Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition Being Fully Restored in 4k

Star Trek: The Motion Picture's Director's Edition is being fully remastered in 4k Ultra HD. The restoration is expected to take 6-8 months, according to the press release on StarTrek.com, which means the Director's Edition will not be included with September's Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection 4k UHD Box Set, which includes The Motion Picture's theatrical cut, remastered from the source. Instead, the 4k restoration of Star Trek The Motion Picture's Director's Edition will debut exclusively on the Paramount+ streaming service. The film will be restored using Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR) and a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack.

Oscar-winning director Robert Wise helmed the first Star Trek movie. Wise wasn't entirely satisfied with the theatrical cut of the film. The Director's Edition gave Wise the chance to complete his vision, returning abandoned elements, including lost special effects shots when released on VHS and DVD in 2001. This version of the movie never got a Blu-ray release, making the 4k restoration even more welcome.

Wise died in 2005 at age 91. Star Trek: The Motion Picture's 4k Director's Edition restoration will be led by three of his colleagues who worked on the original movie: producer David C. Fein, restoration supervisor Mike Matessino, and visual effects supervisor Daren R. Dochterman.

In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, "The U.S.S. Enterprise boldly debuted on the big screen with the cast of the original Star Trek series, including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, and James Doohan. When an unidentified alien intruder destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk returns to the helm of a newly transformed U.S.S. Enterprise to take command. This is the original theatrical cut of the acclaimed adventure and features Jerry Goldsmith's rousing iconic overture."

Acclaimed visual effects artist Douglas Trumball worked on the film. When it returned to theaters for its 40th anniversary in 2019, ComicBook.com spoke to Trumball about the creative vision for Star Trek's first cinematic outing.

"I think that everybody was on the same boat in that respect because there was a definite desire to elevate Star Trek to higher territory and epic territory," he said. "And that's why it's named Star Trek: The Motion Picture, not just Star Trek something else. They wanted to make sure it was differentiated from the television episodic series. That was why, I think, they hired Robert Wise, because he had done The Sound of Music and West Side Story, really important films that were epic in nature. And I think that's what they wanted for Star Trek."

The theatrical cut of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is streaming now on Paramount+. The theatrical cut will be released as part of the Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection 4k UHD Box Set on September 7th. The set is available to pre-order now.

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