A few new surprises from the TNG-Remastered project emerged yesterday as Creation Entertainment’s famous official Star Trek convention continued in Las Vegas. Fans were treated to a special panel hosted by the official site, StarTrek.com, who had invited Mike & Denise Okuda alongside filmmakers Roger Lay Jr. and Robert Meyer Burnett to talk about the remastering process behind the recent Star Trek: TNG Season 1 blu-ray release.

Back in July when I had the pleasure of speaking to Mike and Denise Okuda, they advised that everyone at CBS were trying their hardest to make an extended cut of the season two classic “The Measure of a Man” possible (read the original interview here). Yesterday the team finally announced that all their hard work had paid off and “The Measure of a Man” is indeed being remastered to be presented as an extended cut. Furthermore, the team confirmed that the episode is being reconstructed as if it’s a new episode and will be presented in full HD. Even more exciting is that CBS will be producing “a couple of new visual effects” for the extended footage to allow the new footage to be seemlessly integrated into the existing episode.

CBS have also confirmed that both the extended version and the original “network” cut of the episode will be included in the Season 2 Blu-Ray boxset.

It is such a thrilling prospect to hear that CBS have managed to pull this project off. The original extended scenes previously existed only as a rough-cut VHS tape kept over the years by original writer Melinda Snodgrass. The fact that CBS have been able to locate the original film of these scenes and integrate them into the episode (including new visual effects) is a marvellous accomplishment. We can’t wait to see the full extended episode – brand new material from a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that aired over 20 years ago!