Complete First Season of “Star Trek: The Original Series”
Complete First Season of “Star
Trek: The Original Series”
Centennial, Colo. – Oct. 8, 2007 – “Star Trek” fans can now boldly go where
no man has gone before to see two of the most famous episodes of the
original television series – their local movie theatre. “Star Trek: The
Original Series” is being beamed onto the big screen in a special one night
event in select movie theatres nationwide on Tuesday, Nov. 13th, featuring
original Season 1 episodes “The Menagerie” Part 1 and 2, digitally
remastered in High-Definition and Cinema Surround Sound.
Fans will also be greeted by an introduction from creator Gene Roddenberry’s
son, Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry*, and given a behind-the-scenes look at how
the episodes were digitally re-mastered from the original negatives –
including the reinvention of the old TV show special effects using new CGI
animation, and the orchestral re-recording of the show’s theme music – in a
new 30-minute in-theatre exclusive featurette.
“Star Trek: The Original Series” special in-theatre event will be presented
by NCM FATHOM, CBS Home Entertainment and Startrek.com on Tuesday, Nov. 13th
at 7:30 p.m. local time in nearly 300 participating AMC, Cinemark, Georgia
Theatre Company and Regal Entertainment Group movie theatres across the
country. Tickets for this special one-time-only event are on-sale now for
$12.50 at presenting theatre box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com.
For a complete list of presenting theatre locations, please visit the
website (theatres are subject to change).
A week after the special screenings, the entire first season of “Star Trek:
The Original Series,” from Paramount Home Entertainment and CBS Home
Entertainment, will be available in High-Definition on DVD for the first
time. The 10-disc boxed set offers the best of both worlds with each disc
offering a Standard-Definition picture on one side and a High-Definition
picture on the other. The set will be available on Nov. 20th.
The national in-theatre event leading up to the DVD launch will include an
introduction by creator Gene Roddenberry’s son, Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry*,
and the two-part episode “The Menagerie,” which features footage from the
original “Star Trek” pilot episode titled “The Cage.” “The Cage” (first
screened in 1965 and rejected by NBC – not airing on television until a full
color print was discovered in the 1980s) featured Leonard Nimoy as Spock –
the only character that made it from the pilot to the “Star Trek” series –
as well as Jeffrey Hunter in the role of the original commander of the
starship Enterprise, Captain Christopher Pike.
In the two-part episode “The Menagerie” (Season 1, Episode 11 – originally
aired on televsion on November 17, 1966), we rejoin Spock and the new (and
familiar) crew of the Enterprise including William Shatner as Captain James
T. Kirk, DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy, James Doohan as Scott, and Nichelle
Nichols as Uhura. In this episode, Spock is on trial for hijacking the
Enterprise, telling a strange tale of former Enterprise Captain Pike's
imprisonment on Talos IV 13 years earlier and the past crew's attempts to
rescue him – shown in “flashback” footage taken from the original pilot
episode.
“Star Trek” debuted on Sept. 8, 1966 on NBC in the U.S., telling the story
of the crew of the starship Enterprise and its five-year mission, “to boldly
go where no man has gone before.” William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk
and Leonard Nimoy as Spock starred in the series which addressed issues of
the 1960s including war and peace, imperialism, class warfare, racism, human
rights, sexism and feminism. After just three seasons, the show was
cancelled and the last episode aired on June 3, 1969, but it became popular
in reruns and a cult following developed. The “Star Trek” franchise went on
to include the TV series “Star Trek: Next Generation” (1987-1994), “Star
Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993-1999), “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995-2001), “Star
Trek: Enterprise” (2001-2005), and Star Trek: “The Animated Series”
(1973-1974) as well as 10 feature films.
About National CineMedia
National CineMedia (NCM) LLC operates the largest digital in-theatre network
in North America through long-term agreements with its founding members, AMC
Entertainment Inc., Cinemark USA Inc. (NYSE: CNK) and Regal Entertainment
Group (NYSE: RGC), the three largest theatre operators in the U.S., and
through multi-year agreements with several other theatre operators. NCM LLC
produces and distributes its FirstLook pre feature program; cinema and lobby
advertising products; comprehensive meeting and event services and other
entertainment programming content. NCM LLC’s national network includes over
14,000 screens of which over 12,300 are part of the company’s Digital
Content Network (DCN). NCM LLC’s DCN covers 156 Designated Market Areas® (49
of the top 50). During 2006, approximately 550 million patrons attended
movies shown in theatres owned by the NCM LLC founding members (excluding
Loews). National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) owns a 44.8% interest in and
is the managing member of NCM LLC. For additional information, visit
www.ncm.com or www.FathomEvents.com.
About CBS Home Entertainment
CBS Home Entertainment manages the worldwide DVD business for the CBS
Corporation across all lines of content including current hits and classic
series from the vast CBS library, as well as new releases from Showtime
Video. CBS Home Entertainment products are released on the CBS DVD label.
***Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry will be participating in a radio and satellite
media tour to discuss the significance of “Star Trek” and these original
episodes on Nov. 7. Interested members of the media should contact Debbie
Marcus at demarcus@cbs.com or 212-975-3238 for additional information.**
