Star Trek Day recently wowed the masses, but in the 21st century, every day is Star Trek Day. Between Star Trek: Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and Picard — and a long list of other series and motion pictures — there are now endless hours of Trek streaming to experience. Star Trek is always a click away.
Fans dig it, often applauding the creative efforts made by Trek storytellers. One of those craftsmen is David C. Fein, the producer of 2001’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director's Edition. Fein spent the last year with a creative team prepping a new Star Trek baby: the Fully Restored Director’s Edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with a bonus Blu-ray disc.
That’s a mouthful. But in the Star Trek universe, size matter when it comes to titles. So, expect something memorable here. In fact, the newly released edition is as inventive as it is vivid, with Fein calling it, “the perfect time” for the film to be experienced.
Originally released in 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture became the fourth highest-grossing movie of the year, garnering three Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, and Best Music — Original Score. It reunited the stars from the original 1960s series — William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, and James Doohan — and boldly launched the Trek franchise we see today, moving it far beyond the original show.
Curiously, it was rushed into theaters with incomplete special effects and forced editing choices. In 2001, director Robert Wise revisited the film to refine the edit and enhance the visual effects. That updated vision was released on DVD in standard definition. It was well received but was never available in higher definition. Until now.
What's New in Star Trek 4k Ultra HD Blu-ray?
The road to Star Trek 4K 2022 was well planned. Fein revealed that Wise wanted to have his completed version be his legacy. “When we realized that it was in standard definition, and we were going to high definition, we needed to do something to return his original director's edition into that definitive version,” Fein said. “I knew we had to get it to 4K.”
Talks between Fein and Wise began long ago. The director wondered if rather than compressing data down to what was visual at the time, what if systems changed someday? What if you could see much more range? “I thought that was brilliant,” Fein said. “And that's where we are today — the range is now possible to see, as opposed to making it into something that squeezed into what was standard systems.”
Today, the newly restored, definitive version is presented in 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, as well as Dolby Atmos. It also includes access to a digital copy of the film and new and legacy bonus content. Ultra HD Disc bonus features includes: audio commentary with Fein, film historian Mike Matessino, and illustrator Daren R. Dochterman; audio commentary by Wise, VFX pioneer Douglas Trumbull, special effects artist John Dykstra, the late film and television composer Jerry Goldsmith, and Stephen Collins (Commander Willard Decker in the 1979 film); and text commentary by scenic artists Michael and Denise Okuda.
Blu-ray Disc bonus features: “The Human Adventure,” an all-new eight-part documentary detailing how the Director’s Edition came to life; “Preparing the Future,” chronicling how the remastering began; “Refitting the Enterprise,” which tracks how the Enterprise design shaped future federation starships; and deleted scenes, costume tests, additional legacy bonus content, and much more.
The Limited-Edition Collector’s Set includes also includes an additional 4K Ultra HD disc containing The Theatrical Cut, and the first-ever widescreen presentation of the Special Longer Version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, originally created for broadcast television in 1983.
“Robert always liked new technologies and encouraged me to always look at any project as: story comes first, before anything else,” Fein said. “You have to give a great presentation to an audience using whatever tools are available. In this case, we're not doing a period piece. We're doing something about the future, using every tool that's available now to tell the best story.”
David C. Fein on Loving Star Trek
Gene Roddenberry’s original vision for Star Trek revolved around, in part, his hope that humanity would evolve, learning from the mistakes of its past. Decades later, his vision lives on, continuing to inspire, creating new worlds, and a seemingly bottomless appetite for adventurous stories.
The third and final season of Picard has already generated buzz because it’s reuniting the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Kate Mulgrew has more than dropped hints she’d be up for bringing Voyager’s Capt. Janeway back. There’s even talk of Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) landing her own Trek series.
I asked Fein: Why do people love Star Trek?
“For me, it's always optimism,” he said. “Just the fact that our future means something and that we're always looking positively towards it, as opposed to looking back at darker times. It’s always looking at where we can be and what new experiences we can birth.”
For the new release, he said he was focused on making sure that the characters were built correctly and that it remained a human story.
“I think all of that balanced out so that this is the right time for the film,” he added. “Visual effects now are so overwhelming that you just go, ‘Wow, that was wonderful.’ And you forget about the rest of the story. We've become more accustomed to it. In 1979, we had a touch-tone phone — that was great technology. Today, we have iPhones and social networking. It's funny how beautifully Star Trek and all that lines up today. It’s really the right time for this movie.
While many things stand out in the new version, he notes two additions he and his team implemented that he was most proud of.
“For this version, the one scene that just grabs my heart and puts me right there is the reflection of the Enterprise in front of Kirk in the travel pod. That was an addition — seeing him, his loving eyes on the Enterprise. But to also see the Enterprise in focus. I'm there. That's his passion for the ship, and the ship is such a character. It's Kirk’s woman. The love of his life. So, that meant so much to me from all the shots.”
He's proud of other elements this go-around, too, teasing that an unusual “color” shows up out of nowhere in one scene and that it has a subliminal purpose. “I didn't know if it would work,” he said. “But it seems to work perfectly at a point in the film that I felt was weak. It works now.”
Another enhanced scene features the characters of Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Ilia (Persis Khambatta), when Ilia reaches out to Chekov, trying to take away his pain.
“The whole point was to acknowledge that she's different,” Fein said. “The probe [in the movie] picked her because she's different from everybody else, so when she touches Chekov’s arm to take away his pain, you have that moment where the music comes up. In this version, the sound effects disappear. It becomes a quiet moment between him and her."
“The change amplifies the scene in a beautiful way,” he added. “You're not outside watching. You're in their little emotional moment together.”
Fein’s passion for all things Trek is endless. One suspects he never tires talking about the iconic film, Trek series, and the slew of characters that have inspired fans near and far. And whenever he does, it’s thoroughly engaging.
Fein noted that the new endeavor was roughly a six-month process, beginning July 2021. “It was the perfect pandemic project. We all seem to work from our homes all around the world, over the Internet.” He chuckled. “That wasn’t even possible or conceivable 20 years ago!”