Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

"The Story of Halo 4 Begins at Dawn."

- Official tagline

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a live-action film and miniseries set in the Halo universe. Although shot as a feature-length film, Forward Unto Dawn was originally released as a webseries consisting of five roughly 15-minute episodes, the first of which was released on October 5th, 2012, with the rest following on a weekly basis. The series' plot, occurring in the early days of the Human-Covenant War circa 2526, revolves around Thomas Lasky, a young cadet at Corbulo Academy of Military Science, and how John-117 inspired him to eventually become a leader. Lasky is also a prominent character in Halo 4 as a commander on the. The name of the series, aside from being a reference to the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn, is given new significance in the series as part a running motif based around a poem. The series was known as Sleeper during pre-production.

Forward Unto Dawn is hosted on Halo Waypoint and Machinima.com. The Forward Unto Dawn Special Edition, which contains the complete, film-length cut of Forward Unto Dawn as well as additional material, is included with the Halo 4 Limited Edition and is available via Halo Waypoint. The Special Edition was also released for download on Xbox LIVE on November 5, 2012 for 2,800 Microsoft points. The series will be available on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 4, 2012. Originally released on the MachinimaPrime YouTube channel, episodes 3-5 of the series were removed from YouTube some time following the release of the Special Edition.

Plot summary
The series begins with Thomas Lasky, executive officer of the, picking up Cortana's distress signal from the , which has been adrift in space for four years. Learning that SPARTAN-117 is aboard the ship, Lasky has a flashback to the events that led to him meeting the Spartan for the first time and how he inspired him to become a leader. The "present-day" segments, which feature clips of Cortana's inner monologues during her solitude aboard the Dawn, serve as a framing device for the main narrative, which focuses on Thomas Lasky as a young freshman cadet in Corbulo Academy of Military Science on Circinius IV amidst the Insurrection circa 2526. Organized into Hastati Squad, a freshman unit in the class of 2529, Lasky expresses sympathy for the Insurrectionists and shows a constant disregard for the orders of his superiors, resulting in Hastati receiving low combat scores and Lasky himself being shunned by the rest of the squad. Worse, his health declines rapidly during the school's mandatory acclimation to cryosleep, suffering blisters and a persistent cough.

In his spare time, Lasky replays video messages by his now-deceased brother Cadmon, with whom he used to have regular video correspondence. Most of Lasky's classmates, particularly Walter Vickers, are unrelenting in their provocation of Thomas, affirming their distaste for the freshman who fails to live up to the example set by his brother or his his mother, a UNSCDF colonel and former superior of CAMS professor, Colonel Mehaffey. One of the few cadets sympathetic to him is Chyler Silva, who attempts to encourage Thomas to be a better leader. Meanwhile, a cadet known as Michael Sullivan hacks classified UNSC mission recordings and uncovers footage recorded by a a Spartan's helmet camera. Another Hastati Squad member, Junjie Chen, struggles to live up to the expectations of his father and is concerned about Lasky's poor performance decreasing his combat scores. Frustrated by the verbal and minor physical harassment he receives from Vickers, Lasky eventually assaults his squadmate in the school's mess hall. Lasky mildly injures Vickers and only stops when Colonel Mehaffey intervenes. Despite Lasky's consistent misbehavior, the Colonel makes an effort to have him embrace the warrior culture of the UNSC and inspire him to become a better leader.

Mehaffey's efforts dawn on Lasky and he volunteers to lead Hastati moments prior to the start of their final combat exercise, a contest of capture the flag. While waiting for Zuma Squad to approach their flag's location, Lasky organizes Hastati into cover in a tight formation adjacent their flag, a seemingly ill-tactical maneuver. Lasky orders his men to remove their helmets as they contain IFF transponders detectable by the enemy's motion sensors. With Zuma converging on Hastati's flag, Lasky positions his squad in a formation reminiscent of the pincer movement, a tactic utilized to great effect by Hannibal at Cannae in 216 BCE, taught to the freshman cadets only a day before the exercise by Col. Mehaffey. Funneled into a trap, the enemy cadets are eliminated or captured by two sections of Hastati cadets, with Hastati suffering no casualties of their own in the process. An emboldened Lasky, charging towards Zuma's flag, finally succumbs to his ailing health and collapses meters away from completing the objective.

