UPDATE: The theatrical side of the celebration is locked: the Star Trek 60th Anniversary Event hits theaters September 4-8, pairing the first four films with Original Series episodes — director’s cuts included.
William Shatner is headlining Star Trek‘s 60th anniversary after all.
Per Deadline, the anniversary documentary The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television And The World lands in Regal theaters stateside on October 9, with Shatner executive producing and sitting for interviews alongside fellow Original Series legends Walter Koenig and George Takei.
What Is The Sixty-Year Mission Documentary
The film comes from writer-director Mark A. Altman, who literally wrote the book on this subject: his Star Trek oral history The Fifty-Year Mission.
Michael S. Broder of Galaxie Pictures produces alongside Aaron Rattner, with a soundtrack album coming from La-La-Land Records.
The documentary charts the origins of the original series, promising never-before-seen archival material and the behind-the-scenes conflicts and creative gambles that turned a canceled 1960s show into a global institution.
“This film is a love letter to Star Trek,” Altman said, calling the Regal release a gift to fans for the show’s 60th birthday and predicting it will play to longtime devotees and curious newcomers alike.
Beyond the Original Series trio, the interview roster spans the whole franchise: Rod Roddenberry, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Denise Crosby, Gates McFadden, Nana Visitor, Robert Picardo, and Strange New Worlds‘ Ethan Peck and Christina Chong, plus writers, directors, producers, critics, and celebrity fans.
Shatner Ends Up Front And Center For The 60th
Shatner said he would play Kirk again at 95 in TV Guide’s 60th anniversary special, while the announced legacy lineup for the 60th anniversary Hall H panel at Comic-Con left Takei carrying the Original Series flag alone.
Now the captain is executive producing the anniversary movie itself, with Broder promising key Star Trek talent will appear in theaters for exclusive Q&As during the run.
The Roddenberry family is deep in the celebration too. Rod Roddenberry is featured in the documentary after lending the recovered original Enterprise model to the Comic-Con festivities and introducing the Hall H celebration.
Those in-theater Q&As also land as a nice echo of the case Wrath of Khan director Nicholas Meyer just made: that experiencing these stories in a room full of fellow fans is the whole point.
Add in the Original Series 60th anniversary Blu-ray gift set and the celebration is shaping up as a genuinely fan-first affair.
Legacy Sells While The Franchise Resets
The bigger picture: as I exclusively reported, David Ellison and Mike De Luca are teaming to save Star Trek once the Paramount-WBD deal closes, taking the franchise back to its Wrath of Khan and Next Generation roots.
Meanwhile, the new Star Trek movie unveiled at Comic-Con is going with all-new characters set further into the future.
So look at where the legacy demand is being served right now: a theatrical documentary built on the Original Series, fronted by Shatner, packed with faces from the franchise’s golden run.
If The Sixty-Year Mission does business at Regal this October, it hands the incoming regime one more data point that the audience wants exactly what my insiders say Ellison is planning.
The 60th anniversary proper lands September 8. The documentary follows October 9. Consider it the opening act for the reset.
