Star Trek Television Series' (1 Viewer)

I purchased the original series Seasons 1-3. On the back of some of the packing material, I noticed it saying "Availability subject to change without notice"

This brings me to suspect that Paramount at some point may pull the entire franchise from the shelves. Is my suspicion correct?

I would like to go on and collect the other 4 series sets (TNG, DS Nine, Voyager and, Enterprise) But as has been noted, with each season costing $100 and up, it will take time

Hmmm, I never noticed that. Did you get it at Best Buy? Are you sure they weren't talking about the Bonus Disc?

Ric

Hmm, John, good catch. I never would have seen that fine print. I intially had the same thought as Ric as it might refer to the Best Buy Bonus disc offer. I have saved all the cardboard packaging and it does say "Availability subject to change without notice" and it's under a photo of the 3 TOS sets. This disclaimer also appears on the cardboard wrap on the Enterprise sets under a photo of the 4 box sets, I just checked. So it looks like it refers to the sets themselves.

I did check my unopened box of Voyager Season 7 and it does not have this disclaimer. Perhaps this is a new disclamier they have to print on the boxes so they have an out in case the current production run is over and the demand is not enough to reprint more.

Or there will be a super duper Star Trek mega Borg cube box set that contains all the Star Trek series (And TAS) remastered in High Definition and condensed onto micro mini disc chips that can be uploaded onto the new iPod video.:b.....seriously though it is something that crossed my mind that a new version of each series could come out at some future date on a new format or the content is delivered by other means.

I believe you mean "cranial implant". Why screw around with an iPod when you can have Trek fed directly into your cerebral cortex? I hear Phillips and Sony are hard at work on two totally incompatible and mutually exclusive versions of this technology even as we speak.

Regards,

Joe

Sounds to me like they're just referring to the giant sets of the entire series, for each respective show. I know they have released sets of TNG, DS9, and Voyager seasons 1-7 together, but I have never seen any in store, just the individual seasons, so that's probably it.

Joe, yer a funny guy!

I'm still waiting for the SRP to be cut in 1/2...

I'll probably end up buying every ST series completely whenever Paramount decides to cut us waiting fans a break.

I Waited a whole year and it still outragous. I wonder if Paramount thinks people are made of money

As just an occassional watcher who wants to be more and is tight on cash, the price needs to be dramacticaly cut for me to even look... :frowning:

Ryan

Well, the X-Files is widely credited with having jump-started the whole TV-seasons-on-DVD trend, and Fox is cutting those next year. The first seasons of the X-Files came out in 2000, and they're being cut in 2006. The first season of Star Trek that was available was TNG season 1, in 2002. I think we may be a ways off from a substantial price cut, if it ever comes.

I don't think Paramount will ever slash star trek. It's a garrenteed seller at that price to a certain segment of the audience. Obviously they have decided that they would make more of a profit selling at that price.

Star Trek is rarely a good comparison to anything else. Including X-Files.

In Canada the prices are usually (MSRP?) $189.99 for each set (with the exception of Enterprise) in recent months the price has been slipping slowly to $99.99 for TOS and TNG and thus I have been thinking of buying at least the TNG sets.....

The question I raise is what is the MSRP and how much is Paramount charging to the stores, for each set?

I know the second question probably will not be answered but if the MSRP is known than we may be able to deduct what the stores actually pay for it.

IIRC, don't must companies put an MSRP of twice what they charge to the reseller (ie. Best Buy)? And this is usually why companies that make said product don't have ads for the products because obviously products are below MSRP to grab people and possibly reward the consumer for buying early.

The last time I saw an ad from the company that made said said product it claimed that the MSRP (which was in the ad) may be higher than the actual price. Of course, I thought it was just a bit funny.

-Eric, whose grammar ain't that great.

If Paramount decides to not make a new show or movie in a couple of years than I think they will lower the prices on all sets.....but they are not going to for now because Enterprise is coming out and people that would buy at their higher prices may wait if they feel that the set will go done in price in the near future.

So, if Paramount feels that all of the series have levelled (sp?) off in selling than they will lower the price on all sets to catch the casual fan and those that are on the fence.

But that may not happen until 2007...and by that time maybe there will be a new format. Star Trek fans rejoice! The time to buy, again, is here!

A thing is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. If Paramount weren't selling sets at this price, they would have to cut it. They haven't done so, so they are clearly selling enough sets and making enough money on them that they don't believe they'd make more by increasing their sales volume by lowering the price.

