Star Trek documentaries and specials
The following is a list of various documentaries and television specials related to Star Trek. One distinction that can be made between the two is that "documentaries" tend to be of a purely informative nature, mostly providing (behind-the-scenes) background information on the live-action productions, whereas "television specials" often tend to be of a celebratory nature with emphasis on entertainment (habitually featuring guests and entertainers who have otherwise no formal affiliation with the official Star Trek franchise), even if background information is incorporated.
This list generally encompasses "unofficial" and "stand-alone" productions (when produced by the official franchise, predominantly of a promotional nature), mainly made by third parties outside Paramount Global's usual franchise home media/video format framework, typically intended for television broadcasts and, more recently, for streaming through the various streaming services and/or postings on social media outlets such as StarTrek.com, Facebook Live or YouTube, as well.
Most "official" documentaries and specials that were specifically created for inclusion on the individual home video format releases of the actual corresponding series and/or film productions as companion pieces, otherwise known as "special/bonus features" or "Value Added Material" ("VAM"), are not listed here and are detailed with their originating home video products and/or their own individual entries.
Home video formats
Several productions, both "unofficial" and "official", which were first broadcast/streamed on television received a VHS/LaserDisc (in the early days), DVD, digital or, more rarely, Blu-ray Disc home video format release afterwards, either in full or in part and as such are specified below.
The early VHS/LaserDisc documentary/special releases were predominantly official franchise productions as means for promotional purposes, and were, save for a handful of curtailed excerpts, never included on the later home video formats as special features afterwards, despite the (sometimes rare) production background information oftentimes contained therein. This has since made these releases actually collectible for "Trekkies", the 1994 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine VHS-only documentary in particular. Remarkably and with the single exception of Inside Star Trek - The Real Story, all official home video formats saw a release in Europe first, before a home market release followed suit, typically with an one-year delay.
Third-party home video format documentary/special releases started to take off shortly after the turn of the millennium, in the wake of the advent of the DVD format.
VHS
Note: For all tables applies,
- † = official franchise production
| Release | Cover | Release date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NTSC[1] | PAL/Secam | ||
| Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special † |  US NTSC cover |
1 July 1992 (US) | 1991 (UK) 1993 (Germany) |
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Behind the Scenes † |  US NTSC cover  UK PAL cover |
20 July 1994 (US) | 3 November 1993 (UK, combo release with DS9: "Emissary") |
| The Twenty-Five Year Mission Tour |  US NTSC, UK PAL, and convention covers |
13 March 1996 (US) | 26 September 1994 (UK) |
| Your Guide To ... Star Trek Generations † |  UK PAL cover |
- | 1994 (UK) 1995 (Australia/Germany/Benelux/Spain) |
| Journey's End: The Saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation † |  US NTSC cover  UK PAL cover |
3 October 1995 (US) | 5 December 1994 (UK, combo release with TNG: "All Good Things...") |
| Jonathan Ross' Essential Guide To Star Trek: First Contact † |  Dutch PAL cover |
- | 1996 (UK) 1997 (Germany/Benelux) |
| Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond † |  US NTSC cover |
3 November 1998 (US) | 20 October 1997 (UK, as part of the Star Trek - The Movies set) 1997 (Benelux, as part of the Star Trek - The Movies set) |
| Inside Star Trek - The Real Story † |  US NTSC cover  Dutch PAL cover |
3 November 1998 (US) | 13 November 1998 (UK, as part of the Star Trek - Greatest Battles set) 1998 (Benelux, as part of the Star Trek - Greatest Battles set) 10 February 2000 (Germany, as part of the Star Trek - Greatest Battles set) |
| Trekkies † |  US NTSC cover |
9 November 1999 (US) | 8 June 2000 (Germany) 28 July 2000 (Japan) 2000 (Australia) |
| Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime |  US NTSC cover |
6 November 2001 (US) | 12 September 2002 (Germany) |
LaserDisc
| Release | Cover | Release date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NTSC | PAL/Secam | ||
| Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special † |  US NTSC cover |
16 July 1992 (US) 10 February 1993 (Japan, as part of the Star Trek: The Complete Collection set) |
- |
| Movie Magic |  Japan NTSC cover |
21 December 1994 (Japan, as part of a three-volume set) | - |
| Inside Star Trek - The Real Story † |  Japan NTSC cover |
26 November 1999 (Japan) | - |
| Trekkies † |  US NTSC cover |
11 January 2000 (US) | - |
| Journey's End: The Saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation † |  Japan NTSC cover |
24 March 2000 (Japan) | - |
| Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond † |  Japan NTSC cover |
24 March 2000 (Japan) | - |
DVD
After the advent of the DVD, the official franchise opted to waive the production of their standalone (promotional) documentaries/specials on home video formats, and leave that field henceforth to outside producers. Some of the more independent ones, 455 Films (through their home video format licensees) in particular, choose to release their productions as "region free", undoubtedly as a means to increase their chances of achieving a positive financial result.
