See ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ in HD for the First Time

Fans just got their first glimpse at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in high definition.

The filmmakers behind the documentary What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine have released a new update on the film. In the update, former Deep Space Nine showrunner and documentary co-director Ira Steven Behr delivers some good news and some bad news.

“What We Left Behind is not going to be released this year,” Behr says. “I know I promised it would be. I thought ti would be. And it could have been. That’s right if I wanted to release the film as it was shown at the screenings in Los Angeles, New York, and Birmingham, you could be watching it now instead of having to listen to me.

“So what the hell happened? One night last August, I suddenly realized that I did not want to release the film until we had remastered all the show clips we’re using into high definition.

“Now, at first, my colleagues Dave, Kai, Joe, and Luke were not thrilled with that decision. They said it would be too expensive, that even with another fundraiser we’d still have to take out a huge loan to pay for it, that it wasn’t financially feasible, that the remastering process itself would take months and months and months and months, and that we’d never have the film ready in time for 2018.

“And you know what? They were right. But this is an opportunity, perhaps the only opportunity for years to come to show how great Deep Space Nine look in HD, and I’m afraid I can’t pass that up. And Dave and the guys, they came around, and I hope you will too. So in spite of the cost, in spite of this annoying delay, that’s what we’re going to do.”

That’s when he introduces the first HD clip of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a brief moment taken from the Season Seven episode “Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang.” Check it out above.

Behr is right about pretty much everything he said concerning remastering the show in HD. The process is long and expensive. Since Deep Space Nine never quite achieved the popularity of Star Trek: The Next Generation, CBS will probably never be able to justify the cost of remastering the entire series into high definition for a Blu-ray release like it did with Nex Gen. Therefore, What We Left Behind will likely be the only chance fans get to see Deep Space Nine in HD glory.

Are you looking forward to What We Left Behind? Let us know in the comments!