'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' Documentary Offers New Update

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine celebrated its 25th anniversary this January. Fans have been hoping to celebrate by watching What We Left Behind, the crowdfunded documentary looking back on the series. Unfortunately, there have been some delays in getting the documentary finished.

What We Left Behind has been undergoing the editing process. In a spring update to IndieGoGo backers, the filmmakers behind the project offered an explanation as to why the process has taken so long:

"Well, for starters, we've got over 100 hours of new interviews with cast and crew to go through, plus fan submissions, archival materials, animations, audition tapes, convention footage and over 170 broadcast episodes... endless possibilities! And sure, you SAY you'd be down to see a 4-hour documentary, but really that's just excessive even for us. Carefully and artfully assembling everything down into a reasonable length film (with a story of its own!) is an even longer process.

Then, factor in the technical elements of licensing all our official footage, finding new archival elements and creating animations, working with CBS to scan film negative for presentation for the first time in HD… the fact that we're even close to having something to show is, frankly, a bit of a miracle. If we were wormhole aliens, we're sure all this linear time wouldn't even be an issue, but alas in this process we're only human.

The good news for you in all of this is that we're continuing to find new elements and stories to include as we go along, and we're committed to making the best stand-alone film we can, however long that takes. (And, suffice to say, we've got HOURS of bonus content to release later on down the line!)"

The update did also confirm that the documentary was able to negotiate the rights to certain scenes from Deep Space Nine to remaster in high definition:

"YES! It's expensive, it's time-intensive and lengthening our post process... and it's gosh-darn beautiful. CBS has been partnering with us on this aspect and we can confirm it will *absolutely* be worth the wait."

If you're itching to celebrate Deep Space Nine's anniversary another way, you can always go a rewatch some of the show's best episodes. You can also look forward to the next expansion for Star Trek Online, titled "Victory is Life," which will bring 12 Deep Space Nine actors back to voice their characters from the series.

Are you still looking forward to the Deep Space Nine documentary? Let us know what you think in the comments!