Fox Home Entertainment has released the 1951 science fiction classic The Day The Earth Stood Still as a Two-Disc Special Edition DVD and Special Edition Blu-ray, on sale today.

Both editions are packed with bonus materials, like feature commentary by director Robert Wise as well as content new to this re-release, like commentary by film and music historians, along with an isolated score track.

The big sell for me on this re-release, aside from the commentaries (love commentaries) is the “Making Of The Day The Earth Stood Still“ featurette and “Decoding Klaatu Barada Nikto: Science Fiction As A Metaphor,” which is an audio presentation of the original short story.

The blu-ray edition also includes two new, exclusive-to-blu-ray extras “Gort Command!,” an arcade-style shooting gallery game and “Interactive Theremin: Create Your Own Score,” where viewers can re-score the film’s opening sequence.

Both editions contain an exclusive look at the upcoming remake starring Starring Keanu Reeves And Jennifer Connelly, out in theaters on December 12, 2008.

See below for a full list of features for the 2-disc DVD and Blu-ray editions.

Synopsis:
A spaceship lands in Washington D.C., capturing the attention of the world. But the alien emissary (Michael Rennie) it brings refuses to reveal his mission to any single government, leaving the military, the politicians, and millions of ordinary people to wait in fear. Soon their distrust turns to calls for violence. But one young woman (Patricia Neal) and her son (Billy Gray) befriend him”¦and soon realize that they may be all that stands between the human race and total destruction.

Blu-ray Disc Specs:
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL Special Edition BD release will be authored in BD-Java with AVC (MPEG 4) compression on a dual-layer 50 GB disc presented in full frame format (1.33:1 aspect ratio) with English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, English Mono and Spanish/French 5.1 Dolby Digital audio with English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin and French subtitles. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL Special Edition BD includes the following special features:

“¢ New: Exclusive First Look At The New Movie The Day The Earth Stood Still Starring Keanu Reeves And Jennifer Connelly
“¢ New & Exclusive To BD: Interactive Theremin: Create Your Own Score
“¢ New & Exclusive To BD: Gort Command!: Interactive Game
“¢ Commentary by Robert Wise and Nicholas Meyer
“¢ New: Commentary by Film & Music Historians John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg and Nick Redman
“¢ New: Isolated Score Track
“¢ New: The Mysterious, Melodious Theremin
“¢ New: The Day The Earth Stood Still Main Title Live Performance By Peter Pringle
“¢ New: The Making of The Day the Earth Stood Still
“¢ New: Decoding “Klaatu Barada Nikto”: Science Fiction as Metaphor Featurette
“¢ New: A Brief History of Flying Saucers Featurette
“¢ New: The Astounding Harry Bates Featurette
“¢ New: Edmund North: The Man Who Made the Earth Stand Still Featurette
“¢ New To Disc: Race To Oblivion: A Documentary Short Written And Produced By Edmund North
“¢ New To Disc: Farewell To The Master: A Reading By Jamieson K. Price Of The Original Harry Bates Short Story; Audio Only
“¢ New: Interactive Pressbook
“¢ Fox Movietonews from 1951
“¢ Original Theatrical Trailer & Teaser Trailer
“¢ Advertising Gallery
“¢ Behind-The Scenes Gallery
“¢ Portrait Gallery
“¢ Production Gallery
“¢ Spaceship Construction Blueprints
“¢ Shooting Script

DVD Specs:
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL Special Edition DVD is presented in full screen format (1.33:1 aspect ratio) with English Mono, English 5.1 Dolby Surround, Spanish and French Mono, plus English and Spanish subtitles. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL Special Edition DVD includes all of the above bonus features, with the exception of the two noted BD exclusives.