The more institutionalized parties who were reliant on close cooperation with the franchise, such as The History Channel, The Smithsonian (Building Star Trek, 50 Years of Star Trek, Star Trek: The Real Story) and the parties behind both Trekkies and What We Left Behind (which in the latter case included 455 Films as well), erred on the side of caution by continuing to adhere to the (mandatory) region encoding.
| Release | Cover | Release date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| Trekkies † |  US Region 1 cover |
9 November 1999 (US) 24 September 2013 (US reissue) |
8 September 2003 (Germany) 26 September 2003 (Japan) 6 October 2003 (UK) 10 October 2005 (Japan reissue) 1 July 2009 (Japan reissue) |
8 September 2003 (Australia) 1 August 2012 (Australia reissue) |
| Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime |  US cover |
Region free | ||
| Star Wars vs. Star Trek: The Rivalry Continues |  US Region 1 cover |
18 December 2001 (US) | - | - |
| Trekkies 2 † |  US Region 1 cover  German Region 2 cover |
31 August 2004 (US) | 20 January 2005 (Germany) 7 March 2005 (UK) 21 September 2017 (Japan) |
- |
| Gene Roddenberry: Up Close And Personal |  US Region 1 cover |
23 October 2006 (US) | - | - |
| The Twenty-Five Year Mission Tour |  US cover |
Region free
| ||
| How William Shatner Changed the World |  US Region 1 cover  Australian Region 4 cover |
10 April 2007 (US) | - | 1 October 2007 (Australia) |
| The Captains |  US Region 1 cover  German Region 2 cover |
Region free | ||
| The Captains of The Final Frontier |  UK cover |
Region free | ||
| Sense of Scale |  US cover |
Region free
| ||
| Trek Nation |  US Region 1 cover  German Region 2 cover |
9 July 2013 (US) | - | 25 October 2013 (Germany) |
| The Captains Close Up |  US Region 1 cover |
Region free | ||
| William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge |  US cover  German Region 2 cover |
Region free
| ||
| William Shatner's Get A Life! |  US Region 1 cover |
Region free | ||
| The Captains: A Journey Through Time |  Australian cover  UK cover |
Region free | ||
| 50 Years of Star Trek |  US Region 1 cover |
1 November 2016 (US) | - | - |
| Building Star Trek |  US Region 1 cover | |||
| For the Love of Spock |  US cover  German cover |
Region free
| ||
| Star Trek: The Real Story |  US Region 1 cover |
13 March 2018 (US) | - | - |
| What We Left Behind |  US Region 1 cover |
6 August 2019 (US) | - | - |
| The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek |  US Region 1 cover |
25 April 2023 (US) | - | - |
Blu-ray Disc
In the US home market Star Trek documentary releases in the HD Blu-ray Disc format are quite rare, the – unofficial – What We Left Behind documentary having been one of the very rare exceptions. The German New KSM production company on the other hand, had already exhibited more zeal in the mid-2010s by remastering several older productions into HD standards for Blu-ray disc home video releases in German-speaking Europe.
| Release | Cover | Release date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Region A | Region B | ||
| The Captains Collection: Explorations by William Shatner |  US Region A cover  German Region B cover |
20 October 2020 | 18 July 2016 (Germany) |
| The Captains, William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge |  
|
- | |
| For the Love of Spock |  US cover  German cover |
Region free
| |
| What We Left Behind | 
|
6 August 2019 | - |
| Trekkies | 
|
24 May 2022 | - |
- ↑ Contrary to the optical DVD and Blu-ray disc formats, a form of geo-restricting region encoding did not exist for the VHS and LaserDisc home video formats. Instead, the format releases were dependent on the television system employed by the region of release, which in broad strokes consisted of NTSC for the Americas and Japan, PAL for Europe, Asia and Oceania, and SECAM for the Francophone world and Russia. Most of the contemporary high-end players were able to play all system releases at the time, legally as a matter of fact – and again in contrast to the DVD/Blu-ray players (formally that is at least, as many manufacturers surreptitiously provided their clientele with means to crack the region encoding on their players)