{{:horizon-sequel.jpg?nolink}} \\
<wrap lo>**TOMMY KRAFT'S** fan film, //Star Trek–Horizon//, is set to overtake //Prelude to Axanar// on YouTube.</wrap>

===== Why Star Trek–Horizon’s Success Matters =====

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//**__Analysis__**// \\
<wrap lo>{{:user:carlos-doku.jpg?nolink&60|}} \\ By [[user>cpedraza|Carlos Pedraza]] \\
**AxaMonitor** editor \\
August 18, 2016</wrap>
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//**Star Trek–Horizon**// remains on track to surpass //Prelude to Axanar// on YouTube on or about August 23. Why is this important? Chiefly, because //Prelude//'s popularity is central to Axanar's claim of legitimacy as "the most successful Star Trek fan film ever."

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<wrap lo><wrap em>UPDATE</wrap> Just before 2 pm PDT, August 23, 2016, //Star Trek–Horizon// overtook //Prelude to Axanar//. //Horizon// had logged 2,565,757 views, compared to //Prelude// at 2,564,967.</wrap>
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//<wrap lo>See also: [[axanar-accusation|Axanar Accuses Horizon of Buying Views]]// and //[[dummy_tweets|What's Behind All the Simultaneous ‘Prelude’ Tweets?]]</wrap>//

[{{ ::horizon-stats.jpg?direct&300|**NIPPING AT THE HEELS** of //Prelude to Axanar//'s astonishing viewership is upstart fan film //Star Trek–Horizon//, projected to surpass //Prelude//'s views on August 23. (Click icon to view full size)}}]

You see the narrative spun repeatedly in //Axanar// director Robert Meyer Burnett's Twitter posts and most recently in [[Alec Peters]]' interview for Reason magazine's video. Central to their narrative is the notion that millions of fans watched and enjoyed //Prelude//, and that their wishes for more  content justified Axanar's eventual fundraising goal of $2 million. 

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//**__« It's ironic that //Axanar//, a fan film concept drawn from the Original Series, is being rapidly eclipsed by the one set in the much-maligned //Enterprise// era. »__**//
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And while //Prelude// is, indeed, a notable achievement, its claim has been [[dummy_tweets|quietly threatened]] by an upstart, [[kraft_experience|Tommy Kraft]], whose film //Horizon// has almost eclipsed //Prelude'//s YouTube views in only five months since its release; it took two years for //Prelude// to accumulate that many views.

**ON TWITTER**, in the meantime, Axanar [[axanar-accusation|disputed the validity]] of the viewer numbers, accusing //Horizon//'s producers of artificially inflating viewers by [[buying-youtube|buying YouTube views]].

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[{{ ::rmb-twitter.jpg?150|Axanar director **Rob Burnett**}}]
**Axanar Director Won't Define //Prelude//'s Success** \\
<wrap em>UPDATE</wrap> In a Twitter exchange August 18, //Axanar// director Robert Meyer Burnett, who had boasted in July that //Prelude// was the most successful Star Trek fan film [[https://twitter.com/BurnettRM/status/751604413811134469|"by any metric,"]] refused to lay claim to any particular metric when confronted with //Horizon//'s rapid growth in viewers.

"Nobody cares how many views //Prelude to Axanar// has on YouTube … except you," Burnett tweeted.(([[twit>BurnettRM/status/766508150883168256|Robert Meyer Burnett tweet]], 8/18/16.))

In the discussion that followed, I asked, "Seriously though, I'm interested in the metrics you used in claiming //Prelude to Axanar// is the most successful fan film." \\
**Burnett**: I leave that up to you. \\
**AxaMonitor**: So. Just boast, and then … "We do not discuss it with outsiders..."? \\
**Burnett**: C'mon now...you're the expert...again...I ask..what do YOU think?(([[twit>AxaMonitor/status/766518938226221056|AxaMonitor tweet and replies]], 8/18/16.))
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The more rapid growth of //Horizon// is not the only important difference between it and //Axanar.// Tommy Kraft pulled this off with a budget of less than $30,000 — a feature film, widely praised and wildly popular, that delivered what it promised.

Axanar, by comparison, with its fundraising success, decided to prioritize building an [[annual_report#the_infrastructure_kickstarter|expensive revenue-generating studio]] ahead of actually producing a film. The cost for that sucked up the biggest chunk — [[annual_report#axanar_spending_by_category|38 percent]] — of Axanar's $638K Kickstarter money. Meanwhile, most of the creative and logistical talent behind the success of //Prelude// has departed, making the leap from 20-minute mockumentary to feature-length narrative an even greater challenge than before.

**IT'S IRONIC** that //Axanar//, a fan film concept drawn from the Original Series, is being rapidly eclipsed by the one set in the much-maligned //Enterprise// era.

The lesson here is that a creative producer, dedicated to his fans, focused on his goal, putting every penny he raised on the screen, can deliver a high-quality production that has attracted an astounding audience in record-setting time, solely on word-of-mouth, without having to rely on a sophisticated marketing operation. 

One might observe that's a sign of the most successful Star Trek fan film ever. {{:axamonitor-ico.gif?nolink|}}

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==== Watch ====

Both //Star Trek–Horizon// and //Prelude to Axanar// are available on YouTube:

{{youtube>l94v4YOqxOc?medium|Star Trek – Horizon}} \\ {{youtube>1W1_8IV8uhA?medium|Prelude to Axanar}}

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**Keywords** {{tag>fan_films}}