What We Left Behind " What We Left Behind – Looking Back at Star Trek : Deep Space Nine " is a forthcoming documentary , taking a retrospective look at , its impact and meaning . The documentary is produced by Ira Steven Behr and 455 Films , and directed by Adam Nimoy . Summary . In addition to interviews with most of the " Deep Space Nine " main and recurring cast – with the notable exception of Avery Brooks , whom Behr was unable to convince to participate but did advise Behr to not just make a talking heads film – the documentary will also include Behr , Ronald D . Moore , Robert Hewitt Wolfe , René Echevarria , and Hans Beimler breaking the story for an eighth season of the series – Behr advising the writers to " check " for the series finale in advance . The documentary was first revealed by Behr during the " Deep Space Nine " panel at the " Star Trek " Las Vegas convention in . A crowd - funding campaign to complete the documentary , including additional interviews , post - production , and licensing clips from the series , was launched on and reached the goal by the next day . The documentary will premiere in New York , Los Angeles and London . A Blu - ray release is also planned . Background information . Origins . Ira Steven Behr announced the documentary in 2016 , but had been working for some years on the project . Behr commented : " " We all went through this unbelievable experience that took seven years of our lives and now we ' ve had all this distance from it , and it was like what does the show mean – what does the show mean to us as individuals , as people , and what does the show mean , if anything , in terms of the franchise and the culture . . . I had been interviewed a couple times for other docs , " Trek " docs , and I got really friendly with Bill Shatner and had a wonderful interview with him for the TNG doc and then Dave Zappone said , ' We can ' t do Shatner again , would you like to be Shatner ' ? " " . Development . The documentary will be more than a series of talking heads interviews , an approach suggested by Avery Brooks to Ira Behr . This gave Behr the idea of filming in the writers room as they developed what a eighth season would be like . Behr commented : " " That was an idea that I had based on a conversation with Avery , because Avery kept saying , " Don ' t make it talking heads only . " It got me thinking , what would be something you ' ve never seen before ? There were ground rules , which was everyone had to watch the final episode of season seven , so everyone remembered where everyone was on the playing field , or at least read the Wikipedia page . We weren ' t going to have any cheat sheets . We are going in there with nothing for one day to see if we could get through a pilot episode of the show . And we did . Obviously , as with any show , you don ' t break a show in a day — and if you do , you still go back the next day and refine . This is the raw material , but it ' s a fascinating process . We had a fantastic time doing it . It was amazing how time slipped away and everyone was back doing their thing and interacting and arguing and getting passionate and it was really a magic day " " . Adam Nimoy , son of Leonard Nimoy , became director and a producer of the documentary after finishing " For the Love of Spock " . Nimoy commented : " " After 173 episodes , people still want more DS9 , which is not unusual as fans felt the same way about TOS , which only produced 79 episodes . We ’ re sticking to the original vision for the documentary , but with some modifications . These things evolve over time , and the fact of the matter is DS9 evolved dramatically through seven seasons for a number of reasons , and we ’ re going to be looking at that , as well as what the show was about , how it changed , a focus on the characters and how they evolved over time . Then we ’ re going to try and take a look at what ’ s happened over the past 17 years since the show stopped airing . A lot of the perception of the show has changed . Accessibility to the show has changed in terms of being able to rewatch the series . We ’ re going to look at the show to see what are the elements that have appealed so much to fans in retrospect , and what has happened over the past 17 - 20 years in pop culture , and on the planet , to cause people to reassess DS9 , and bring it out as one of the jewels in the crown of the Star Trek franchise . There ’ s just this immense popularity , due in no small part to the fact that a number of the original cast members are still out there , are still attending conventions , are still together , and there ’ s a lot of camaraderie and love that they ’ ve extended to the " Star Trek " family that I ’ ve observed from attending conventions . So while the documentary is evolving , much like the show did , we are staying true to that original concept of “ What made this show so special ? ” " " Behr was approached to develop the story of season eight into a graphic novel but declined . Possible DS9 remastering . The documentary makers have approached CBS about having footage from DS9 remastered . The documentary team wrote that they planned " " to follow up with our intent to scan and remaster selected shots from the series for presentation for the first time in HD . While we want to reiterate that nothing ’ s guaranteed until we can get into details further with various departments , we ’ ve been empowered by our positive talks with CBS Television Studios , along with guidance from familiar faces Mike & Denise Okuda and VFX master Doug Drexler , among others " " . Nimoy commented : " " We ’ ve really expanded the scope of the project – the length of the time will expand – but it also allows us to acquire more clips from CBS from the original episode . . . and we are now in discussion with CBS about trying to get to the original negatives , to rescan them to give high - definition resolution to our film so that " Deep Space Nine " can be seen in high def for the first time . CBS is open to discussion – it ’ s expensive , it ’ s complicated , there ’ s a lot of logistics involved – but now that we have the financial backing to pursue this , we ’ re really determined to make it happen " " . Behr commented : " " For many , many years – and decades , it seems – I ’ ve talked to people about getting DS9 in HD , discussing ways to make it happen . It ’ s not what I set out to do with the doc , it would be an offshoot of it . If it doesn ’ t happen , I ’ m not going to feel like , ‘ Oh , damn , that was a level of success we did not reach . ’ It ’ s a total offshoot – has to do with money [ and ] other things – it ’ s not so much a matter of the series itself , it ’ s just the technology of how the film was shot and how the special effects were shot back then , and the changeover . It would be nice . Just imagine : if we do get a chance to do the clips [ for the doc ] – I ’ m not talking about the series – the clips for the doc , in high def . That would be … extremely cool . Plus , it would give the fans another decade of dreaming what the whole series would look like ! It would be that little taste , a lovely little taste – that first injection that leads to so many others " " . In July 2017 , Behr commented : " " I have not been happy about the DVDs . I have talked about it for twenty frickin ’ years . I was disappointed with the way the show looked on DVD and the idea of giving the fans something they haven ’ t seen before and getting to look at the show and going “ Oh , wow , that is a pleasant surprise . ” It ’ s something we have wanted to do since we first talked about this doc " " . " " We have the Okudas [ Mike and Denise ] involved and they are looking to see what is available and most importantly of all , what are the costs . It is not cheap . So we will have to see . There are all sorts of things being thrown around , including the possibility of finding things that haven ’ t been seen before , from deep within the vault ; possibly takes that haven ’ t been seen or parts of scenes that weren ’ t used . The Okudas have a wide open mandate " " . Fundraising campaign . The crowdfunding for the documentary was undertaken by Indiegogo . After the first goal was successfully reached in donations , four stretch goals were announced ; the first to extend the documentary from sixty minutes to ninety minutes , the second to commission an original score for the documentary and an extended writers room feature ; the third to film more interviews . The fourth goal was secret at the beginning , but was revealed later as approaching CBS for original footage from the series to be remastered in high definition . Several tongue in cheek videos were released , including one where a " Mr . F " approaches Behr with money for the documentary . Production . The filmmakers discovered a treasure trove of material from when DS9 started production in 1992 . This material included audition tapes from various actors , including Peter Capaldi and Anthony Head .