After a couple years of weak commitment from Paramount Home Entertainment to its most successful franchise, the studio took an about face last year and began producing some exceptionally high quality Star Trek DVDs. Now as fans eagerly await the new edition of “Wrath of Khan” coming in two weeks, Paramount has announced that Star Trek III: The Search for Spock – Special Collector’s Edition will follow suit as soon as October.

Spock is gone. The Enterprise has been mothballed in favor of the sleeker new Excelsior class Starship, and McCoy’s nervous breakdown leaves Admiral Kirk feeling old and alone. But an unexpected visit from Spock’s father and a startling discovery by Kirk’s son change all that. Kirk has a chance to save both his friends, but to do so would mean stealing and sabotaging Starfleet ships, violating regulations, and even sacrificing his own beloved Enterprise.

Fans rejoiced at the news of the first two Trek outings coming to DVD because of the inclusion of long lost rare footage (would it have killed Paramount to put seamless branching on these). The third Trek feature, has no such director’s cut, but is wholly welcome to DVD. The film itself will be presented on DVD with an anamorphic widescreen transfer and audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the original Dolby Surround. Also on the audio side will be a newly recorded audio commentary featuring director Leonard Nimoy, writer and producer Harve Bennett, director of photography Charles Correll and actress Robin Curtis. The now customary text commentary with Mike and Denise Okuda will also provide technical insight into the film. Disc two will contain no less than five featurettes on the production of the film; Captain’s Log discusses the film with new interviews from the cast, Terraforming and the Prime Directive looks at the real NASA scientists working towards the ideas of the Genesis device. Space Docks and Birds of Prey looks at the slight updating of the look for Star Trek III, and the introduction of the famed Klingon ship, Klingon and Vulcan Costumes explores the daunting costume design work for the film and Speaking Klingon… seems pretty self explanatory. Storyboards, a photo gallery and a theatrical trailer will also be on board.

It looks like Paramount is going to stick with it and give us all the Trek films with the new level of quality. In the mean time, “The Search for Spock” will be coming on October 22nd. The Human Adventure Continues.