When TrekCore originally reviewed What We Left Behind, we let everyone know that the end credits were legitimately as good as anything in the movie. They were funny and insightful, but most importantly they intelligently highlighted a myriad of topics that ended up on the cutting room floor.

With that in mind then, it is absolutely no surprise that the home video release of the film now includes two hours of deleted scenes and special features that are every bit as entertaining as the brilliant documentary, and well worth your time and gold-pressed latinum.

The bulk of the new features are included in a section of the disc titled “What We Left Out: Deleted Moments” and, when played concurrently, the 17 extra vignettes describing the making of the iconic series are basically a second documentary. The clips total an extra 47 minutes, and are highlighted by “The Toughest Episode,” “Our Friends Behind the Camera,” “Family Tensions” and “One Last Punch.”

Below are brief summaries of each of the fully realized deleted scenes.

The Toughest Episode (3:30)

Brilliantly recounts a brutal location shoot in the heat on “Rocks and Shoals,” with first AD BC Cameron describing what she called “the hardest show I’ve ever done, by far.”

Nog’s Sisko Encounter (2:30)

Aron Eisenberg touchingly remembers the joy of working with Avery Brooks and how he wanted to return on screen everything Brooks gave to his fellow actors.

The Trouble with Onesies (3:47)

The less said about the uncomfortable story told in clip, the better. Stories about pranks on set are all well and good, but honestly the tone on this one is a misfire.

Brotherly Love (1:54)

Armin Shimerman and Max Grodénchik discuss their mutual admiration and recount the oft-heard story about their casting as Quark and Rom.

The Alaimo Way (1 :17)

Some extra introspection from the always animated Marc Alaimo.

Jimmy’s World (3:45)

Some interesting backstory from James Darren on how he got his start in the business.

The Other Changeling (2:25)

Rene Auberjonois fondly recalls working closely with Salome Jens.

The Death of Baseball (1:45)

Ira Steven Behr tells a great story about Michael Piller’s love for baseball, and how he killed it in the 24^th century in his very first script for Star Trek, and how it was his goal to resurrect it at some level on DS9. Pillar’s reaction to both statements? Silence and the same wry, crooked smile. “He killed the thing he loved to get the best job he ever had,” said Behr.

Michael’s Hidden Talent (1:22)

A fun story from Star Trek executive producer Rick Berman telling a story about Michael Piller surprising them in a hotel lobby with his piano skills.

The Gift of Anger (1:51)

A hilarious story from JG Hertzler about an argument between Avery Brooks and Rene Auberjonois on the set of “Far Beyond the Stars.”

Westmore’s Spots (4:50)

Michael Westmore describes the inspiration for his work, including how he designed Jadzia’s spots and Odo’s mask.

The Virgin Door-Opener (1:44)

Want to know more about the automatic doors on Star Trek? Done!

Family Tensions (2:14)

Fascinating story about an on-set argument between Avery Brooks and Rene Auberjonois.

Finding Vic (2:29)

An excellent Vic Fontaine casting discussion between Ira Steven Behr and James Darren.

One Last Punch (2:31)

Stunt coordinator Dennis “Danger” Madalone and Marc Alaimo go into details on the well-known story of when Avery Brooks accidentally punched Alaimo in the face during the fire caves scene from “What We Leave Behind,” the DS9 series finale.

The Fuzzy Tribbles (3:33)

A tight vignette detailing some of visual effects work that went into crafting “Trials and Tribble-ations.” Nothing new here, but great, nonetheless.

Our Friends Behind the Camera (6:00)

One of the highlights of the entire disc, this piece begins as a nice highlight of some of the below-the-line work being done by various line producers (Steve Oster, Robert Della Santina) and assistant directors (BC Cameron, Lou Race), but ends with some good-natured jabs aimed toward prolific Trek director David Livingston.

Livingston served most of his career on Trek in the contrasting positions of supervising producer (responsible for hitting timelines and budgets) and director (a creative role in which budgets aren’t a focus). “Directors should have the conscience of a rattlesnake,” said Livingston. Through the years, if you’ve read through the lines, anytime there has been an interview about Livingston, his co-workers and cast have hardly spoken about him effusively.

In this extended clip we finally get a few candid reactions — softened by 20 years, obviously — about the way in which he approached his two positions single-mindedly and inconsistently based on the job he was serving at that time. “That’s the job. If you get hired for the job, do that job… It’s very schizophrenic. But you have to make the split,” said Livingston, unapologetically.

In addition to the deleted scenes, the release includes several other vignettes and interview features.

An Intro from Ira & the Gang (1:42)

The filmmakers, led by Ira Steven Behr, are sitting around a poker table playing Go Fish (of course) and introduce the special features, revealing that many of them were in the documentary at one point, but for various reasons ended up on the cutting room floor.

A Brief History of DS9 (3:19)

This segment, as revealed by Behr, was initially planned to be part of the opening segment of the documentary, and it’s a mostly by-the-numbers summary of the series, led by university professor and Star Trek fan John Putnam.

The piece, however, is splendidly punctuated by a couple of surprise appearances by “student” Jonathan Frakes, listening to Putnam’s lecture, and at one point declaring, “That’s why you’re the professor, and I’m just a Star Trek icon.” (He also is shown not remembering Michael Dorn’s name, so, yeah, this bonus feature is pretty great.)

