Star Trek DVD
October 14, 2009 by Goro
With Leonard Nimoy playing such an important role in J.J Abrams’ reboot of the Trek series, what happened to an appearance from Kirk Prime? The noticeable absence of William Shatner is discussed in the DVD special feature “The Shatner Conundrum.”
While Star Trek bascially depended on Nimoy’s involvement to work, at least for the writers, Shatner was nowhere to be found in the reimagining of the Trek lore.
Abrams explained to reporters, at the Trek DVD junket last week, that one of the hardest decisions for him was not to include William Shatner in the film — however, it just wasn’t logical in the big scope of the story and where on the timeline they wanted to set the movie.
The idea … was a forgone conclusion, we wanted him in the movie. The problem was his character dies onscreen in one of the Trek films and because we decided very early on we wanted to adhere to Trek canon as best we could. … The required mechanations to get Shatner into the movie would have been very difficult to do given a story where he was himself and also give him the kind of part he would be happy with. It was this thing where it would have felt like a gimmick in order to get Shatner into the movie, which would have honestly, to me, have been distracting.
Sure, they could have set the film before “Generations,” but then what would the story have been? I concede it would have been totally possible, but it would not have been the same film.
He went on to explain that the special feature delves into the very issue of how do you try to get him in the film? How do you “put him in the movie when we want him in it so badly, and yet the story” just doesn’t fit in the context of the movie?
No word on whether the scene Orci and Kurtzman originally wrote with Shatner’s Kirk Prime in it is discussed in the Conundrum special, however.
Abrams definitely doesn’t sound like he’s against the idea of including Shatner in a later film, even saying the two have a lunch date planned for the near future.
“Would it have been fun to have him in the movie? Of course. Would it have been great to work with him? No doubt.”
The upcoming Star Trek DVD/Blu-Ray throws in tons of deleted scenes, including Spock’s parents, Kirk’s uncle, Klingon prison-breaks… and Kirk apologizing to a green woman? Special features explain everything — except the writers’ theory of time travel.
On November 17, Paramount is releasing the highest-grossing Star Trek movie of all time on DVD and BluRay. The DVD version has considerably less than the BluRay — the latter version has “branching pods” embedded in the special features. Think of it like a non-hidden Easter Egg, a special featurette within the features.
Disc One of the two-disc DVD version contains the film, along with commentary from J.J. Abrams, Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, executive producer Bryan Burk and producer Damon Lindelof. There’s also a special called “A New Vision,” featuring Abrams’ style and drive to make the film real and relatable, as well as a gag reel.
In addition, the second disc is of course more fun stuff, including four features, DVD-ROM accessible content (free trials of Star Trek D-A-C for XBOX 360, PC and PlayStation network), and deleted scenes.
The deleted scenes include optional commentary and are:
o Spock Birth
o Klingons Take Over Narada
o Young Kirk, Johnny and Uncle Frank
o Amanda and Sarek Argue After Spock Fights
o Prison Interrogation and Breakout
o Sarek Gets Amanda
o Dorm Room and Kobayashi Maru (original version)
o Kirk Apologizes to the Green Girl
o Sarek Sees Spock
Abrams said that he was always thinking about the DVD, saying he was constantly making sure things were being filmed and recorded specifically for the DVD, getting video crews in the mix as early as possible.
And that prevalence of cameras is wildly apparent on the Blu-Ray edition.
The first disc of the Blu-Ray edition has the film and the same commentary as the DVD, as well as a BD Live feature giving viewers access to the latest NASA news about space. It has an RSS feed of the news as well as a space pic of the day. The second disc has the same specials as the DVD’s disc two above, plus six (!) others and those crazy “branching pods.”
Disc two of the Blu-Ray adds on these special features.
• Starships – An in-depth look at the creation of the film’s starships and vessels.
• Planets – How the art department created the look for planets such as Delta Vega.
• Props and Costumes – Paying homage to the original series was very important with this update, and here’s how they did it.
• Ben Burtt and the Sounds of Star Trek – Sound designer Ben Burtt shares the music he created for the newest Trek.
• Gene Roddenberry’s Vision – The vision of Gene Roddenberry as told by J.J. Abrams, Leonard Nimoy, previous Star Trek writers and producers, and scientific consultant Carolyn Porco.
• Starfleet Vessel Simulator -Here you can see a 360˚ model of the Enterprise and the Narada including some looks inside as well some fun firing their weapons onscreen.
Most of the features contain extra content within. “To Boldly Go” contains some of these mini-specials, including “The Shatner Conundrum,” accessible while watching the overarching main special or by the menu, as seen above.
There is also a digital copy of the movie included with both releases.
In any case, suffice it to say any Trekkie worth his or her weight who doesn’t own a Blu-Ray player (especially this poor college girl) is definitely pining for one right now.
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