Yeah, not a huge surprise. If fans don't buy the discs, they won't make the discs. That's what it comes down to.
Though I sometimes wonder if the media corporations are either greedy, or just plain incompetent. Between rebroadcast deals (TNG is on BBC America, right?), streaming deals, and disc distribution, I find it hard to believe that TNG Remastered lost money. It's the same conundrum that Trek ran into in the late 90's/early 00's— they cancelled ENT because "people weren't watching," but it's because the ratings system was (and still is) so antiquated it can't keep accurate track of who's watching.
They all probably follow the 97th Rule of Acquisition: "Enough is never enough."
But it does make sense that remastering DS9 and VOY would take more work (and therefore cost more) than remastering TNG.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
TNG especially used assorted filmed elements that were scanned in SD and composited in the Quantel Harry, et cetera. So you find the films and rescan, recompositing digitally. They only had to CGI-rebuild a few things like the Crystalline Entity.
Much more of DS9 and Voyager SFX was SD renders, with nothing filmed. That's a scratch rebuild of digital ships, massed vessel combat scenes, et cetera, all while doing the same recompositing for everything else. It's definitely a bigger undertaking.
I whole-heartedly agree, though, that it was not a money-loser, especially long-term, except by choice. The fact I could see the HD episodes on Netflix so fast is harming the Blu-ray sales. They could've kept the HD to the Blu-ray and people might still be buying.
More bothersome is the fact that they won't even allow crowdfunding or anything. Imagine some seed episodes or special theater events like they did for "Best of Both Worlds" for certain special DS9 eps . . . I'd throw in.
Posted by 137th Gebirg (Member # 2692) on :
Well, for what it's worth, there is the upcoming DS9 documentary, "What We Left Behind" for the 25th anniversary (good God, has it been that long ago?) Perhaps it can generate new interest in the project. I for one would LOVE to see HD renderings of all the obscure ships they bashed for that show. Many of them have been or are being digitally reproduced for Eaglemoss' official starships subscriptions (Saratoga, Centaur, Yeager, Curry, etc. + all the Bajoran and Dominion ships) Seems to me much of the heavy lifting of asset generation is already being done. If they're built in a compatible format with today's rendering engines (Lightwave?) it should be a simple matter of throwing someone a flash drive full of data.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
I seem to recall the Blu-ray releases for TOS and TNG being way too overpriced at launch, just like the DVD releases before them. Granted, they did a lot more with the remastering, but why shell out serious cash for shows that are still in syndication to this day. I mean Heroes & Icons shows all five serious every night from 8pm-1am. And last time I checked, Remastered TOS and TNG can now be obtained at steep discounts to their original inflated prices. I feel CBS or Paramount thought they could milk Trek fans forever, and the fans wised up.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
In related news, that DS9 documentary blew past its funding goal in a day. Probably won't make a difference at all, since I doubt someone at CBS will just change their mind based on a crowdfunding campaign, but it does show once again that DS9's fans are under-appreciated.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I think this might be the Mojo test footage referenced. Even if it isn't it's pretty damn cool. There's a Steamrunner and a Sabre in there I didn't really noytice before.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
Was there supposed to be a link there, Lee?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Noticed in the comments it does say it is the Mojo stuff.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
Looks like someone had the old files from Digital Muse and re-rendered them in HD, "Big-Nose Kate" ugly Defiant, intended-for-standard-def other ships, and all.
Looked like hell on my small screen, here.
If they were to redo DS9 and intentionally used the Big-Nose Defiant for all the CGI, I would have trouble buying. That's one of those obvious, relatively easy fixes that needs to happen.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
Needs more background phasering and such so it doesn't look like the fleet's just hanging out, but otherwise perfect.
Posted by 137th Gebirg (Member # 2692) on :
Those scenes do look beautiful. The only oddity I noticed was that some of the exploding ships look like they were made out of paper. Their skins broke up but nothing underneath. More 'splosions necessary to give it some depth. Otherwise, definitely a strong point in favor of remastering the series.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :