Star Trek Home Video Details Announced

Paramount has finally released the details on JJ Abram's release of Star Trek to Home Video. The movie will be released with two DVD editions and one Blu-ray edition on November 17th, 2009. The retail prices are $29.99 for one disc DVD, $39.99 for two disc DVD and $39.99 for the three disc Blu-ray edition. Below is the portion of the press release with details on the extra features for DVD and Blu-ray. Overall it’s appearing the Blu-ray edition packs the most goodies which have become the norm for the format.

DVD:

The STAR TREK two-disc DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles. Special features are as follows:

Disc 1:

• Commentary — By director J.J. Abrams, writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Bryan Burk.


• A New Vision — J.J. Abrams’ vision was not only to create a Star Trek that was a bigger, more action-packed spectacle, but also to make the spectacle feel real.  Every aspect of production — from unique locations to the use of classic Hollywood camera tricks — was guided by this overall objective.


• Gag Reel — Bloopers featuring the entire principal cast.

Disc 2:

• Digital Copy


• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary


• Spock Birth


• Klingons Take Over Narada


• Young Kirk, Johnny and Uncle Frank


• Amanda and Sarek Argue After Spock Fights


• Prison Interrogation and Breakout
• Sarek Gets Amanda


• Dorm Room and Kobayashi Maru (original version)
• Kirk Apologizes to the Green Girl


• Sarek Sees Spock


• To Boldly Go — Taking on the world’s most beloved science fiction franchise was no small mission. Director J.J. Abrams, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, producer Damon Lindelof, and executive producer Bryan Burk talk about the many challenges they faced and their strategy for success.


• Casting — The producers knew their greatest task was finding the right cast to reprise these epic roles. The cast, for their part, talk about the experience of trying to capture the essence of these mythic characters. The piece concludes with a moving tribute to Leonard Nimoy.


• Aliens — Designers Neville Page and Joel Harlow talk about the hurdles they faced creating new alien species, recreating the Romulans and Vulcans, and designing the terrifying creatures on Delta Vega for the new Star Trek.


• Score — As a fan of the original series, composer Michael Giacchino embraced the challenge of creating new music for Star Trek while preserving the spirit of Alexander Courage’s celebrated theme. 


• DVD-Rom:


• STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for XBOX 360


• Weblink to the STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for PC


• Weblink to the STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for PlayStation Network
  

The STAR TREK single-disc DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles.  The single-disc DVD includes the commentary, “A New Vision” and the gag reel.

BLU-RAY

The STAR TREK three-disc Blu-ray is presented in 1080p High Definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital with English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. Special features are as follows:

Disc 1:

• Commentary — By director J.J. Abrams, writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Bryan Burk.


• NASA News — This BD-Live feature gives viewers access to the latest NASA news about real space exploration.  Learn about new mission developments and check out featured imagery from around the universe.

Disc 2:

• To Boldly Go — See description above.




• Branching Pods:
  
  
  
  • The Shatner Conundrum
  
  
  • Red Shirt Guy
  
  
  • The Green Girl
  
  
  • Trekker Alert!
  
  
  
  




• Casting — See description above.


• A New Vision — See description above.




• Branching Pods:
  
  
  
  • Savage Pressure
  
  
  
  




• Starships — Abrams and production designer Scott Chambliss were careful to pay tribute to the design of the original Enterprise, but they also wanted to make it futuristic and cool for a modern audience. This chapter focuses on the unique stories behind the creation of the film’s starships.




• Branching Pods:
  
  
  
  • Warp Explained
  
  
  • Paint Job
  
  
  • Bridge Construction Accelerated
  
  
  • The Captain’s Chair
  
  
  • Button Acting 101
  
  
  • Shuttle Shuffle
  
  
  • Narada Construction Accelerated
  
  
  
  




• Aliens — See description above.




• Branching Pods:
  
  
  
  • The Alien Paradox
  
  
  • Big-Eyed Girl
  
  
  • Big Bro Quinto
  
  
  • Klingons
  
  
  • Drakoulias Anatomy 101
  
  
  
  




• Planets — From the frozen landscape of Delta Vega to the desert plains of Vulcan, Scott Chambliss and the art department had a number of radically different planets to create. Abrams’ desire to shoot on real locations whenever possible led the production team to a number of strange and surprising locations.




• Branching Pods:
  
  
  
  • Extra Business
  
  
  • Confidentiality
  
  
  
  




• Props and Costumes — Property master Russell Bobbitt had the unique challenge of designing props that were both true to the original series and pertinent to today’s technology.  Likewise, costume designer Michael Kaplan talks about how he designed costumes that paid homage to what came before yet were relevant and timeless.




• Branching Pods:
  
  
  
  • Klingon Wardrobe
  
  
  
  




• Ben Burtt and the Sounds of Star Trek — When famed sound designer Ben Burtt was hired to create sounds for the first Star Wars film, he took his inspiration from the original “Star Trek” series. Burtt jumped at the opportunity to pay tribute to the sounds that sparked his career with the sounds he created for the new Star Trek.


• Score — See description above.


• Gene Roddenberry’s Vision — J.J. Abrams, Leonard Nimoy, previous Star Trek writers and producers, and scientific consultant Carolyn Porco describe and commend the optimistic and enduring vision of Gene Roddenberry. 


• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary — See details above.


• Starfleet Vessel Simulator — Explore extensive data on the U.S.S. Enterprise and the Romulan ship, the Narada. Submerse yourself in breathtaking 360° views and close-ups and review detailed tech information.


• Gag Reel — See description above.

Disc 3:

• Digital Copy


• STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for XBOX 360


• Weblink to the STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for PC


• Weblink to the STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for PlayStation Network

Street date: November 17, 2009

Runtime: 127 minutes

U.S. Rating: PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence and brief suggestive content

Canadian Rating: PG for violence

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Global Spin for Star Trek

In a new article from Variety, it examines the changes made to various movies advertising campaigns from region to region in an effort to sell a movie in the age of worldwide launches. It use to be a "one size fits all" effort as pretty much the same trailers were used worldwide with text and subtitles added on. Now the campaign is altered to highlight specific themes, characters and beliefs specific to the audience in the area. Star Trek was used as an example of this new age of worldwide openings but the entire article is worth a read.

In the U.S., a one-sheet featuring the U.S.S. Enterprise was enough. But Paramount also had to interest overseas auds that haven't warmed to the franchise in the past. So the studio circumnavigated the globe with splashy premieres, some before the movie's U.S. debut, including the worldwide [premiere] in Australia.

And while the film is a reboot of a popular sci-fi franchise, that isn't the way it was sold in other territories.

In Mexico and Russia, for example, the pic's poster features a huge column of fire coming down from the sky near the Golden Gate Bridge. In other territories where human drama is the appeal, the character of Captain Kirk was featured front and center, flanked by the characters of Spock and Uhura.

In Japan, the romance in a film is always played up, even when it's a big tentpole like "Star Trek, since the demo known as "office ladies" is considered crucial to a film's performance. (That's why Sony's campaigns for "Spider-Man" always featured the characters of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson.)

"These women in Japan are between 20 and 40 years old, and they go to the movies by themselves, after work. That's why a movie like 'Titanic' goes bananas. These office ladies are the holy grail," one international marketing exec says.

The Japanese campaign for Disney-Pixar's "Monsters Inc." focused on the emotional relationship between Sully, one of the two monsters, and Boo, the little girl, rather than the comic interplay between beasties Sully and Mike Wazowski, which was the main selling point everywhere else around the world. The pic was a huge hit in Japan.

Par's international approach for "Star Trek" seems to have worked. "Star Trek" has grossed $125.2 million at the international B.O., by far the biggest gross of any film in the franchise.

The flurry of global premieres worked for "Trek," but there are risks involved. While Paramount's "Transformers: Revenge" has grossed north of $310 million at the international B.O. to date, the press junket didn't click with some local media.

South Korean reporters walked out on helmer Michael Bay's Q&A session, offended that he'd arrived late for both the Seoul preem and the junket. Bay later apologized for "traveling from another country and not allowing enough time for airport delays, city traffic and hotel check-in."

Nimoy Talks Star Trek Future and Past

In an interview with Starland.com, Leonard Nimoy talks working on Star Trek 2.0, about his future with his character Spock "Prime", progression of Spock through the years and more. Below is snippets of the interview but its worth reading the whole thing here.

DM: Do you feel a sense of completion with the Spock character after this film or is this the beginning of a new era for you and Spock?
LN: Both! I don’t know about me and Spock. It certainly is the beginning of a new era for Spock! It is impossible to predict about me and Spock. I have no idea where they want to go next and I feel very comfortable either way. I feel very gratified that I have been able to have some kind of closure. If this is the closure, then I am very comfortable with it. I was not happy at all with the closure that was imposed on the Spock character some years ago when Spock was just simply abandoned and Kirk was killed all in one fell swoop! I felt both were great losses to Star Trek. There was no reason to kill Kirk and there was a neglect of the Spock character. It seemed intentional. It seemed as if someone was saying, “Well, we have to put a stop to that and start with a whole new era here.” Having had this movie and this experience as Spock and seeing Zachary Quinto in the role now, I feel the character has a potentially wonderful, new life and certainly the success of the movie is just so terrific! It is so wonderful to see this happen and to see Star Trek have a chance of a reinvention and a revival. It was certainly in need of a revival.

DM: Was this movie a “make or break” for the franchise? In other words, Star Trek was beginning to lose some of its popularity over the last several years – was this film, and the way it was done, absolutely essential to the future health of the Star Trek franchise and its ability to continue as an ongoing entertainment franchise?
LN: Yes, I believe that is true. It is very clear now that the movie is a gigantic success and there is a whole new generation of fans coming onboard. I think we are going to find a very interesting surge in sales of the original series because a lot of fans who are seeing this movie will say, “Gee, I’d like to go back and see what this was all about to begin with.” So the original series, which is now out on Blue-ray, will get a wider audience. I just got the discs a couple of days ago and haven’t had a chance to look but I understand that they are beautiful! I believe there will be a tremendous interest in the original series again and I think that is wonderful.

DM: Do you think Gene Roddenberry would be happy with the state of Star Trek these days?
LN: Oh, I am sure he would enjoy what is happening today. I believe he would enjoy it a lot. It is just too bad that he and Majel are gone and can’t see this amazing revival of their original idea.

DM: I assume as well that you are very open minded to appearing as Spock again should they ask you?
LN: I have no illusions on whether or not they need me. They decided that they wanted to make this film using Spock as kind of an anchor for the story, which I think worked very, very well. They don’t have to do that again. If they decide they have a role for me to play I would be very interested in talking to them about it. But I have every reason to believe that they have established a whole new set of characters and they can sail very well without me and that’s fine. Either way is good with me. I am very gratified that this has happened.

Star Trek 2.0 Book Plans

PocketBooks has announced its 2010 plans for Star Trek novels including four for the new Star Trek 2.0 universe created by the recent movie. I tend to geek out on these books, owning most and read almost all of them so looking forward to the new novels. It appears that the movie has provided an injection into publishing plans as the number of books had dropped over the years from 1 to 2 a month to about 1 a quarter. The new plans returned the volume back to what it used to be with about one book a month, each covering various eras of Trek history.

Four novels, about one a month from June to September 2010 will be set in the Star Trek 2.0 universe with the Enterprise embarking on new mission of exploration that will be independent of any sequels plans that Abrams and company may be devising.

Five planned books will cover various gaps in Trek history. One will involved the relationship between James Kirk and Carol Marcus (Inception, 2/2010), another will give background on the Orions during Captain Pike's era (The Children of Kings, out 4/2010), and another will give additional background on Saavik (Unspoken Truth, 5/2010) who eventually marries Spock in some of the non-canon books.

In addition, four more novels will cover the "Typhon Pact" which is events set in the post Star Trek: Nemesis era before events of Abrams's Trek that sent spot back in time. The events take place after an armada of Borg nearly wiped out the Federation (but killed billions along the way) in the "Destiny" series of books (fantastic reads). Those events led to the creation of the "Typhon Pact" which is a kind of anti-Federation agreement between the Romulans, Tholians, Gorn, Breen, Tzenkethi, and Kinshaya) which has the unspoken goal of breaking the Federation.

For more details on each of the novels, writers and more head to TrekMovie.com.

Mythbusters to Test Gorn Cannon

I am a huge fan of the Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel so happy to hear when another program I am fond of, Star Trek, will get some love from the program. According to one of the Mythbusters, Grant Imahara's Tweet, "YesssssKirk!!! It’s official. #Gorncannon is a go for next season’s Viewer’s Special. Thanks to all fans 4 your help! :)"

The "Gorn Cannon" is from Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Arena" were Kirk is pitted against a Gorn captain by the Metrons who threaten to destroy the ship of the losing Captain. Kirk digs up high school chemistry of using potassium nitrate, sulfur and coal found on the battlefield/mountain to create cannon to knock the Gorn out.

I assume the Mythbuster goal is to test if you can jury rig a working cannon using handfuls of the correct material as an effective weapon. Several problems they will probably test is a) can the bamboo cannon even survive a blast and b) assuming the ingredients are readily available (alien planet so go with it) could you devise the right combination to create the thrust needed to send projectiles at your enemy and not kill yourself in the process.

Star Trek Passes $375 Million Worldwide

Good news, bad news for Star Trek at the box office after this weekend. The good news is the movie earned another $1.7 million (domestic total $249.8) so on the cusp of passing the $250 million mark, something few thought it would achieve. Once include an international total of $125.1 the movie has made a worldwide total of $375 million. The bad news is the movie has dropped out of the top 10 by placing at 11th and unlikely to return so its run in theatres is coming to a close. Overall, not bad for a franchise most believed was dead.

Pegg: Sequel in 18 Months?

Simon Pegg, while promoting Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinsaurs, indicated to Zoo Magazine (not safe for work) that he thinks a sequel to Star Trek could be ready as soon as 18 months from now.

I know the writers are busy thinking about it. I don’t really know anything about the story, or if I’m in a bigger role, but I’d imagine we’ll be back this time next year. That’s not official, but I reckon it’s probably about 18 months away from being in the cinema.

That time table would put a release around Christmas 2010. Considering the success the movie had in May, more than likely the movie would be set for a May 2011 release. Besides, even if Trek writers Orci and Kurtzman do manage to get a final approved script done by the end of the year it leaves a very short schedule to big budget film together. The problem wouldn’t be the shoot itself; the problem would be having enough time to get the CGI elements completed. It's doable, just difficult. A summer release would provide plenty of breathing room.

In additional, Simon Pegg spoke with MoviesOnline about Star Trek fans which you can find here.