The following story is a cautionary tale of a fan film project that became too successful for its own good.

In the middle of 2014 a Star Trek fan film appeared online entitled Prelude to Axanar. This short film, creatively filmed like a History Channel mock-documentary, covered an early untold Star Trek story only briefly referenced in the original series. The expansive short cost over $100,000 generated through a successful crowdfunding campaign. Prelude to Axanar was enormously successful among the fan community, produced at a time when the official new Star Trek films weren't fulfilling all the needs of hardcore Trekkies.