Star Trek’s Cold War Thriller Officially Sets New Release 35 Years Later

It's been 35 years since the original crew of the USS Enterprise embarked on their final big-screen mission, and now the Star Trek movie that doubles as a Cold War political thriller is coming home once more. It's considered one of the best, if not the best, theatrical Star Trek movies, and now it's set to be restored in 4K and released in a new 4K SteelBook set.

The warlike Klingon aliens first appeared in Star Trek: The Original Series as a loose analogue to the Soviets, during a time when the real-life Cold War threatened to get red-hot. With the franchise at loose ends after the commercial and critical disappointment of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the idea of the Klingons as a metaphorical stand-in for the USSR came up once again, especially in light of the turbulent times of 1980s, when the Chernobyl disaster exposed the USSR's weakness, Mikhail Gorbachev entered "détente" with the United States, and the Berlin Wall fell. Thus, thanks to Leonard Nimoy and writer-director Nicholas Meyer, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country came to be, becoming a bridge that connects The Original Series to The Next Generation.

Now, you can discover The Undiscovered Country all over again in a new 4K Blu-ray SteelBook coming out for the film's 35th anniversary. The movie will look better than ever, thanks to an all-new transfer derived from a 4K scan of the original film elements. Special features are still in the pattern buffer, but the two-disc set will include both the theatrical cut of the film and the extended Director's Cut that features more details about the sinister plot driving the events of the movie. It will all come in a handsome SteelBook case that showcases the movie's original poster art, and will be released in stores everywhere on December 1.

What Is 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country' About?

The movie's action kicks off when the Klingon moon Praxis explodes, threatening the survival of the Klingon Empire. Klingon Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) proposes ending the long cold war between the Klingons and the Federation, and the Enterprise crew, captained by a reluctant James T. Kirk (William Shatner), must take him to a peace conference. When Gorkon is assassinated, fanatical Klingon warrior Chang (Christopher Plummer) arrests Kirk and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley); meanwhile, Spock (Nimoy) and his new protégé, Valeris (Kim Cattrall) must race to find the real assassin before the last embers of peace are extinguished.