Star Trek films on Blu-Ray... what we know so far (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

You’d imagine they’d want to sell us 14 seasons of DS9 and VOY on Blu Ray too.

I seem to recall reading that the "TNG" BDs didn't sell as well as hoped, and given the cost of updating effects, it wasn't worth it to put out those less popular series on the format.

Of course, they could always skip the updated effects, but that wouldn't make much sense in terms of how they could maximize the format...

 

[Camper]

Okay so the official press release for the 4 movie Set indicates all four movies have been restored from the original elements, all four movies will include digital copies, All 4 movies will have Dolby vision, Star Trek the motion picture will have an isolated score of Jerry Goldsmith's music, the included Blu-rays will all be remastered and not the previous versions and The Wrath of Khan will include both theatrical and director's cut. And I believe it also said the Blu-rays Rays would be coming out separately as singles. And it also appears that virtually all of the previous bonus extras are being ported over.
Who would have guessed that it would contain all those things?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Yeah, that’s pretty awesome - yes to all of the above.

 

[Jason_V]

I seem to recall reading that the "TNG" BDs didn't sell as well as hoped, and given the cost of updating effects, it wasn't worth it to put out those less popular series on the format.

Of course, they could always skip the updated effects, but that wouldn't make much sense in terms of how they could maximize the format...

Immaterial. The comment was made that “of course the other movies are coming…they want money.” To which I responded with part of what you quoted.

I understand the party line about why DS9 and VOY aren’t already in HD. I still call it hogwash poppycock and BS. Why? Again, having half the franchise in HD and 14 combined seasons in SD makes zero sense in any way. Yes, it will cost money. Yes, these two are “less popular”…though I even dispute that now with streaming numbers for Voyager. (If Voyager were really unpopular, Seven wouldn’t be on Picard and Janeway wouldn’t be in Prodigy.) But no one-no streaming service and no physical media people-are going to buy SD version of these shows again. You want to make more money? Remaster them. Spend the money I do these right. Make them Paramount Plus exclusive for six months or a year. Then you have the entire franchise-a venerable franchise-that has gone on for over fifty years ready for the next fifty years.

All the Bond movies got remastered and some of those are “less popular.” Certainly the second Transformers movie is garbage but it got a 4k release. All the Mission Impossible movies did. Popularity had nothing to do with it. The execs, as they have been for a while, are brain dead. At least they’re making in roads now, finally.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

All the Bond movies got remastered and some of those are “less popular.” Certainly the second Transformers movie is garbage but it got a 4k release. All the Mission Impossible movies did. Popularity had nothing to do with it. The execs, as they have been for a while, are brain dead. At least they’re making in roads now, finally.

These all have cut negative, DS9 and Voyager don't. To bring these up to HD they'd practically have to re-do post, as was done for TNG.

 

[Jason_V]

These all have cut negative, DS9 and Voyager don't. To bring these up to HD they'd practically have to re-do post, as was done for TNG.

Fine. Then let’s redo it. Years and years and years of reasons and excuses as to why it can’t be done. Again, first it was cost as the problem. Then it was less popular shows. Then it’s the work involved. Then it’s the pandemic.

Hopefully TMP will be a success and someone with half a brain at the studio will finally bite the bullet and just do it.

 

[Nelson Au]

As I was commenting earlier in the Star Trek thread, this is great news. I’m tempering my enthusiasm as the wait has been so long and with seemingly no interest from Paramount in the past to re-master the Star Trek films. I see that even Trekmovie.com is reporting this after startrek.com. So it might actually really be happening. I’m referring to Star Trek The Motion Picture, Directors Edition too. I’m more enthusiastic about the first film. ( and I hope after the window of exclusivity is over, there will be a 4K UHD blu ray/ standard blu ray available. )

This is great news that the theatrical cut of Star Trek TMP, Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock and the Voyage Home are coming to 4K. And I Hope The Final Frontier and Undiscovered Country follows soon after. I’m glad the turmoil is over at Paramount and with CBS’s help, they are taking care of the franchise.

If Paramount+ is really leveraging the Star Trek franchise more aggressively to add more Star Trek in HD to offer for streaming, then there’s hope that Voyager and DS9 could follow as remastered in high definition. Maybe even upgrade Star Trek Enterprise‘s visual effects to HD. Think positively JasonV.

I think I’ll read more carefully the specs of these release announcement now to see if it’s really true.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don’t think much has changed - the old reason is still the reason because it was a valid reason then and it is now. Paramount greenlit the HD remastering of TNG with the home video department funding the work. It apparently lost money where it mattered to the bean counters: the disc sales didn’t recoup the investment.

What has to happen is exactly what appears to have happened now with the remastering of the director’s cut to 4K: the budgeting needs to be on the shoulders of a department with more potential to monetize the creation and distribution of a new asset than the home video department is reasonably expected to generate. They now seem believe Paramount+ is that place. I think that’s a good call.

