The Roddenberry Vault details and previews

CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution have released the cover art and full details of the forthcoming bluray release of Star Trek: The Original Series - The Roddenberry Vault. The three disc set includes several new documentaries built around an amazing archive of lost footage from the production of TOS, promising never before seen deleted scenes, alternate takes, outtakes, and all sorts of other things rescued from the cutting room floor.

This amazing recovered footage, which has been secretly and painstakingly catalogued and analysed by Mike and Denise Okuda over most of the last decade is joined by new interviews by Star Trek creators and commenters. Additionally the set includes twelve episodes picked to compliment the recovered footage, presented in HD but with the original effects footage.

The main new footage is presented in a three part film, Inside The Roddenberry Vault Rod Roddenberry, split across the three discs of the set. Two further documentaries is a look at the origins of the series, in Star Trek: Revisiting A Classic, and a the visual effects, including original effects elements rediscovered in the vault, in Strange New Worlds: Visualizing the Fantastic. And there's more too, additional clips have been compiled into Swept Up: Snippets from the Cutting Room Floor.

Each disc also features a new audio commentary for one episode: This Side of Paradise with Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana and Gabrielle Stanton. The City on the Edge of Forever with Roger Lay Jr., Scott Mantz and Mark A. Altman. And The Trouble With Tribbles with David Gerrold and David A. Goodman.

The set is due for release in December. Full details of all the new features are described in the press release text after the jump. But first, here are some tantalising preview videos:

During the shooting of Star Trek, bits and pieces of episodic footage were left on the cutting room floor and later preserved in film canisters by The Roddenberry Estate. Recognizing the value of the footage, CBS painstakingly catalogued, transferred, analyzed, and pieced together these Vault materials, which include alternate takes, deleted scenes, omitted dialogue, outtakes, and original visual FX elements.

Star Trek: The Original Series - The Roddenberry Vault includes twelve classic episodes chosen for their relevance to the Vault materials, and presented in 1080p High Definition with both DTS 7.1 Master Audio as well as newly restored original Mono.  Eleven of these episodes contain isolated music tracks.  Newly recorded audio commentaries appear on three fan-favorite episodes.

Each of the set’s three discs features documentaries that weave together the previously unseen Vault materials with all-new interviews by key creative and production personnel and famous fans.  The three new documentaries exploring the “making of” the celebrated series and its enduring legacy are:

Inside The Roddenberry Vault Rod Roddenberry introduces viewers to the discovery of his father’s long-lost Star Trek film reels. With footage from each of the 12 episodes, this three-part special feature offers a guided exploration into the historical significance of the newly discovered material through new interviews with dozens of Star Trek alumni and historians.

Star Trek: Revisiting A Classic offers a look back at the origins of the iconic series, including glimpses of life on the set with new interviews featuring guest stars, directors and production personnel.

Strange New Worlds: Visualizing the Fantastic dives into the creation of spaceships, transporters, and the classic Star Trek visuals. The in-depth feature combines newly found original visual effects elements photography along with interviews with effects masters and Star Trek veterans such as Industrial Light and Magic founding member Richard Edlund, Doug Drexler, Dan Curry and Gary Hutzel.

Star Trek figures interviewed for these exclusive documentaries include William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk); writers Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana, David Gerrold and John D.F. Black; director Ralph Senensky; casting director Joseph D’Agosta; visual effects artist Richard Edlund; and actors from the 12 featured episodes such as: Clint Howard (“The Corbomite Maneuver”), BarBara Luna (“Mirror, Mirror”), Leslie Parrish (“Who Mourns for Adonais?”), Charlie Brill (“The Trouble with Tribbles”), Michael Forest (“Who Mourns for Adonais?”), Bobby Clark (“Arena”) and Elinor Donahue (“Metamorphosis”). Plus, the collection features new interviews with an impressive array of 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 more.

Giving fans access to even more fragments of unseen footage and omitted dialogue from the groundbreaking series is a collection of Vault materials entitled Swept Up: Snippets from the Cutting Room Floor.

The Roddenberry Vault is available for pre-order from Amazon.com, and Amazon.ca.