Star Trek’s 55th anniversary is this month, and accompanying that milestone is the just-released 4K Ultra HD Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection. And to help celebrate the occasion, IGN’s own Star Trek aficionado Scott Collura interviewed William Shatner himself!
In this interview, which you can watch at the top of the page or below, Shatner discusses the making of the first four Star Trek movies — as well as Star Trek V, which he directed and is sure to be on the next 4K set. From the convoluted development of Star Trek: The Motion Picture to bringing Kirk into a middle-aged funk in The Wrath of Khan to shooting the famous "double dumb-ass on you" scene in The Voyage Home to him and Leonard Nimoy laughing at directors on the show, the star reveals lots of fun behind-the-scenes tidbits from the beloved franchise.
As for the Blu-rays, Star Trek’s 55th anniversary marks the first time that the original four Star Trek films are presented in not only 4K Ultra HD, but with Dolby Vision and HDR-10 as well. Each film — Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek: III: The Search for Spock, and Star Trek: IV: The Voyage Home — comes packaged with “hours of previously released bonus content.”
This content includes commentary, deleted scenes, storyboards, trailers, production videos like “Designing Khan” and interviews with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, and more.
This Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection, which is available now, also comes packaged with standard Blu-rays and digital copies of each film. For those without 4K TVs or players, there is also a version that just includes the Blu-ray discs and digital copies.
Alongside the films, Star Trek’s 55th anniversary also brings with it the first time Star Trek: The Original Series, which will be released on Blu-ray with three Steelbook cases. This new collection includes every episode in high definition and over nine hours of previously released special features. While the Star Trek: The Original Series Blu-ray Steelbook was set to be released on September 7, delays in manufacturing have caused a slight delay to October 26.
For more on Star Trek, check out the release date of Star Trek Discovery’s fourth season, the newest trailer for Star Trek: Picard’s second season, and which original Star Trek: The Original Series characters will be joining the cast in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ alongside a younger version of Nyoto Uhura.
Talk to Executive Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura, or listen to his Star Trek podcast, Transporter Room 3. Or do both!
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.