EXCLUSIVE: Star Trek anniversary documentary The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television And The World is getting an October 9th stateside release at Regal cinemas.

Beaming down to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the hit franchise, the film charts the origins of the original Star Trek TV series and features interviews with Star Trek legends William Shatner, Walter Koenig (Ensign Chekov), and George Takei (Lt. Sulu). Shatner is also executive-producing.

Mark A. Altman, author of author of Star Trek oral history The Fifty-Year Mission, is writer-director with Michael S. Broder of Galaxie Pictures producing. Broder says the new film’s release will include Star Trek talent in theaters for Q&A’s.

Also featured are Gene Roddenberry, Jr. (the son of the Star Trek creators) and Star Trek writers, directors, producers, and critics as well as celebrity fans and stars of other Trek series including Jonathan Frakes (The Next Generation), Brent Spiner (The Next Generation), Gates McFadden (Picard), Ethan Peck (Strange New Worlds), Robert Picardo (Voyager, Starfleet Academy), Christina Chong (Strange New Worlds), Denise Crosby (The Next Generation), and Nana Visitor (Deep Space Nine).

The synopsis reads: “This epic documentary reveals how bold artistic choices, behind-the-scenes conflicts, and groundbreaking ideas came together to create an enduring television classic. Through exclusive interviews and never-before-seen archival materials, The Sixty-Year Mission uncovers that truth is indeed stranger than science-fiction.”

Pic is a production of Altman² Entertainment, Vital Signs Entertainment, and Galaxie Productions and is produced by Aaron Rattner. Executive producers also comprise Mark A. Altman, Michael S. Broder, Daren Dochterman, Ashley E. Miller, Alan Pao, and Thomas P. Vitale. The soundtrack album is due to be released by La-La-Land Records.

“We could not be more excited to partner with Regal to ensure that fans have a chance to see this remarkable film honoring the incredible 60-year legacy of Star Trek,” said Broder. “I am delighted to join forces with William Shatner and many of the franchise’s greatest stars and creatives to bring this film to theaters. And since every birthday deserves a party, we’ll be bringing key Star Trek talent to theaters for exclusive Q&A’s.”

“This film is a love letter to Star Trek,” added writer-director Mark A. Altman. “I’m immensely grateful to Regal to offer this gift to fans for the show’s 60^th birthday. I’m confident that the film will appeal both to longtime fans of the franchise as well as new viewers who might be wondering what the unique alchemy of this pop culture icon is really about.”

A day after the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority cleared the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, the Block the Merger coalition is once again warning of the potential harm that could be caused by the $110 billion deal.

“U.K. Secretary Nandy’s ability to obtain major concessions from Paramount lends powerful credibility to the case 12 state attorneys general have brought here in the U.S,” the group wrote on Friday. “If this merger required binding remedies even in the UK, where Paramount and Warner hold a far weaker market position and the CMA has grown reluctant to block big mergers, the dangers in the more concentrated US market are unmistakable. Here, the deal would unite two of the top three basic cable programmers and create exactly the anti-competitive, anti-consumer and anti-creator harms our antitrust laws guard against.”

“The concessions on fair access to the CNN, CBS and Channel 5 archives, for commissioners and news entities to maintain editorial independence, and various promises not to consolidate elements of their business –including streaming services — are encouraging, but they’re not the whole fight,” the statement continued. “The state AGs’ suit makes clear that this merger is illegal under US antitrust standards. Concessions, even when legally binding in theory, in practice prove almost impossible to enforce.”

“Our position remains the same – the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger is a dangerous consolidation that will harm film, entertainment, and independent press in markets around the world,” the coalition concluded. “State attorneys general hold independent authority to enforce antitrust laws, and we are confident they will prevail at trial and fully block this merger.”

More to come…

William Orbit, the Grammy-winning producer who collaborated with Madonna on her hit Ray of Light album and worked with other such artists as Blur, No Doubt, U2 and Britney Spears, died July 23. He was 69.

His death was announced by family in a statement posted on Instagram. No cause of death was given.

“It is with profound sadness that the family and friends of William Orbit announce that William passed away at home on 23rd July 2026,” the statement reads. “We are deeply saddened by his passing. He will be greatly missed by us and by so many whose lives he touched through his music, friendship and kindness. We kindly ask that the privacy of William’s family and close friends is respected during this difficult time.”

A musician in his own right, Orbit enjoyed chart success in the U.K. with “Barber’s Adagio for Strings” (a 1999 trance-dance version of the classical piece remixed by Ferry Corsten) and, in 2003, “Feel Good Time,” a collaboration with Pink that appeared on the Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle soundtrack.

Born William Mark Wainwright on December 15, 1956, in London’s East End, Orbit learned to play guitar as a teen, performing in and around London and Paris, eventually releasing electronic/ambient music as part of the trio Torch Song with musicians and friends Grant Gilbert and Laurie Mayer. Signed to IRS Records, Orbit soon began working as a producer as well as musician, and eventually was hired to work on the soundtrack to the Rob Lowe-Patrick Swayze hockey film Youngblood.

Orbit also began remixing music of other pop artists, including Madonna, who a decade later and long impressed with his work, would tap him to produce her 1998 album Ray of Light. Updating her sound with trip-hop beats and techno influences, the album became one of Madonna’s most successful, with multi-platinum sales and three Grammy wins.

The year after Ray of Light, Orbit produced Blur’s album 13, considered one of that band’s best efforts. With those successes under his belt, Orbit was an in-demand producer, working with Britney Spears, Robbie Williams, Chris Brown, Pink and No Doubt. He produced two new songs for U2’s compilation album The Best of 1990-2000: Electrical Storm.

Information on survivors was not immediately available