10 Star Trek Deleted Scenes You Must See

Star Trek: The Original Series – The Roddenberry Vault was released on Blu-ray in 2016 (just in time for the 50th anniversary). Whilst the set does include 12 remastered episodes from the first and second seasons with new audio commentaries, it is the special feature documentaries – Inside the Roddenberry Vault – that are the must-see.

During production, Gene Roddenberry was seemingly prolific in holding on to (pilfering) the TOS 'dailies' (raw, unedited film shot on any particular day). Some of these, as well as first drafts of various scripts, were sold by Roddenberry under his, and later Majel Barrett’s, company Lincoln Enterprises. Large quantities of 'salvaged' film, which had never before been released to the general public, were also stored in a backroom at the company.

Years later, in 2007, Eugene 'Rod' Roddenberry, in a sudden realisation of the treasure trove he was sitting on, decided to open the vault. The herculean task of sorting through the canisters of footage was then given to Michael and Denise Okuda.

Thanks to their efforts, we can all now enjoy a plethora of previously unseen TOS deleted scenes, alternate and extended takes, omitted dialogue, outtakes, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and even temporary and unused visual effects shots.

Admittedly, some of the material on the Blu-ray does stand out over the more run-of-the-mill rest. Of particular note are cut scenes from The City on the Edge of Forever that expand upon the burgeoning relationship between Kirk and Edith Keeler. Others include deleted scenes of Khan from Space Seed, partial audio found from Who Mourns for Adonais which confirms that Carolyn was originally scripted to be pregnant with Apollo’s baby by the end of the episode, and an alternate take of Kirk’s rousing 'risk is our business' speech from Return to Tomorrow.

And then we find Uhura…