"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 television 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). (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.***