The untold stories from TOS production coming in The Roddenberry Vault bluray

While this weekend had a lot of big happenings for the present and future of Star Trek, it also brought huge news from the very beginnings. Announced at the San Diego Comic Con, was the forthcoming release of Star Trek: The Original Series - The Roddenberry Vault, a new bluray featuring documentaries built around a treasure prove of never before seen behinds the scenes footage from the production of The Original Series.

The project, nine years in the making (!), started when Gene Roddenberry's son Rod Roddenberry found a stash of film from the production of the series; clips taken from the cutting room floor, which include deleted scenes, bloopers, and all sorts of insights into the production of the series.

It took several years just to organise the random snippets of film, and matching it up with audio stored in other cans. Once ready, Star Trek experts Mike and Denise Okuda could scrutinise the findings, and now with film maker Roger Lay Jr. (who produced many of the excellent documentaries on the TNG and Enterprise blurays) have created new documentaries telling the story of Star Trek's production through this new footage.

CBS and Roddenberry Entertainment's press release details what will be on the discs:

During the production of Star Trek: The Original Series, bits and pieces of episodic footage were left on the cutting room floor, then stored away in film cans for decades by the Gene Roddenberry Estate. Now, in celebration of the show’s 50th Anniversary, The Roddenberry Vault has finally been opened. Along with 12 of their favorite episodes, fans can see and own behind the scenes footage from the making of the series as well as alternate takes, deleted scenes, omitted dialogue, outtakes, and original visual FX elements.

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES – THE RODDENBERRY VAULT Blu-ray set includes newly-produced special feature documentaries that incorporate the “Vault” materials and feature all-new interviews with cast and production personnel, including new insights from William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk), writers Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana, David Gerrold, & John D.F. Black, director Ralph Senensky, casting director Joseph D’Agosta, visual effects artist Richard Edlund, and more.
Also featured is an exploration into the series’ long-lasting appeal through interviews with some of Star Trek’s biggest fans including The Big Bang Theory co-creator Bill Prady, The Simpsons writer/producer David Mirkin, Family Guy writer/producer David A. Goodman, NASA’s Bobak Ferdowsi, Bill Nye (The Science Guy), and many more.

The special feature documentaries are:

· Inside The Roddenberry Vault – A multi-part glimpse at classic episodes from new angles and perspectives.
· Star Trek: Revisiting A Classic – A look at life on the set during production.
· Strange New Worlds: Visualizing The Fantastic – An inside look at the groundbreaking work of the series’ designers and visual effects artists.

STAR TREK: THE RODDENBERRY VAULT includes 12 classic Star Trek episodes in high-definition Blu-ray chosen for their relevance to the Vault’s lost/unseen material:

· The Corbomite Maneuver
· Arena
· Space Seed
· This Side of Paradise
· The Devil in the Dark
· The City on the Edge of Forever
· Operation: Annihilate!
· Metamorphosis
· Who Mourns for Adonais?
· Mirror, Mirror
· The Trouble With Tribbles
· Return to Tomorrow

STAR TREK: THE RODDENBERRY VAULT Blu-ray set is executive produced by Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth. Special feature documentaries are produced by Roger Lay, Jr. and Michael and Denise Okuda.

You can watch the entire Comic Con panel which announced the project, including some sample clips, thanks to Roddenberry streaming it on Facebook. The panel gets going at about 06:00, and clips play at 06:50, 13:00, and 26:50.



A release date has not been set yet, but Star Trek: The Original Series - The Roddenberry Vault is expected to arrive before the end of the year.