Paramount Considering More Special Edition DVDs

Only a few years after releasing the last 8 Star Trek films on DVD without adding any extra features, Paramount is now considering creating special DVD editions of each movie after they've released 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' in November.

Speaking to Scott Hettrick at Variety, Paramount senior VP of marketing Michael Arkin confirmed that the studio is indeed thinking of revisiting all of the Star Trek movies, beginning with 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.' The studio originally released the films in reverse order of their theatrical release, beginning with 'Star Trek: First Contact.'

While the audio and video quality of most Star Trek DVDs was generally seen as very good, Paramount was criticised for not making available any of the special features made possible by the DVD format. Most of the films only included their original trailers, though both 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' and 'Star Trek: Insurrection' came with short behind-the-scenes featurettes. The Original Series DVDs have been equally devoid of extra features.

Even if the remaining films don't get a similar lavish treatment as 'The Motion Picture,' there should still be enough material to guarantee many extra features. Many minutes of extra film material exists for films such as 'The Wrath of Khan,' 'Generations' and 'Insurrection.' For 'Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,' some fans have already suggested creating new special effects so that it could better reflect director William Shatner's vision. In addition, it would of course be possible to record audio commentaries with the cast and crew who worked on the films, most of whom are still alive.

Before Paramount gets to the other films, it will first be releasing the special director's edition of 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' on the 6th of November. The official announcement on that project as well as a form to ask questions to producer David Fein can be found here. Moreover, the studio has been rumoured to be planning the release of The Next Generation DVD box-sets starting early next year.

For the original Variety article on this, please follow this link. Thanks go out to Dennis Chimelis for this!

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