Lasky wakes up and is informed by Dr. Hughes that his condition is an allergic reaction to the cryo drug cytoprethaline, which is vital for cryo-sleep to prevent damage to cells. Resting in his room, Lasky wakes up to see Chyler sitting beside him and watching his recordings. She urges him to stop wallowing in his brother's death and expresses concern for his condition; she also reveals that Hastati Squad was victorious in the capture the flag exercise, congratulating Lasky for his tactical maneuver. Lasky and Silva then join the rest of Hastati Squad to watch the classified recordings Sullivan has pieced together. To the great bemusement of the cadets, the footage shows SPARTAN-IIs in MJOLNIR armor, fighting unknown hostiles alongside Insurrectionists. Shortly afterward, Lasky learns that because of the severity of his cytoprethaline allergy, he is offered the choice for a medical discharge. The following night, Lasky reveals this to Silva, who professes that she will miss him if he leaves. The two kiss but are interrupted as an evacuation alarm goes off.

Lasky and Silva join the rest of Hastati Squad in a queue for the academy's space elevator, while Orbital Drop Shock Troopers drop in to the academy grounds. The stress of waiting proves too much for Dimah Tchakova, who against the orders of their squad leader April Orenski rushes in front of the queue and invokes her mother's position to allow a Marine to let her in the next elevator car. As the car ascends, the rest of the cadets watch in horror as three alien ships appear in the clouds and one of them opens fire on the space tether. The tether's lower structure collapses on the building and the members of Hastati Squad barely escape the destruction.

The cadets make their way through the embattled academy campus and Lasky witnesses Col. Mehaffey being killed by Needler fire. Hastati Squad regroups in Lasky's dorm room, but they are forced to move out as a Sangheili Zealot approaches, methodically slaughtering other cadets in their rooms. As the Elite enters another room, the cadets make a break for it with Chen taking point; however, Chen is killed by a camouflaged Zealot. The other cadets manage to escape to the armory and seal the door, with Lasky raising a distress beacon. The Elite eventually breaks through the armor's door and the cadets hide, Vickers being separated from the others. As the Elite closes in on the cadets' hiding spot, Vickers attempts to distract it to allow the others to escape but is promptly killed. The Elite confidently approaches the cadets, who are saved by the timely arrival of John-117, who stabs the unsuspecting alien in the back.

The Spartan reveals that Lasky, Silva, Orenski and Sullivan are the only survivors on the entire planet and that they are to be evacuated; they will join with the rest of the Spartan team at the rendezvous point. Making their way outside, they are caught in a firefight with Jackal snipers and Sullivan is wounded. After the Spartan neutralizes the Covenant sharpshooters, the group use the now-deceased General Black's Warthog to drive out of the academy toward the evac point.

The Warthog is ambushed by Jackals on the journey and becomes irreparably damaged, and the squad is forced proceed on foot. Silva realizes that she has taken a needler round to the stomach; the squad flees into the jungle as the Chief engages and kills a single Hunter. With all biofoam having been used to treat Sullivan's leg, however, Silva dies shortly afterwards. Having ran out of ammunition during the previous fight, the Spartan plans to distract the second Hunter while the cadets run to safety. Distraught at Silva's death, Lasky volunteers to take the Chief's place. As the Hunter is focusing on Lasky, the Chief successfully uses a grenade to neutralize the walking tank. The battered team makes it to the rendezvous point at dawn, where they are picked up by a Pelican carrying Kelly-087 and Fred-104. The Chief commends Lasky for valor under fire, and gives him an armor fragment from the Hunter as a memento.

Back in the present, Commander Lasky prepares to enter cryo while holding his dog tags; the armor fragment is attached to the tags' chain, Lasky having kept it for over three decades. The Infinity and its escorts jump into slipspace, with Requiem as their destination. As the Dawn's wreckage is inexorably pulled toward the mysterious shield world, Cortana prepares to reawaken the Master Chief at last.

