All right, we’ve got a couple things for you today...

First a couple of new Blu-ray reviews... Tim has looked at Cyril Frankel’s The Witches, aka The Devil’s Own (1966) on disc from Hammer Films by way of Scream Factory. Tim’s also reviewed Eddie Adlum’s Invasion of the Blood Farmers (1972) from Severin Films.

More reviews are on the way here too; I’m working on Hannibal 4K from Kino, Shout! and GKids’ new Princess Mononoke: Collector’s Edition, and more. So watch for those in the next few days.

The big announcement news today is that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining on 4K Ultra HD on 10/1. [Read on here...]

Today’s Retro Release Day title here at The Bits is a favorite of mine personally, as well as a favorite of our readers and classic Star Trek fans overall. It’s the acclaimed 2-disc Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition DVD, released by Paramount Home Entertainment in 2001.

The film was directed by the great Robert Wise, who had previously directed the Best Picture winners West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965), as well as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and who was an editor on Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) at RKO early in his career. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released in theaters on December 7, 1979 and this year celebrates its 40th anniversary.

As many Trek fans know, Star Trek: The Motion Picture began life as an effort to return the franchise to TV with Star Trek: Phase II, but the box office success of other science fiction films convinced Paramount to try bringing the property to the big screen. The film reunited the entire original series cast, along with newcomers Persis Khambatta and Stephen Collins. The legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith was hired to score the film, which would become among his most iconic and widely-recognized works. [Read on here...]

“Star Trek has left a legacy of hope and optimism that humankind has a future. If we cultivate the potential of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations so that we embrace a universe brimming with the riches of life in all of its forms, then humankind can evolve into something finer and nobler. I think that is what Gene Roddenberry meant when he said that the human adventure is just beginning.” — Bill Kraft, author of Maybe We Need a Letter from God: The Star Trek Stamp

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective article commemorating the golden anniversary of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry’s legendary science-fiction television series depicting the voyages of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew of the starship Enterprise.

The memorable television series premiered 50 years ago this week (September 6th, 1966, on CTV in Canada, and September 8th, 1966, on NBC in the United States), and similar to our other Star Trek roundtables (here and here) and classic television retrospectives (here, here, here, and here), The Bits for the occasion has assembled a Q&A with an esteemed group of Treksperts, historians and Star Trek writers who examine the best episodes and offer commentary on the show’s enduring appeal, influence and legacy.  [Read on here...]

We’ve got three new Blu-ray reviews for you all to check out today, starting with Tim’s look at The Film Movement’s new Dementia 13, one of the first films directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It was also produced by Roger Corman. Do check it out. Also, I’ve turned in in-depth reviews of Criterion’s new Blu-ray edition of Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, as well as the first entry in Shout! Factory’s new Shout Selects line, The Adventure of Buckaroo Bandai Across the 8th Dimension. Both titles are well worth your time and money, so do give them a look.  [Read on here…]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to follow us on Twitter @thedigitalbits @BillHuntBits and on Facebook here and here. And you can help support The Bits by pre-ordering Blu-rays and other items from Amazon through this link.]

All right, we’ve got one more big bit of 4K UHD news for you.

As we first revealed a few weeks go, Paramount has just officially announced the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness on 6/14.

Both titles will include new 4K UHD transfers with High Dynamic Range and Dolby Atmos soundtracks. Each will be a 3-disc combo pack including a 4K UHD disc, 2 Blu-ray Discs (a movie disc and a special features disc), and digital copy. You can see the cover artwork below...  [Read on here…]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to follow us on Twitter @thedigitalbits @BillHuntBits and on Facebook here and here. And you can help support The Bits by pre-ordering Blu-rays and other items from Amazon through this link.]

We begin today with Tim’s last Pick-Ups Blu-ray review for this week: A look at Scream Factory’s The Curse/The Curse II: The Bite. Together, these two Z-grade flix were damn near enough to finally break our man’s sanity and send him into a late night reviewing rage (a genuine occupational hazard in this profession). Do check it out. LOL.

Meanwhile, Scream Factory has revealed that it’s working on Brian DePalma’s Raising Cain: Collector’s Edition, due on Blu-ray 6/28, along with a new Blu-ray edition of The Crush on 6/21. [Read on here…]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to follow us on Twitter @thedigitalbits @BillHuntBits and on Facebook here and here.]

First things first today: We’re hearing from readers that Samsung’s UBD‑K8500 UHD Blu-ray player is now starting to appear for sale on retailer shelves – including Best Buy – in at least some places around the country. Additionally, Best Buy employees are suggesting in-store that the first UHD Blu-ray titles will start to become available tomorrow (2/11), probably from Lionsgate but maybe also from Fox.

Meanwhile, I’ve now received word from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment that the studio’s first round of UHD Blu-ray titles, including The Martian, Kingsman, Exodus, and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, will officially be available starting on Sunday 2/14 at Best Buy stores. Note, however, that it’s possible some stores will begin selling them earlier, or that some stores will not have their stock in yet by then. [Read on here…]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to like TheDigitalBits.com page on Facebook for breaking news, site updates on the go, discussion with our staff and other readers, giveaways and more!]

Okay... we’re starting a new week with a new Tim Salmons column, featuring this year’s Halloween Hangover “leftovers”. Each day this week, Tim will be posting another Blu-ray review – just a few good titles that either came in too late to be part of the regular Hangover, or that didn’t make the cut for one reason or another. Today’s is a look at Twilight Time’s Count Yorga, Vampire. Do check it out.  [Read on here…]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to like TheDigitalBits.com page on Facebook for breaking news, site updates on the go, discussion with our staff and other readers, giveaways and more!]

All right, sorry about the lack of a daily column yesterday. A friend of Sarah and me had a family emergency and needed some help, so that took up a portion of the day on Sunday and Monday. In any case, I’m going to do a couple updates today to catch up.

First things first: Our own Michael Coate posted a new History, Legacy and Showmanship column yesterday, featuring a look back at Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas on the occasion of the film’s 25th anniversary. The column features a roundtable interview with film historians Robert Casillo, Leighton Grist, and Glenn Kenny. If you haven’t already checked it out, I think you’ll really enjoy it.  [Read on here…]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to like TheDigitalBits.com page on Facebook for breaking news, site updates on the go, discussion with our staff and other readers, giveaways and more!]

All right, sorry for the lack of an update yesterday. As it happens, I was up at bustling Ares Studios, where pre-production on the Axanar feature film is well underway. As some of you may know, I’m the co-writer of the film’s screenplay, so we were having script and production meetings, and then producer Alec Peters, director Robert Meyer Burnett and I recorded a podcast in which we discussed the script and the writing process, and then talked about what makes a great Star Trek film. That should be up in the next day or two, so I’ll be sure to post a link when you can all listen.

Anyway, the big news today is that Criterion has just announced their December slate of Blu-ray and DVD titles, which is set to include Michael Ritchie’s Downhill Racer (Spine #494 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 12/1, Ted Wilde’s Speedy (Spine #788 – Blu-ray, DVD and Hulu) and Takashi Murakami’s Jellyfish Eyes (Spine #787 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 12/8, and finally Howard Brookner’s Burroughs: The Movie (Spine #789 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 12/15. You can see the cover artwork below.  [Read on here…]