More from the Fans (12:39)

One of the strengths of the original documentary release is the inclusion of so many heartfelt testimonials from the fans of Deep Space Nine. These additional outtakes, introduced by De Mello-Folsom, include several passionate fans recounting their love for the series.

The clips add both emotional weight and frivolity to the proceedings, and more than one or two will leave you teary-eyed.

Variety Photo Shoot (1:45)

A short compilation of clips from the 2018 Variety cast photo shoot set to music. The laughs and smiles of your favorite cast members will make you feel like you were a fly on the wall at the reunion.

Filmmaker HD Roundtable (15:21)

This is the same feature that was screened after most of the film’s theatrical showings earlier in the year.

It’s a detailed piece on the process that the filmmakers, including co-director David Zappone and producer Kai De Mello-Folsom, went through in order to piece everything together and maximize their HD output. The piece is dry, but also very informative.

Shout! Studios, who managed distribution and release of the documentary in theaters and on home media, has their own special limited-edition version of the Blu-ray release available from their online store, with a bonus disc which includes two additional features.

A Roundtable Look at Making the Documentary (53:50)

This extended version of the “HD Roundtable” discussed above spends its lengthy running time allowing the production team to discuss the genesis of the documentary, the six years of time it took to put the film together, the massive impact of the fan fundraising campaign, the integration of the “Season 8” writers room footage, and a look back at the participation of so many Deep Space Nine series actors and contributors for the documentary’s interviews.

The longer running time doesn’t necessarily add dynamism to the conversation, but the depth of information included is certainly fascinating.

A Musical Reunion (10:31)

It’s never a bad idea to include a behind-the-scenes vignette on Star Trek’s great musical composers, and this sit down with Kevin Kiner and Dennis McCarthy (the man who composed the famed DS9 theme) is an interesting look at their work and process.

Two composers discuss their mutual admiration and partnership in working on the score for “What We Left Behind,” which includes the fact they weren’t able to use the original DS9 theme over the opening and closing credits because of licensing restrictions, and how McCarthy re-worked it for the documentary.

The composers also go into details on the interesting dichotomy of scoring a documentary that also included elements of a new episode, with the Season 8 clips.

For those who contributed to the Indiegogo fundraiser campaign, the special ‘Backer Edition’ version of the What We Left Behind Blu-ray includes — along with special cover artwork — two additional features exclusive to that release, starting with an informative Technical Info Track which basically serves as a behind-the-scenes text commentary for the documentary.

That version of the disc also includes a section from the Indiegogo Campaign Video Vault with 11 promotional videos shot by Behr’s crew (and including the likes of Jonathan Frakes and Andrew Robinson, among others). The 25 minutes of fun videos created for the fundraising campaign may not be something you thought you needed to see again, but they are a gratifying walk down memory lane for anyone who was part of the documentary’s pitch from the beginning.

The Indiegogo contributor backer disc also includes A Musical Reunion, discussed above.

Regarding the “Season 8 Writer’s Room” story featured throughout the documentary, if there is one thing sorely missing from the extras on this disc, it’s more from that session with the architects of Deep Space Nine.

“Season 8” was expertly woven into the fabric of What We Left Behind, but when you know that the writers met for six hours to hash out their new episode — and only 20 minutes of that discussion is seen in the film — it leaves you longing for more. It would have been nice to see more of the writers’ room process in its entirety, especially when we learn via the technical commentary that elements like a child between Bashir and Ezri were part of the story, but not included.

The overall presentation of the home release is also a success. The main menu on the disc serves up an HD view from Sisko’s desk, with his computer showcasing clips from many a familiar face, and there is even a brief silhouetted glimpse of Ira Steven Behr himself walking through Ops outside Sisko’s door.

On the Indigogo backer disc, the ‘Chapters’ menu contains a beautiful HD look at the mural in Quark’s bar, complete with sound effects from a spinning dabo wheel. The menu in this area is slightly clunky to navigate, but it includes a comprehensive breakdown of 32 different chapters to easily skip to whichever section of DS9’s history you are in the mood for.

Adding even more to the immersive feeling of the disc, the ‘Setup’ menu is an HD ops panel and the ‘Bonus Features’ menu features a zoom across the Defiant bridge and into the viewscreen, in HD, of course.

Overall, as  we said in our original review. What We Left Behind is now the definitive and best Star Trek documentary ever produced, and this home video release of a myriad of special features only adds to its place in the Trek pantheon.

In addition to the the Blu-ray and DVD releases available for purchase, What We Left Behind is also now available to stream on both Amazon Prime Video and iTunes in the United States — where it is also ready to watch in 4K UHD on compatible devices.

While a physical 4K release of the documentary is not planned at this time, that doesn’t mean we aren’t done talking about the high-def upgrades to the episodic footage — we’re stretching our video-editing muscles as we prepare to get back to our SD-to-HD video comparison series for Deep Space Nine thanks to the new Blu-ray availability… so stay tuned!

Jim Moorhouse is the creator of TrekRanks.com and the TrekRanks Podcast. He can be found living and breathing Trek every day on Twitter at @EnterpriseExtra.

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