Home video simply isn’t the revenue generator it once was, not by a long shot. And that’s fine. As we’re seeing with TMP now, or the Snyder Cut of Justice League with HBO Max, it’s possible to get these things done, but there’s been a huge paradigm shift to where the money comes from and that will determine what’s getting greenlit. Star Trek has clearly been a tremendous performer for Paramount+. What started as one series is now three with at least two more on the way. That’s where the money is, that’s where the audience is, and that’s where it’s best to look for funding of these legacy projects.

TMP is probably being used as a trial balloon to see if it makes sense to do it for their audience. If that does good numbers for them, we could get more.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Immaterial. The comment was made that “of course the other movies are coming…they want money.” To which I responded with part of what you quoted.

I understand the party line about why DS9 and VOY aren’t already in HD. I still call it hogwash poppycock and BS. Why? Again, having half the franchise in HD and 14 combined seasons in SD makes zero sense in any way. Yes, it will cost money. Yes, these two are “less popular”…though I even dispute that now with streaming numbers for Voyager. (If Voyager were really unpopular, Seven wouldn’t be on Picard and Janeway wouldn’t be in Prodigy.) But no one-no streaming service and no physical media people-are going to buy SD version of these shows again. You want to make more money? Remaster them. Spend the money I do these right. Make them Paramount Plus exclusive for six months or a year. Then you have the entire franchise-a venerable franchise-that has gone on for over fifty years ready for the next fifty years.

All the Bond movies got remastered and some of those are “less popular.” Certainly the second Transformers movie is garbage but it got a 4k release. All the Mission Impossible movies did. Popularity had nothing to do with it. The execs, as they have been for a while, are brain dead. At least they’re making in roads now, finally.

Err, I'm pretty sure Paramount doesn't think "we'll lose money if we put out remastered BD versions of those TV series" is "immaterial".

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I don’t think much has changed - the old reason is still the reason because it was a valid reason then and it is now. Paramount greenlit the HD remastering of TNG with the home video department funding the work. It apparently lost money where it mattered to the bean counters: the disc sales didn’t recoup the investment.

What has to happen is exactly what appears to have happened now with the remastering of the director’s cut to 4K: the budgeting needs to be on the shoulders of a department with more potential to monetize the creation and distribution of a new asset than the home video department is reasonably expected to generate. They now seem believe Paramount+ is that place. I think that’s a good call.

Home video simply isn’t the revenue generator it once was, not by a long shot. And that’s fine. As we’re seeing with TMP now, or the Snyder Cut of Justice League with HBO Max, it’s possible to get these things done, but there’s been a huge paradigm shift to where the money comes from and that will determine what’s getting greenlit. Star Trek has clearly been a tremendous performer for Paramount+. What started as one series is now three with at least two more on the way. That’s where the money is, that’s where the audience is, and that’s where it’s best to look for funding of these legacy projects.

TMP is probably being used as a trial balloon to see if it makes sense to do it for their audience. If that does good numbers for them, we could get more.

A successful 4K of "TMP" Director's Cut is apples/oranges with remastered BDs of "DS9" and "Voyager".

The former is just one movie - and as much derision as it's earned over the years, it still has a pretty substantial audience.

If the 4K "TMP DC flops... oh well. It's just one movie.

Remastering entire seasons of TV series is a much bigger, more complex affair - especially because Paramount knows it'll look bad if they do 1 season and then bail.

Perversely, it's less damaging for them to do ZERO seasons then to do 1 or 2 and stop.

As you note, "TNG" lost money, and that seemed to be the death knell for the other series.

If the 2nd most popular "Trek" series lost money, why would anyone think the less popular series wouldn't do even worse?

 

[Jason_V]

When all is said and done, I find it incredibly hard to believe any of these shows will lose money. Maybe in the initial disc sales of over a certain time period, but lifetime? Nope. Not with streaming and syndicated rights to different entities. If we use Hollywood math, sure, they’ll find a way to moan about losing money. They’ll find anything to back up their position.

Long term, they stand to gain more money than they initially put out to do all this. But, hey, everyone can believe what they want.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

TNG remastered lost money if the sole metric is physical media sales, and when that project was done, that was the sole metric the studio was looking at. Throw in years of licensing fees for syndicating the show to local/cable stations and subscription streaming services and it’s a different story. But when TNG was undertaken, streaming wasn’t the revenue source it is today and audiences and providers were more willing to accept standard definition content than they are today.

