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.

Back in July we found out that Star Trek Beyond, the third entry in the rebooted Star Trek movie franchise, was doing a contest for a chance to win a role in the movie (similar to what former Trek director J.J. Abrams and company did for Star Wars: The Force Awakens) all in the name of charity.

That contest is in its last week, and to make the final stretch special it was decided to dedicate the week to the great Leonard Nimoy, the Star Trek legend who sadly passed away back in February. The contest benefits many charities but in order to honor Nimoy, a charity that he cared deeply for, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is being spotlighted.

A short video was released to announce the news and remember Nimoy, with current Spock actor Zachary Quinto fittingly front and center. You can watch the video below.

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.”

Right now, Fringe: The Complete Series on Blu-ray for $55.99 (that’s 67% down from the list price of $169.99) over at Amazon.

This 20-disc collection includes all 109 episodes from the five seasons of the FOX scifi series created by created by J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci, which starred Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Jasika Nicole, Blair Brown, and Leonard Nimoy. The Blu-ray box set also contains bonus content like behind-the-scenes video, making-of featurettes, deleted scenes, production diaries, commentary, a digital comic book excerpt, gag reel, and more, including Blu-ray exclusives.

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.