the Federation and the Klingons, and is the only truly “hot” war between the two empires. This “documentary” looks at the people who played a role, the strategies the empires employed, and history of the war in  a way that canon never had.

Its special effects, ship designs, and editing are jaw dropping to begin with, but add in the fact that Gary Graham came back to play Sovol (you know, the jerk Vulcan ambassador who wouldn’t let Archer have his wings), and JG Hertzler (some may remember him as General Martok) has a role as well, you know that this episode is an incredibly special.

Other notable actors include Richard Hatch (mother freakin’ Apollo from the original ‘Battlestar Galactica‘ and Tom Zarek from the new version), Tony Todd (CIA Director Graham from ‘Chuck’) and Kate Vernon (‘Battlestar Galactica’). The cast is to die for, and it’s amazing that something unofficial and fanmade can aspire to such high quality!

What’s even better is that it features the old character, Garth of Izar. ‘TOS’ fans will remember this character as the captain that descended into madness and attempted genocide, and also one the potential villains for the movie reboots. ‘Star Trek: Axanar’, however, looks at him before his fall from grace, giving the audience a very human perspective on the character.

The only downside? The video is only twenty minutes long. If we want more, we gotta crowdfund it.

The Kickstarter for the full length feature, ‘Star Trek: Axanar,’ has  a few days left to go and has already almost tripled its funding goal. Still, if you want to see more, be sure to go over and contribute to what looks like to be a very promising ‘Star Trek’ film that all fans can enjoy.

You can watch the short movie here: