Looking for a holiday gift for the Trekkie in your life? Look no further...
Much like Disney, the Gene Roddenberry Estate has a vault. It is known as the Roddenberry Vault and it is, apparently, chock full of "bits and pieces of [Star Trek: The Original Series] footage ... left on the cutting room floor."
The estate is releasing some of that behind-the-scenes footage, along with alternate takes, deleted scenes, omitted dialogue, outtakes, and original VFX elements on Blu-Ray. Yes, Star Trek: The Original Series — The Roddenberry Vault is probably the perfect Christmas gift for the Trekkie in your life.
Buy Star Trek: The Original Series — The Roddenberry Vault on Amazon
Entertainment Weekly has two sneak peeks at what that behind-the-scenes footage and special features look like. In the first clip, we see a discussion of the iconic "The Trouble With Tribbles" episode, with insight from scriptwriter David Gerrold and Star Trek archivist Richard Arnold. Gerrold speaks generally about the Star Trek set in the clip below, saying:
Everybody was having fun. There was a team feeling. And you could see that people would say, 'I can make this a little better. I have not seen very many shows with that kind of morale behind-the-scenes ... We did not know we were making history. We just thought we're doing the best job we could.
Arnold takes the time to shine a spotlight on Wah Chang, the Star Trek production designer who not only designed the Tribbles, but other iconic Star Trek designs like: the phaser, the communicator, the tricorder, the Vulcan harp, the Romulan Bird of Prey, the Balok head from "The Corbomite Maneuver," and that famous Gorn. Arnold notes:
Wah Chang did so much of the early development of props and costumes for Star Trek, and I don't think most fans even know the name ... Gene was very lucky to get some really good people who had worked on Outer Limits and other shows ... He sort of had pick of the crop back some shows, like Twilight Zone and Outer Limits had already finished.
The second clip is short and presented without commentary, but it might be the more mesmerizing of the two. It features William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, and gives a peek at the behind-the-scenes set up and execution of the transporter effect. Check it out...