Space: the final frontier. But nothing is truly final, is it? Almost forty-three years ago, Star Trek: The Motion Picture arrived in theaters, but it wasn't until 2001 that Robert Wise's director's cut arrived on DVD for audiences to enjoy anew. Yet again, Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition has returned to the pop culture conversation as it arrives on Blu-ray, in gorgeously remastered 4K Ultra HD, today, ahead of the highly anticipated Star Trek Day later this week. With both of these momentous occasions occurring this week, Paramount was kind enough to beam down an exclusive deleted scene from Star Trek: The Motion Picture for Collider to share with Trekkies.
In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the U.S.S. Enterprise boldly debuted on the big screen for the very first time with the original cast of Star Trek: The Original Series. Directed by Robert Wise, with a script by Alan Dean Foster and Harold Livingston, the film saw Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the Starship Enterprise called into action by the Federation to contain an immense nimbused object that's on a crash course with Earth. But all is not as it seems, and the crew discovers artificial intelligence with an ominous primary directive lurking within the alien cloud. The ship's navigator Lt. Ilia (Persis Khambatta) is abducted and in her place, an android look-alike containing all her memories shows up soon after.
In the deleted scene entitled "Three Casualties," Kirk is seen relaying a message back to Starfleet about the casualties that the Enterprise has suffered after their run-in with V'ger. Initially, he lists Security Officer Phillips, Lieutenant Ilia, and Captain William Decker (Stephen Collins) as deceased, but at the last minute, he decides that he doesn't wish to tell Starfleet that they're dead, but rather missing-suggesting that there might be hope for finding them, even though he knows exactly what happened to both Ilia and Decker.
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Shatner, of course, wasn't the only member of the original cast to return for the motion picture. Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Majel Barrett, and James Doohan all reprised their roles.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition arrives on Blu-ray in 4K Ultra HD today. While you wait to get your hands on it, check out the deleted scene down below: