ENTERPRISE on Blu-Ray OFFICIAL Discussion Thread

[jefferiestubes8]

ChristopherPike wrote:

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Part 2 of the interview with Roger Lay Jr., one of the Producers responsible for value added material for Enterprise on Blu ray.

http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/02/exc...rview-part-ii/

Wow. what a great interview. Thanks so much for taking the time and posting it. I'm really looking forward to the special features and the audio commentaries on the Blu-rays.

[HopefulRomantic]

The original UPN trailers for Season 1? I have them. I found them on some video site that was up during the run of the show. Quality isn't great, but... Too late now anyway, I guess.

I was surprised to read that they didn't have them all. And very pleased to see how much they do have, that wasn't bulldozed or sold off after they killed the show. These extras are going to be great fun.

Wonderful interview at TrekCore, thank you. That VAM guy has the best job ever.

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I've changed the thread title at ChristopherPike's request. Good idea, now that the release is almost upon us.

[ChristopherPike]

jefferiestubes8 wrote:

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Wow. what a great interview. Thanks so much for taking the time and posting it. I'm really looking forward to the special features and the audio commentaries on the Blu-rays.

All the thanks should go to FrontierTrek. It's their series of articles.

Part I
http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/02/exc...erview-part-i/

Part II
http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/02/exc...rview-part-ii/

Part III
http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/02/exc...view-part-iii/

[ChristopherPike]

HopefulRomantic wrote:

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I've changed the thread title at ChristopherPike's request. Good idea, now that the release is almost upon us.

Cheers, HR. Not sure why it bothered me, but thought it worth mentioning.

Can't wait to finally see ENT in HD for the first time, having not long invested in a capable TV.

[LtChange]

I really feel that this blu-ray release needs my support. If I will buy just one blu-ray in April it will be Enterprise Season 1 (though I don't think I will buy just one blu-ray in April ). Not only this interview made me want to support more the project, I'm looking forward to this release more than to TNG S3. I know, I'm strange. I don't care.

[ATimson]

FrontierTrek wrote:

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Here's Part 3 folks! http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/02/exc...view-part-iii/

I disagree with Roger - there's no such thing as too many commentaries! (Unless it's a budget issue, I guess.)

I love how there's commentary on something like 95% of the nuBSG episodes (if not all of them - I don't know if they caught up with early S1 for the DVDs). Same with Doctor Who S2-4. I wish more shows were like that.

[ChristopherPike]

Didn't Battlestar Galactica basically do all those audio commentaries at the time? For online purposes? Doctor Who (2005-2010) did much the same thing, with a repeat TV screening getting a three-handed discussion to listen to via BBCi red button. Those would just get transferred to DVD.

Star Trek was only dipping a toe into that back in 2005, when the official site provided commentaries for "In a Mirror, Darkly". A shame it got cancelled when it did, since they were just beginning to do that, with cast members recording special greetings and what not. Not to mention the huge amount of illegal torrenting that went on, before TV shows went online big time.

A different pattern is Classic Doctor Who, the earliest of which is 50 years and latest 17. But they get 99% audio commentaries, rounding up some main & guest cast members on a regular basis. But that's because their stories are released individually and presumably have profits to continually plough back. Kind of like "Best of Both Worlds" being the norm and only an hour and a half to two hours' worth of main feature per DVD release.

That level of special features laiden disc is pretty much unique. I can't imagine that with Star Trek. Like going back in time to the regular monthly VHS containing only 2 or 3 episodes. Sometimes buying a medicore show during the mid-to-late season lull. Even if they had unprecidented and comprehensive VAM packages, and non-stop cast/producer apologising on the audio track!

[RAMA]

Whoa:

There’s one that I’m really excited about; I have to tell you about this one, Adam! Back in 2001, during Season One, Barry Kibrick, who has a show here on the PBS affiliate called "Between the Lines"; he was putting together a show called "On the Set". The idea was that he would go to a different TV set every week, and he would pick a scene or a sequence from that week’s episode and he would dissect it – he would show you how those two minutes or ninety seconds of screen time came together, from every aspect, every department; from the writing room, to filming on stage, editing, to effects work, scoring – everything.
He spent a week on the Enterprise set, and before that, he spent a week in the writing room with Brannon and Mike [Sussman] and Andre [Bormanis] and Phyllis [Strong] as they were writing and rewriting the episode. It was for the episode "Vox Sola", which was a very interesting one production-wise since you had that organic thing growing and the actors hanging from it, and a lot of slimy goo – so he spent a week during the filming of "Vox Sola" following Roxann Dawson around as she directed the episode and its great footage. He put together a thirty-minute piece called "On the Set – Star Trek: Enterprise", which never saw the light of day. No one saw it. They showed it to Brannon and to John Wentworth at CBS Television publicity – because he helped set up the whole thing for Barry and his crew to film there. Barry made this pilot but it didn’t get picked up so he just kind of put it away.
Brannon – we were having dinner one night – he tells me, "You have to find this thing. I saw it once; it’s got the best behind-the-scenes footage, and the writing staff working on the story, and you see how everything comes together in the end." So I contacted Barry – fortunately, he had the master – we went to CBS so that the team at CBS legal could clear it, and they’ve licensed it… so it’s going to be on the Blu-ray! It’s a fascinating – I will tell you this, and I’ve seen hundreds of hours of behind-the-scenes footage in my career – this is the most insightful footage ever, in terms of painting a very clear picture of what it takes to create television. Especially Star Trek, which has some very specific parameters. All the usual suspects are in it – Mike Westmore, Mike and Denise Okuda, Dan Curry, Rick, Brannon, everyone. You see the making of an episode from every angle, and it’s amazing. I’m so happy we were able to clear it and include it – and find it, because no one had it! Even Brannon didn’t have it, he’s like, "I don’t have it!" Rick Berman didn’t have it, John Wentworth at CBS Television didn’t have it; no one had it, because the show never aired.

http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/02/exc...view-part-iii/

[ATimson]

ChristopherPike wrote:

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Didn't Battlestar Galactica basically do all those audio commentaries at the time? For online purposes? Doctor Who (2005-2010) did much the same thing, with a repeat TV screening getting a three-handed discussion to listen to via BBCi red button. Those would just get transferred to DVD.

True - those were bad examples. A better one would be Stargate - all of the SG1 DVDs have commentaries on every episode as well, from season 4 onwards; Atlantis doesn't have it on all of them, but by my count 92 out of 100 did. (Don't own Universe to compare.)

Also The Simpsons and Futurama do the same, I believe.

[ChristopherPike]

RAMA wrote:

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Whoa:

I know. That does sound awesome and I hate to sound ungrateful - that out of all the episodes it had to be "Vox Sola". But still, amazing and it can't all be Scott and Connor hanging about the cargo bay, debating Zefram Cochrane and water polo matches, covered in white goo. Beggers can't be chosers. Given the random nature of another show dropping by to follow the production of a single scene from script-to-screen, I'd have made it a bridge scene during a battle. Lots of acting and pyrotechnics.

Reminds me of that book, Star Trek Action by Terry J. Erdmann & Paula M. Block.

[Harvey]

ATimson wrote:

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True - those were bad examples. A better one would be Stargate - all of the SG1 DVDs have commentaries on every episode as well, from season 4 onwards; Atlantis doesn't have it on all of them, but by my count 92 out of 100 did. (Don't own Universe to compare.)

Also The Simpsons and Futurama do the same, I believe.

Another example would be The Twilight Zone, which has commentaries for nearly every episode (and many episodes have multiple commentaries).

[FrontierTrek]

Glad everyone's enjoying it! Here is Part 4: http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/02/exc...rview-part-iv/

Starts off with TNG, but some great Enterprise information from the midpoint, including: some horrific plans that studio execs wanted to push through on the show that Brannon & Rick resisted, covering network involvement in "The UPN Factor" and the new found freedom to be candid in the Blu-Rays.

[StewMc]

Roger talks about the change over from UPN to The CW in Season 4 and how it affected the show, wasn't Enterprise on UPN right up till the end, with The CW starting the year after it was cancelled?

[ChristopherPike]

StewMc wrote:

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Roger talks about the change over from UPN to The CW in Season 4 and how it affected the show, wasn't Enterprise on UPN right up till the end, with The CW starting the year after it was cancelled?

It was. UPN lasted until 2006, I think. Probably a transition period, where UPN management were replaced by key players looking to be the new broom, determining what gets to stick around and be carried by the CW. For Enterprise to have run a full 7 seasons, it would have been picked up by them.

I wonder if they'll be able to interview CBS CEO Leslie Moonves (then instrumental in merging UPN with the WB), by the time they reach a Season 4 documentary? He was so upbeat about the ratings in Titan's Star Trek Magazine, immediately before the cancellation announcement on February 2, 2005.

When did the cast know for sure they wouldn't be continuing onto a Fifth Season? During the filming of "In a Mirror, Darkly"? Probably not the case, but it has a certain awful irony being on TOS sets...

[FrontierTrek]

And here's the last part to the interview:
http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/02/exc...view-part-v-2/

Hope you all enjoyed it!