Paramount and Borg Remastered: "[...]not interested."

[Kadratis]

It has been a goal of mine to attempt a re-creation of Star Trek: Borg (Memory Alpha article), a Simon & Schuster game published in 1996. I have been trying to make the time for the past year and a half to convert the content to YouTube so it can be once more played as it once was, using the annotations feature. But rather than using YouTube, I wondered if S&S/Paramount might be interested in created a remastered version. Just think of how cool it would be to play on a tablet.

Out of pure fan curiosity, I poked and prodded certain contacts at Paramount to see if they would at all be interested in pursuing such a project. I had not heard back from them until a couple days ago. Which leads this thread from excitement to disappointment. They were not interested. But that is not all: Even if Paramount were interested in the project, I am told that the footage has been lost, possibly discarded or destroyed. Reminds me of what happened to the canned Interplay game "Secret of Vulcan Fury" and the lost recorded dialogue.

So much for digital remastering.

[StalwartUK]

A bit dissapointing but understandable. We're lucky enough that the original film footage for the TV shows still exist. I doubt that any material shot for any games would've been given the same level of care and attention.

I was just thinking the other day that while they're doing the remastering for TNG (and hopefully DS9/VOY in the future) they might come across the original footage for Borg (and Klingon) and it might work as a nice extra on one of the blu-ray sets or something. While it may not have quite the same level of interactivity it would be nice to be able to see it in better quality than what 90s FMV tech could handle.

[Shatinator]

Kadratis wrote:

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It has been a goal of mine to attempt a re-creation of Star Trek: Borg (Memory Alpha article), a Simon & Schuster game published in 1996. I have been trying to make the time for the past year and a half to convert the content to YouTube so it can be once more played as it once was, using the annotations feature. But rather than using YouTube, I wondered if S&S/Paramount might be interested in created a remastered version. Just think of how cool it would be to play on a tablet.

Out of pure fan curiosity, I poked and prodded certain contacts at Paramount to see if they would at all be interested in pursuing such a project. I had not heard back from them until a couple days ago. Which leads this thread from excitement to disappointment. They were not interested. But that is not all: Even if Paramount were interested in the project, I am told that the footage has been lost, possibly discarded or destroyed. Reminds me of what happened to the canned Interplay game "Secret of Vulcan Fury" and the lost recorded dialogue.

So much for digital remastering.

Here's the thing.

They can not acknowledge, this to you. Because if they decide to go ahead with the project, you could claim rights and demand compensation.

Check out the extras on the Star Trek Animated Series, interview with Davis Gerrold. He speaks about how he can not even discuss story topics.

Christopher in the TrekLit forum is also barking at posters to stop chatting about future stories, for same reason.

BTW, I don't believe either example of footage is really lost...

your dealing with a corporation remember.

[Therin of Andor]

StalwartUK wrote:

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I was just thinking the other day that while they're doing the remastering for TNG (and hopefully DS9/VOY in the future) they might come across the original footage for Borg (and Klingon)

The footage for the games was filmed on the "Star Trek" sets at Paramount, but the scenes were not filmed by Paramount. The original footage would have been with the licensee, Simon & Schuster Interactive, (and with Interplay for "Starfleet Academy" and "Klingon Academy") and, once they no longer held the license to make Star Trek computer games, the original footage would no doubt have been destroyed, since they could no longer profit from them, or even rerelease them, without renewing the license. It costs money to store this stuff.

[Kadratis]

Shatinator wrote:

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They can not acknowledge, this to you. Because if they decide to go ahead with the project, you could claim rights and demand compensation.

That's really weird. The closest I ever got was asking de Lancie if he felt comfortable in the Borg costume.

Shatinator wrote:

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your dealing with a corporation remember.

True, but Trek is a cash cow CBS and Paramount just love to milk.

Therin of Andor wrote:

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/snip/ The original footage would have been with the licensee, Simon & Schuster Interactive, (and with Interplay for "Starfleet Academy" and "Klingon Academy") and, once they no longer held the license to make Star Trek computer games, the original footage would no doubt have been destroyed, since they could no longer profit from them, or even rerelease them, without renewing the license. It costs money to store this stuff.

This seems very plausible.

Despite the bad news, I am still determined to get this game onto YouTube with most of the functionality intact. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can get written permission from Paramount and S&S. I know it's a long shot, but it is worth a try!

[Tosk]

StalwartUK wrote:

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I was just thinking the other day that while they're doing the remastering for TNG (and hopefully DS9/VOY in the future) they might come across the original footage for Borg (and Klingon) and it might work as a nice extra on one of the blu-ray sets or something. While it may not have quite the same level of interactivity it would be nice to be able to see it in better quality than what 90s FMV tech could handle.

If this could ever happen, I want the footage shot for the 1701-D virtual tour CD ROM. It would be awesome to have all those sets documented on Blu-ray instead of those little '90s era MOV files.

[Maurice]

I've said this in other threads, because a lot of people don't know how this stuff works, but sometimes "no" is because the company doesn't see a profit in even pursuing it. It takes lawyer time to review any old contracts related to the product, because they can't say "yes" without making sure there are no existing obligations or rights tied up elsewhere. Since the likelihood they could make money on something like this is slim to none, they may simply say no because saying "maybe" would cost them money to investigate it.

[Kadratis]

Tosk wrote:

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If this could ever happen, I want the footage shot for the 1701-D virtual tour CD ROM. It would be awesome to have all those sets documented on Blu-ray instead of those little '90s era MOV files.

I can only see them remaking the sets in CGI because this footage too has probably dumped.