Star Trek - Beyond the Final Frontier (2007)

The documentary, hosted by actor Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), follows the creation, preparation and final execution of a highly-visible live auction of Star Trek props from all five series and movies by auction house Christie's. The documentary starts with a brief overview of the Star Trek series and movies, and Nimoy then describes how Paramount Pictures decided to partner with Christie's to release and sell a multitude of valuable Star Trek props to the general public to celebrate the 40-year anniversary. Over the course of the documentary, we follow Star Trek experts Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda as they peruse a big warehouse and uncover a variety of Star Trek props ranging from models of the ships, costumes worn by cast from all series as well as other things such as weapons, tricorders and masks. Intertwined in this documentary are short sections of interviews with notable cast and crew members such as Patrick Stewart, Nichelle Nichols and Rick Berman that describe the history of Star Trek, its cultural impact and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's vision. In the later part of the documentary, we follow how staff members of Christie's prepare the selected props, photograph them for an auction catalog, display selected pieces at a Star Trek convention in Las Vegas before they are finally being auctioned off in New York over a period of three days. The documentary ends with house-visits of a few of the high-winning bidders as they proudly show off their recently acquired items. (You Tube)

Paramount Pictures, owner of the Star Trek franchise, decided to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the debut of Star Trek(1966) by holding an auction of many of the items that were used in all the live-action Star Trek TV series. The items, stored in several warehouses, included rack after rack of uniforms, pieces of furniture, models of the various versions of the Enterprise and of other starships, and makeup prostheses for characters. Christie's auction house was chosen to conduct the auction. In this documentary we see how Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda, with assistance from the production staff of all the TV series, chose the items to be auctioned; the problems encountered in preparing the many of the unusual items for shipment to the auction house; and some scenes from the auction held in 2006. There are interviews with many of the stars of all the TV series (although William Shatner is notably absent), series production personnel, and employees of Christie's. Several unidentified fans who attended the auction and came away with treasured items are also interviewed.
- Written by David Glagovsky <dglagovsky@verizon.net> (IMDB)