Cast
The following is a list of cast members in the webseries:


 * Tom Green as Thomas Lasky
 * Anna Popplewell as Chyler Silva
 * Enisha Brewster as April Orenski
 * Ayelet Zurer as Col. Mehaffey
 * Masam Holden as Michael Sullivan
 * Mike Dopud as Gen. Black
 * Iain Belcher as Walter Vickers
 * Osric Chau as Junjie Chen
 * Kat de Lieva as Dimah Tchakova
 * Daniel Cudmore as Master Chief
 * Alex Puccinelli as the voice of Master Chief
 * Jen Taylor as Cortana
 * Chris Stevens as Dr. Hughes
 * Max Carver as Cadmon Lasky
 * Ty Olsson as Adult Lasky
 * Darren O'Hare as the voice of Adult Lasky
 * Robin August as Orlin
 * Man Hung Chan as Junjie's Father
 * Jill Teed as Col. Lasky

Production
"We wanted to do something unique from a narrative standpoint that's big in scale."

- Matt McCloskey - Director, Franchise Business Development

Filming is noted to have started as early as April 28th, 2012 at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a popular filming location for many notable science fiction series like Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica. Much of the series is set at the university, doubling as a futuristic UNSC officer academy. Propaganda murals depicting Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and fighter aircraft, a statue of the Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, and other signature futuristic artwork were seen decorated around the campus.

John-117 plays a pivotal role in the series, though he is not the main protagonist. That role is instead filled by Thomas Lasky, who is also a major character in Halo 4. The Master Chief is portrayed by Canadian actor Daniel Cudmore, best known for his role as the mutant Colossus in the X-Men film series. Lasky is played by Australian actor Tom Green. As Forward Unto Dawn is set thirty-one years before Halo 4, the production team originally experimented with de-aging Steve Downes' voice so he could voice the fifteen-year-old John-117; Cudmore would act only as the Spartan's physical embodiment. However, the team realized that Downes' altered voice sounded too high-pitched. Thus, a separate actor, Alex Puccinelli, was given the role of voicing John, whose voice would evolve over three decades to possess the gruffer quality of Downes' performance.

Promotion and trailers
A teaser trailer for the series was released on Halo Waypoint and on YouTube by Machinima on July 2, 2012. The following trailers were released prior to the release date of the webseries, to provide an insight into the lifestyle of an everyday Corbulo cadet:
 * Official teaser trailer
 * Enlist
 * Cryo
 * Flag
 * Joyride
 * Lecture
 * Squad
 * Mid-Season trailer

Behind the scenes
Forward Unto Dawn reuses a number of props and costumes from previous live-action media. The Warthog from Halo: Landfall, with superficial renovations, is used as General Black's personal transport. The ODST armor from The Life is seen in several episodes. The MJOLNIR armor worn by Kelly-087 and Fred-104 originally appeared in Deliver Hope, in which the suits were worn by Catherine-B320 and Thom-293, respectively. The suits and helmets were repainted and physically altered to distinguish them from the Mark V armor they originally portrayed; for example, the jowl and forehead armor guard on Kelly's helmet are taken from one of the suit's FJ/PARA knee guards.

Special Edition
The extended edition, available on Halo Waypoint to owners of the Halo 4 Limited Edition, contains an alternate cut of the series itself as a single continuous film. The film remains largely identical to the series, aside from moving the "present-day" portions chronicling Cortana's descent into rampancy aboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn to a single sequence in the beginning of the film, whereas in the webseries they were splintered into individual scenes featured in the opening of each episode. The online extended edition also contains various pieces of bonus material, including interviews with the main characters, additional videos and behind-the-scenes footage, including Awakening a Sleeper, a 20-minute "making of" documentary of the series.

Characters

 * April Orenski
 * Beamish
 * Black
 * Cadmon Lasky
 * Chyler Silva
 * Christina Rice
 * Cortana
 * The Didact
 * Dimah Tchakova
 * Dyer
 * Foster
 * Frederic-104
 * Hughes
 * James McCann
 * Junjie Chen
 * John-117
 * Kaye
 * Kelly-087
 * Mehaffey
 * Michael Sullivan
 * Moulder
 * Newton
 * Shere
 * Taylor (first-year cadet)
 * Taylor (third-year cadet)
 * Thomas Lasky
 * Orlin
 * Verrelli
 * Walter Vickers

Equipment and technology

 * Active camouflage
 * Artificial intelligence
 * Biofoam
 * Cryo chamber
 * Halo Array
 * Heads-up display
 * Holography
 * Holotank
 * Kig-Yar point defense gauntlet
 * Kig-Yar targeting headgear
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
 * GEN1
 * Mark IV
 * Mark VI
 * Sangheili combat harness
 * Zealot variant
 * Space elevator
 * Wind turbine

Weapons

 * Assault cannon
 * Combat knife
 * M6H Personal Defense Weapon System
 * M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose grenade
 * MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System
 * M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun
 * Type-1 Antipersonnel grenade
 * Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword
 * Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle
 * Type-31 Rifle
 * Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher
 * Type-51 Carbine

Locations

 * Circinius system
 * Circinius IV
 * Corbulo Academy of Military Science
 * Procyon system
 * Arcadia
 * Sol System
 * Mars
 * Mare Erythraeum
 * Tricode Village
 * New Harmony
 * Andesia

Species

 * Human
 * Sangheili
 * Kig-Yar
 * Lekgolo
 * Mgalekgolo

Organizations

 * Covenant
 * Insurrectionists
 * UNSC Defense Force
 * Corbulo Academy Corps of Cadets
 * Hastati Squad
 * Zuma Squad
 * UNSC Marine Corps
 * Naval Special Weapons
 * Orbital Drop Shock Troopers
 * UNSC Navy
 * Naval Special Weapons
 * SPARTAN-II Program
 * Office of Naval Intelligence

Vehicles

 * CCS-class battlecruiser
 * D79-TC Pelican
 * M12 Force Application Vehicle
 * M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle
 * SDV-class heavy corvette
 * Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle
 * SDV-class heavy corvette
 * Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle

Trivia

 * A mural of an ODST seen at Corbulo Academy is a heavily stylized version of a piece of concept art for Halo 3: ODST.
 * Frank O'Connor, Franchise Development Director at 343 Industries, makes a cameo appearance in Episode 2 as a janitor at the academy, spectating the fight between Lasky and Vickers.
 * The famed Wilhelm Scream can be heard in the classified video Sullivan shows to his fellow cadets. The scream is heard as an Insurrectionist is thrown against a wall, just after John announces an unknown hostile.
 * In Part IV, John-117 tells the cadets to address him as "Master Chief" despite the series taking place in 2526. Halo: The Fall of Reach indicates that he was still a Chief Petty Officer in 2535. It is unclear whether this is intended to be a retcon, but his title is no doubt for the benefit of newcomers to the franchise: he is almost unanimously known as "Master Chief" among mainstream gamers.
 * In Part IV, in the scene where the survivors of Hastati Squad and the Master Chief are being attacked by Jackals armed with Needlers and Type-51 Carbines, just after Michael Sullivan is shot in the leg, and is nearly shot in the head when the Master Chief intervenes and shields Sullivan from the Needler round. The Needler is shown to impact the Chief's arm but does not get lodged as it should in his armor and detonate, rather, it detonates upon impact. This would suggest that the Chief may be wearing a variant of MJOLNIR Mark IV armor modified with shields (which would be inconsistent as the Mark IV never was equipped with shields), or that the armor plating is a much harder metal alloy than originally believed.
 * In Part V, the Spartans' D79-TC Pelican incorrectly sports the post-war version of the UNSC insignia.
 * Later in Part V, during the Warthog chase scene, as the Master Chief is firing the M41 LAAG, it shows that the three barrels are not rotating as they should be in the games. Instead, only one barrel is firing but is not cycling the barrels to keep from overheating.