In Memoriam 2015: Film, Television, Sports, Literature, the Arts…

Another year has come to an end. 2015 was full of life in so many vivid ways: creatively, intensely, and tragically, but also wonderfully presenting its own set of challenges and obstacles to overcome in the new year. And as a year also brings, we also lost many shining figures in the entertainment world among other fields.

Here’s a rundown of some of those figures who touched our lives and will continue to touch our lives always as we remember some of the key people in Television and Film, in front of the camera and behind the scenes, people who are legends, pioneers, luminaries, inspirations, and above all, timeless.

Although quite small in comparison to the behemoth San Diego Comic-Con, which was held on the same weekend (July 9-12, 2015), ConnectiCon drew its largest crowd of the weekend for a question and answer panel with George Takei (Star Trek‘s Hikaru Sulu).

Entering the Main Events room of the Connecticut Convention Center while doing a double Vulcan Salute on Sunday, July 12th, Takei was received with a standing ovation from throngs of fans. He then smiled and said his classic phrase: “Ohhh my.”

Since there isn’t much home video news to report this week, I’ve decided to make this edition of The Digital Wire a special one. In light of the recent deaths of Leonard Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett this week’s Wire will be devoted to a list of the five best films in the Star Trek franchise starring the legendary Original Series cast available to own on Blu-ray.

Each title provides a link to its corresponding Amazon page so you can order a copy of your very own if you choose (you can also get the 6-film Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection, which comes with a bonus disc). Also, although this is a special edition of the Digital Wire, I’ve still provided a list of this week’s major releases on Blu-ray and DVD, complete with their own purchase links. We would greatly appreciate it if you use those links to order because a small percentage of each order helps keep this website running at max power.

Harve Bennett, who was responsible for the production end of many classic mid-1970s fantasy programs, like The Six Million Dollar Man, as well as some of the more memorable Star Trek theatrical releases, died Wednesday, March 4, in Medford, OR. He was 84.

Born in Chicago and a graduate of California’s USC Film School, Bennett did a stint in the Army before settling into the production end of show business, eventually become Vice President of ABC Programming for a spell. Post this position, Bennett became a full-fledged producer at Universal Studios, helming the classic late 1960s/early 1970s youth-are-cops Mod Squad and sci-fi/fantasy yarn styled programs such as the aforementioned Six Million Dollar Man, the spinoff gender bender of The Bionic Woman, as well as miniseries and other programs like Rich Man, Poor Man and 1975 television adaptation of The Invisible Man series.