Trek has always been sui generis, a thing unto itself. It originally attracted (and still attracts) many fans who have no interest in any other science fiction, which is why the networks rightly don't consider Trek to be a gauge of the popularity of science fiction as a whole. It is also why Trek has never directly spawned any other SF - it only spawns more Trek. (The original series did not "pave the way" for later shows. If anything it was an obstacle to the developoment of non-Trek SF shows, because the networks thought that (a) TV viewers wanted Trek, not SF and (b) there wasn't room for more than one space show on TV - and Trek was it.)

Katherine is right - you can't really compare Trek to much of anything else. (Among other things the Treks - along with the original Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits - was one of the few TV series that was successful on home video before the advent of DVD. Even The X-Files only managed a handful of "Best of" sets on VHS.)

Regards,

Joe

Technically, there has been no MSRP on the Star Trek DVDs. What retailers can get the sets for likely varies tremendously, depending on the size of the retailer.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a price drop next year. I certainly have no inside info on this... just a guess. There's a lot more product in every genre coming out on DVD now - and since the hardcore Trekkies have all bought in at the high prices, the studio will have to cut the price in order for retailers to even keep them on the shelves. Retailers aren't going to keep them in stock if they aren't selling - and non-hardocre Trekkies will continue to pass these by and go with a purchase of other sci fi shows. It's only a matter of time.

-Scott

Don't know about R1, but at Amazon.co.uk the R2 sets of TNG, and later on DS9, dropped in price from the initial 60 pounds or so (later sets cost 70+!) to around 40 pounds. "Fortunately" I was slow in acquiring DS9, since I was backlogged in watching them (I only finally finished DS9 earlier this year!) so I was able to get the last 4 seasons at 40 pounds each.

I also recall that Amazon.com recently had a 7-season set of Voyager that was relatively "cheap",a little under US$500 or so for all 7 seasons. I guess you have to shop around?

(Reply to Scott)
....However,
I don't think that Paramount will act fast and that there may be a significant price drop in either late 2006 or mid (to late) 2007.

I say this because I believe Paramount will likely drop all the sets at the same time.

I believe it may be in 2007 because wasn't it reported that they would do themed sets in 2006?

I am not saying they'll pull an X-Files but they could strike after the themed sets and get people to "double dip" on certain episodes.

Meaning, the so-called "loss in profit" will be erased because some will likely buy the sets at lower prices after buying the themed sets.

Of course, the themed sets could be a disaster and they'll lower prices sooner to compete with other shows on DVD.

I don't think the studios look at TV-on-DVD releases as "competing" in the same way that new theatrical releases do - either at the box office or on DVD. A whole bunch of movies will get released each Tuesday, and with movies the bulk of sales tend to come close to the release date. So if I'm in the mood to "buy a movie" (or two) to watch that week, and have only "X" dollars to spend, I'll compare several desireable titles and pick the one that I like the best or which represents the best value. But if I want a season of Star Trek, I have to buy Star Trek. I can't buy a season of Gillgian's Island because that's cheaper. TV sets are pricey enough that I'll plan and save to buy one. And I won't necessarily buy the day a show is released. I won't go into a store with the intention of "buying a TV show" the way I might go into "look for a movie". Movies are cheap and subject to impulse purchases. TV shows are expensive and much less so. So TV shows don't really compete all the much. People buy the shows they really want, regardless of what other shows are out there, and regardless of price.

Regards,

Joe

I predict rather than repricing all the DVDs for the Star Trek shows, Paramount may take another approach: reprice only the Season 1 sets of the various series (except Enterprise, as this would be too soon). Imagine the on-the-fence buyer picking up ST:TNG Season 1 for $50-$60 at a store, and maybe Season 1 of the Original Series too. Now the buyer has essentially got 2 Star Trek sets for the price of 1. Then, after viewing them, the buyer may decide that they would be willing to pay a higher price for the later seasons.
This strategy is somewhat similiar to what Warner is doing with their early seasons, and what Fox is doing with Simpsons. To me, it makes more business sense than slashing all the prices on all the Star Trek sets, at least for the near-future.

Actually, there has always been a MSRP attached to the boxed sets of Star Trek.

The MSRP (Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price) has always been set at $149.99 for the retail price. Stores like Best Buy and Circuit City had adjusted the price at $129.99. When Paramount lowered the price points by a few dollars Best Buy and CC dropped their prices to around $99.99 to $109.99. Now, most studios usually sell the DVD sets to retail stores around 40-50% off the MSRP.