The first big-screen adventure of the Star Trek saga has been restored, recut and remixed, and on November 6, 2004, it hit stores in both a two-disc DVD set and in widescreen VHS.

The result of a close collaboration between Robert Wise Productions and Paramount Home Entertainment, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director's Edition" is a complete digital restoration of the film with enhanced visual effects, supervised by the film's director, Robert Wise. The DVD set contains more than two hours of new, exclusive bonus materials. The VHS-widescreen version contains one of the bonus featurettes.

"After twenty years, I am happy to finally share my completed vision of 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' with audiences everywhere," said Wise, a multiple Academy Award winner. "It was a uniquely satisfying experience for us, and I am grateful to Paramount for the opportunity." The film, produced by Gene Roddenberry, was originally released in 1979.

The producer of the restoration project, David C. Fein, told STARTREK.COM that this is not a typical "director's cut" which simply reinserts scenes left on the editing room floor for the theatrical version. "This project is not about compiling and including everything shot — even though there is a great amount of interesting new material throughout the picture," Fein said. "Our goal is for people to be able to sit down and see a completely different film in regard to the way that it plays, the way that the film feels."

The Director's Edition has a running time of 136 minutes, compared to 131 minutes for the original release. But it would be a misnomer to think that the new version simply has five minutes of additional material. "The film has been fine-tuned from beginning to end," Fein said. "The focus was on improving the flow of the film, the film's presence. Some places a change as minor as two frames trimmed off the end of a shot was necessary. Extensive care was given to the overall viewing experience." He said the film is augmented with visual effects that could not have been completed for the original release in 1979 — "not because of technology limitations, but primarily because of time." (For more information on the enhanced visual effects, see this related story.) Plus, it has a completely new sound mix. "While remaining very faithful to the original film, the new audible experience helps wake up the entire picture," he said. "It's really dynamic. We're really very proud of the results."

Fein credits the production team on the DVD/video release for approaching this project as an epic motion picture, instilling it with the "grandeur and presence" of Wise's big-screen vision. That team included Michael Matessino, restoration supervisor; Daren R. Dochterman, visual effects supervisor; and Chuck Michael, Sound Supervisor.

The two hours of bonus materials on the DVD set include:

Disc 1
— A group commentary by Wise, special photographic effects director Douglas Trumbull, special photographic effects supervisor John Dykstra, music composer Jerry Goldsmith and actor Stephen Collins.
— A text commentary by Michael Okuda, scenic art supervisor currently working on Enterprise and co-author of The Star Trek Encyclopaedia.

Disk 2
— Three new retrospective documentaries with cast and crew interviews.
— Original teaser and theatrical trailer.
— New Director's Edition trailer.
— Eight TV commercials from the original theatrical release.
— Five additional scenes (from the 1979 theatrical version) plus trims and outtakes.
— Eleven deleted scenes (from the 1983 TV version).
— Storyboard archive.
— New Star Trek series Enterprise promo spot.

The widescreen VHS will include a bonus featurette with exclusive, never-before-seen interviews with the cast and crew.

The DVD is presented in widescreen format enhanced for 16:9 televisions. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround and English Dolby Surround. The DVD is closed-captioned for the deaf and hard of hearing and subtitled in English.

The DVD of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director's Edition" will be available for a standard retail price of $29.99 in the U.S. and C$39.99 in Canada. The standard retail price on the widescreen VHS will be $14.95. The film is rated PG in the U.S. and Canada for sci-fi action and mild language.