The 69-year-old Hatch sat down behind me at the “Prelude” premiere, cheerfully and passionately talking Star Trek with fans. His favorite Star Trek series is TOS and he also watched a bit of “Deep Space 9.” Moreover, he approves of the recent reboot believing it stays true to the “chemistry of the original characters” and moves the story lines past the 1960s conventions of the TV series and into this century of movie making.

There was an Apollo in TOS, but that’s not how “Prelude to Axanar” connects with Star Trek. Taking place two decades before James T. Kirk commanded the USS Enterprise on its mission, “Prelude to Axanar” includes one of Kirk’s heroes—Garth of Izar.

Garth of Izar was a highly decorated officer of the Federation Starfleet (full name Kelvar Leonard Garth) during the 23rd century. Garth is the main antagonist in TOS third season episode “Whom Gods Destroy.” Although Garth’s exploits in the Battle of Axanar were required reading at the Starfleet Academy, Garth has become criminally insane and was committed to Elba II asylum after attempting to annihilate the creatures who had helped him recover from serious injuries by gifting him with the ability to shape shift. That episode featured another celebrity of geekdom (Batgirl from the Batman TV series Yvonne Craig as the green-skinned Orion Marta) and allowed Kirk to save his hero through a new drug which cured Garth’s insanity.

Taking over for the late Steve Ihnat, Alec Peters plays Garth of Izar and “Prelude” brings back Gary Graham as Vulcan Ambassador Soval (a character in the 2001-2005 TV series “Star Trek: Enterprise”). “Prelude to Axanar” is a complete movie unto itself, but serves as an introduction to a more ambitious project: The tale of the Battle of Axanar and how the Federation defeated the Klingon Empire. Funded on Kickstarter, the 20-minute “Prelude” introduces us to the characters: Admiral Ramirez (Tony Todd, an actor with multiple connections to the Star Trek family with appearances as Worf’s brother Kurn as well as portraying different characters in different Star Trek series), Captain Sonya Alexander (Kate Vernon who also has Battlestar Galactica connections), Captain Samuel Travis (J.G. Hertzler) and the legendary Klingon warrior General Kharn (Hatch).