Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

"The Story of Halo 4 Begins at Dawn."

- Official tagline

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is an ongoing live-action miniseries set in the Halo universe. The series, the first episode of which was released on 5 October, 2012, is comprised of five roughly 15-minute episodes that are released on a weekly basis. The series' plot, occurring circa 2526, revolves around how John-117 inspired Thomas Lasky, a young cadet in the Corbulo Academy of Military Science to eventually become a leader on the. Along with a new character that will also appear in Halo 4, the series explores the beginning of the Human-Covenant War. It will be hosted on Halo Waypoint and Machinima.com. A 90-minute extended version will be included with the Halo 4 Limited Edition. The series was known as Sleeper during pre-production. The series will be available on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 4, 2012.

A teaser trailer for the series was released on Halo Waypoint and on YouTube by Machinima on July 2, 2012.

Plot summary
The film focuses on Thomas Lasky, a young cadet who began his officer training as a freshman cadet in Corbulo Academy of Military Science on Circinius IV sometime following spring 2526. Organized into Hastati Squad, a freshman unit in the class of 2529, Lasky originally began as a team leader during field exercises. Lasky's reputation suffered at his constant disregard for the orders of his superiors and displaying a lack of proficient knowledge of infantry tactics. He was subsequently relieved of his duties, which then fell to squadmate Walter Vickers. Despite this, he continued to ignore orders and continued to lead Hastati in receiving low combat scores, resulting in him being shunned by the rest of the squad. Worse, his health declined rapidly during the school's mandatory acclimation to cryosleep caused by the dangerous side effects, including large blistering, of "flash thawing."

His classmates were unrelenting in their provocation of Thomas, affirming their distaste for the freshman who did not live up to the example set by his brother Cadmon. Days prior to the end of the 2525-2526 school year, Lasky and Vickers were singled out by their squad leader April Orenski in response to Hastati's disciplinary physical training. Frustrated by the verbal and minor physical harassment he received from his squadmate, Lasky assaulted Vickers in the school's mess hall. Senior cadets and underclassmen alike continued to encourage the altercation, which the two were performing hand-to-hand combat tactics taught at the academy. Lasky mildly injured Vickers and only ended his violent strife to acknowledge Colonel Mehaffey's presence. The professor took advantage of this quarrel in her mentorship of Lasky, hoping he would embrace the warrior culture of the UNSC and inspire him to become a better leader.

Mehaffey's efforts dawned on the young cadet and he volunteered 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 had organized Hastati into cover in a tight formation adjacent their flag, a seemingly ill-tactical maneuver. Lasky ordered his men to remove their helmets as they contained IFF transponders that were detectable by the enemy's motion sensors. With Zuma converging on Hastati's flag, Lasky positioned his squad in a formation reminiscent of the pincer movement, a tactic utilized by Hannibal at Cannae in 216 BCE, taught to the freshman cadets only a day before the exercise by Col. Mehaffey. The enemy soon realized that Lasky had funneled them into a trap and they were swiftly dispatched by two sections of Hastati cadets. The two Hastati elements continued to press in on Zuma's flag with ease, eliminating or capturing all enemy cadets, suffering no casualties of their own in the process. An emboldened Lasky, charging towards Zuma's flag, finally succumbed to his ailing health and collapsed meters away from completing the objective.

The cadets at Corbulo Academy were caught off guard in mid-2526 when a hostile alien force, the Covenant, assaulted the school. The school's Marine guard was overwhelmed by the attack, which prompted one of the first deployments of SPARTAN-II's in the war, led by John-117. Marines, including those in the ODST divisions, accompanied Blue Team in their rescue of the academy's cadets. Thomas became inspired by the heroism and leadership of the young Spartan supersoldier, influencing him to help combat the enemy forces that were slaughtering his classmates and professors.

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, if not all of the series is set at the university, doubling as a futuristic UNSC officer academy, will introduce the main protagonist of Forward Unto Dawn. Propaganda murals depicting Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and fighter aircraft, statues of historic military commanders (including a depiction of Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo), and other signature futuristic artwork were seen decorated around the campus.

John-117 will play a pivotal role in the series, though he is not the main protagonist. That role is instead filled by Thomas Lasky, who will also be 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, Cudmore was given the role of voicing John, whose voice would evolve over three decades to possess the gruffer quality of Downes' performance.

Characters

 * April Orenski
 * Black
 * Cadmon Lasky
 * Chyler Silva
 * Christina Rice
 * Cortana
 * Dimah Tchakova
 * Frederic-104
 * Hughes
 * James McCann
 * Junjie Chen
 * John-117
 * Kelly-087
 * Mehaffey
 * Michael Sullivan
 * Shere
 * Thomas Lasky
 * Urlin
 * Walter Vickers

Equipment and technology

 * Artificial intelligence
 * Cryo chamber
 * Heads-up display
 * Holography
 * Holotank
 * MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
 * GEN1
 * Mark IV
 * Mark VI
 * Sangheili combat harness
 * Zealot variant
 * Space elevator
 * Wind turbine

Weapons

 * MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System
 * M6H Personal Defense Weapon System
 * Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword

Locations

 * Circinius system
 * Circinius IV
 * Corbulo Academy of Military Science

Species

 * Human
 * Sangheili

Organizations

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

Vehicles

 * M12 Force Application Vehicle
 * M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle
 * M12 Force Application Vehicle
 * M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle

Official trailer
The official trailer of the series was released on Halo Waypoint and on YouTube by Machinima Prime on July 12, 2012.

Enlist
A short, Enlist, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on August 24, 2012.

Cryo
A short, Cryo, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on August 31, 2012.

Flag
A short, Flag, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on September 7th, 2012.

Joyride
A short, Joyride, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on September 14th, 2012.

Lecture
A short, Lecture, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on September 21st, 2012.

Squad
A short, Squad, was released on Halo Waypoint and on Youtube by Machinima Prime on September 28th, 2012.

Trivia

 * Many of the murals seen on set are enlarged pieces taken from the concept art of Halo 3: ODST.
 * Frank O'Connor, franchise developer at 343 Industries makes a cameo appearance in Episode 2 as a janitor at Corbulo Academy of Military Science, spectating the fight between Lasky and Vickers.