In celebration of the 30th anniversary of “Star Trek: Generations,” OTOY has released an 8-minute short, “765874: Unification.” The project is made in association with William Shatner and the late Leonard Nimoy’s estate. The short was released alongside new interactive sets, documentary interviews, and behind the scenes content celebrating the film.
“Star Trek: Generations” also marked Shatner’s last on-screen appearance as Captain James T. Kirk.
The Making of “765874: Unification”
“765874: Unification” brings back several iconic “Star Trek” characters through a mixture of physical and digital prosthetics. Those elements were combined with live-action performances by Sam Witwer (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Star Wars“) as Captain Kirk, Robin Curtis reprising her role of Saavik, Gary Lockwood as Gary Mitchell, and Lawrence Selleck as Spock.
Shatner worked closely with OTOY to fine-tune the technical and creative elements needed to resurrect Kirk 30 years later. He even provides his vocal talents to narrate a key moment in the experience. The short is dialogue-free to allow audiences to focus on the gorgeous score and visuals.
Award Winning Spanish filmmaker Carlos Baena (“Tranvia”) directed, from a story by Jules Urbach. It features an original score by Oscar winning composer Michael Giacchino. Shatner and Susan Bay Nimoy, widow of Leonard Nimoy, served as executive producers on the project.
“765874: Unification” is the latest addition to The Archive, a multi-decade-long project between OTOY, The Roddenberry Estate, and Paramount Game Studios. The groups are cataloging key texts and documents from “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry’s life and career using immersive technologies.
Its Mission
The short is meant to interlink multiple decades of “Star Trek” lore, a lofty goal for an 8-minute video. “765874: Unification” is peppered with homages to Saavik from 1984’s “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” (as well as Spock’s son!!), J.M. Colt (portrayed by Mahé Thaissa), and Gary Mitchell from the original 1964 pilot “The Cage” played by original actor Gary Lockwood.
OTOY and partner VFX studios combined digital and physical prosthetics and special effects in post-production with location photography, virtual production, and CG set extensions. To give the project the feel of a major motion picture, key scenes were filmed twice, to ensure coverage to create video and spatial content mastered for Apple Vision Pro.
“Visual effects in ‘Unification’ were created using OTOY’s Octane® rendering software and the Render Network® decentralized GPU rendering platform,” the creators explained. “Characters and props were digitized using OTOY’s Academy-Award winning LightStageTM scanning system.”
Even though AI is being used, this project a shining example of how the technology can be used ethically- with full permission from the original sources and their representatives.
“765874: Unification” launches alongside a 20-minute retrospective from Shatner, looking back on the last 30 years and his aspirations for the future of Captain Kirk.
You can check out “765874: Unification,” which has been viewed over 20 million times on YouTube, below:
