Busy news day on the “Star Trek” front. Let’s get to it.
SPOILERS BEGIN
Several bits of potential casting from the currently filming “Star Trek” reboot sequel via AICN. First up it’s confirmed that not only is Leonard Nimoy back as Spock, he has already completed his work for the film. It’s an appearance expected to be shorter than his role in the 2009 reboot.
Next up, “Sherlock” actor Benedict Cumberbatch’s villainous role in the upcoming sequel is indeed that of Khan Noonien Singh, the role made famous by Ricardo Montalban in both the original series episode “Space Seed” and the second film. This new take on Khan is said to be quite different to his previous appearances.
Finally, Trek Movie reports that the Klingons will be a key element of the new sequel. The alien foes had a small role in the first film which was cut from the final film but made it onto the disc release as a deleted scene. Even there though, their faces were obscured by helmets.
SPOILERS END
In another part of the Trek universe, we’ve had rough date estimates before but now the official press release is out and confirms that the first season Blu-ray box-set of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is hitting the U.S. on July 24th.
Like the sampler set in January, the first season has undergone an experimental and expensive restoration with all the footage scanned from the original film elements and then re-edited together. All the visual effects have been recomposited from the original model footage complete with new computer effects where necessary (ie. missing model footage, phasers, transporter shimmer, etc.).
The six-disc Blu-ray set also features 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and a wealth of exclusive bonus material including archival footage, a gag reel and making of featurettes. No price point has been released at this time, but it’s expected to be under the RRP of $ 85 listed on Amazon UK for the set.
EW has an interesting article talking with those involved in the restoration. Though several episodes are worked on at once, each episode takes from 4-6 weeks to convert to high definition.
They also confirm that the missing 13 seconds of footage from the episode “Sins of the Father” that had to be rendered in SD on the sampler set has been found. The rescanned HD version will be released on the full season three box-set which is expected to be released sometime next year.
Comparison pictures of the Blu-ray vs. the DVDs are available below:
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