DS9/VOY would also lose money if the only metric the studio counted was physical media sales. That’s why it’s not going to be done to sell discs; if it gets done, it’ll be to keep the properties viable in these newer markets. The cost of redoing one of those shows might be equal to the cost of making one or two episodes of one of their new shows and could be recouped either in new licensing fees or as a subscription driver for P+. The cost of film scanning and digital cleanup is less than it was when TNG was done, and the cost of doing new digital effects for seasons where practical effects weren’t used is also far less now, so there may be a path forward. Or not.

My point is simply, if it gets done, the decision and the work is not going to be driven by the physical media department of the company, as this kind of work used to be.

 

[Nelson Au]

I was thinking overnight about all the great news of the 4K release of the first four films and the green light for remastering the Directors Edition of Star Trek The Motion Picture, it’s finally happening!

As great as the news is, i can’t help but think it’s part of some strategy to likely carefully roll out these titles. Perhaps they only wanted to release the more popular titles first to see if the fans will bite. The news of the green light for the Directors Edition of The Motion Picture is especially exciting for me! So that’s amazing they funded that. And I agree that if it wasn’t for Paramount+ as a place to stream the DE, it might not have happened.

So my thinking is it’s sort of unfortunate there doesn’t seem to be a box set of Star Trek The Motion Picture with the theatrical cut, Director’s Cut and Longer TV Cut. It was always a fantasy. But this is certainly better then not having anything. So soon we’ll have the theatrical cut, then in a year, the Director's Cut. Perhaps at that time the box will come. Or we can just make our own box sets.

I guess it’s clear that Star Trek The Motion Picture is the main film of interest for me.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think it’s just a combination of replication capacity, slowdown in restoration/remastering work due to pandemic, a desire to have some product out for the September Trek anniversary which Paramount seems committed to making a yearly cultural thing, and a desire to keep it at a price point that won’t discourage purchases while also not devaluing the work.

I think it’s clever. A six, seven or ten movie set may not have been completed in time for September and might have been priced higher than the current marketplace will support.

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m becoming more enthusiastic that there is more likelihood Voyager and DS9 will be remastered. Whether we can buy these series as blu ray sets someday is a question that will hopefully get an answer at some point.

I’m enjoying my revisit of Voyager now. I just saw the episode where Seven of Nine takes charge of the Borg children. So it was cool to re-see that as the start of Seven‘s relationships with them and how later to see what happens to Icheb in Picard.

 

[Nelson Au]

Josh, I just saw your post. Those are all validly good reasons for the 4 film box set rather then a 6 film set. The cost for the sets can be factor and timing make sense. It’s sort of like how Apple Records has been releasing Beatles material, they are carefully putting out material over a longer period, one or two big releases a year. They have to have something to sell each year!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’m becoming more enthusiastic that there is more likelihood Voyager and DS9 will be remastered. Whether we can buy these series as blu ray sets someday is a question that will hopefully get an answer at some point.

If discs still exist then I imagine it would - once the work is done there’s no reason not to get that extra bit of profit, and they are selling discs for new Trek shows rather than keeping them as P+ exclusives. But they’re not looking to disc revenue to pay for the production costs of the series either. It’s simply that they can’t decide to do it based on disc sales alone because it will never sell enough copies on disc to pay for the work.

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m glad Paramount+ doesn’t seem to be doing what Disney is doing and not putting The Mandalorian out. I still have not seen that series! I am partly afraid Paramount+ Will hold onto Star Trek The Motion Picture DE for streaming only. But yes, each of the new Star Trek series on Paramount+ has been coming out on blu ray and DVD. So there is hope that any new Star Trek material on Paramount+ will have a disc release. It’s a nice extra revenue stream.

I wanted to add that after seeing the new shows stream, I’m finding watching them on blu ray has been a noticeable jump in quality for the video and audio. I especially noticed it watching Lower Decks! Discovery and Picard looks and sounds better for sure on disc, but Lower Decks is more noticeable!

 

[Sam Favate]

Fine. Then let’s redo it. Years and years and years of reasons and excuses as to why it can’t be done. Again, first it was cost as the problem. Then it was less popular shows. Then it’s the work involved. Then it’s the pandemic.

Hopefully TMP will be a success and someone with half a brain at the studio will finally bite the bullet and just do it.

As I have said repeatedly, doing HD versions of DS9 and Voyager doesn’t make sense if your goal is to sell discs. However, for the cost of about 3 Discovery episodes, you can remaster 7 seasons and make them exclusive to P+. Then, a few months later, you can sell Blu-rays and it’s all gravy. The cost in remastering is programming, not the discs themselves.
That’s the way this gets done.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Bull hunt commented on a lot of upcoming UHd Blu-ray Discs for this year. He includes a recap of the Star Trek titles that are coming as well...

Sorry I'm coming back into this thread a tad behind, but that Bull made me laugh... and some more subsequent other bulls of whatever kinds (hypothesized or not) plus some milking along w/ some bits of consternation (or should that be constipation? ) added to that, LOL...

_Man_