Clever step of CBS to release ST ENT on BD now?

[inflatabledalek]

King Daniel wrote:

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Considering the buzz for Into Darkness is entering high gear, yes it's the perfect time to release Enterprise on bluray. I'm suprised they haven't trotted out the "MEET CAPTAIN KIRK'S CHILDHOOD HERO" slogan from the first ENT VHS release. I thought it was a really cool slogan and would probably resonate now more than ever.

Or the slightly less catchy "MEET THE MAN WHOSE DOG SCOTTY MISPLACED" if they really want to sell it to new film fans.

[BillJ]

They should've released Enterprise in late-2009/early-2010 when it could've capitalized on the success of Star Trek 2009. Releasing it now means its competing with TNG for home video dollars.

[StalwartUK]

BillJ wrote:

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They should've released Enterprise in late-2009/early-2010 when it could've capitalized on the success of Star Trek 2009. Releasing it now means its competing with TNG for home video dollars.

Bear in mind that around that time we got TOS and the films on Blu-ray too. Maybe TPTB didn't want to flood the market with too much Trek product. Also the DVD's only came out in 2005 so maybe they felt it was a bit too soon as well. Releasing it now makes perfect sense. General interest in Trek will be high thanks to Star Trek Into Darkness.

As for DS9/VOY if they stick to the schedule they seem to have with TNG (a season every six months or so) the DS9 Blu-rays will be out sometime around 2015-2018 and VOY will be out around 2019-2022. This assumes they carry on after TNG with the same system they have in place now.

[BillJ]

StalwartUK wrote:

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Bear in mind that around that time we got TOS and the films on Blu-ray too. Maybe TPTB didn't want to flood the market with too much Trek product.

Yet they're releasing it concurrently with TNG...

As for DS9/VOY if they stick to the schedule they seem to have with TNG (a season every six months or so) the DS9 Blu-rays will be out sometime around 2015-2018 and VOY will be out around 2019-2022. This assumes they carry on after TNG with the same system they have in place now.

We'll likely know either late this year or early next whether they plan to go forward with DS9.

[Lance]

Leroy wrote:

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Set aside their popularity it might be in CBS's best interest to go ahead and remaster DS9 and VOY since the cost of shutting down and starting back up such a project would be almost as high as simply going ahead an remastering everything, even the cartoon is getting a BD release and that's not even canon.

Absolutely correct. Except the cartoon is canon.

[King Daniel into Darkness]

inflatabledalek wrote:

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Or the slightly less catchy "MEET THE MAN WHOSE DOG SCOTTY MISPLACED" if they really want to sell it to new film fans.

That would be awesome.

[toughlittleship]

The Wormhole wrote:

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Honestly, I doubt DS9 or Voyager will ever be reelased on blu-ray. Since they were shot on video, transferring to blu-ray will require the same extensive work being done to TNG. And really, neither show was popular enough to warrant that.

DS9 did better than Voyager and was one of the top rated series of the 90s.

[BillJ]

toughlittleship wrote:

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DS9 did better than Voyager and was one of the top rated series of the 90s.

True. But it never faired very well after its 'first run' ended. That may factor into any decision to update it for HD.

[MacLeod]

CBS should remember that some peopel might way for the inevitable complete box set before buying TNg on BR.

[euphorik]

i liked ENT a lot on first-run, and still like it a lot. while i wouldn't rank it in the holy trinity if TOS/TNG/DS9, it's held up - aside for the cringeworthy, horrific theme music - much, much better thna VOY has (though i have mellowed on that show quite a bit). i have always thought that much of the criticism leveled at ENT was unfair - they were right on schedule with all the other sequel shows, each trek show took 3 or 4 season to find its own unique style, and ENT was no different. sure, there were a lot of crap episodes in the first few seasons, but you can say that about any post-TOS trek, and season 4 of ENT is nearing TNG/DS9 levels of excellence and was far better than the derivative, technobabble-heavy VOY.

i suspect ENT is coming iut on blu-ray now simply because, as previously mentioned, it requires the least work for blu-ray release, and also to serve as ST "product" to indirectly promote the new jj abrams crapfest.

[The Wormhole]

toughlittleship wrote:

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DS9 did better than Voyager and was one of the top rated series of the 90s.

DS9 did better than Voyager, yes, but it didn't really do that well in the ratings. It only had a fraction of the viewers TNG had.

[Harvey]

BillJ wrote:

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Yet they're releasing it concurrently with TNG...

Ten films and three seasons of TOS were released on Blu-Ray to coincide with the 2009 movie.

Two seasons of TNG and two (?) seasons of ENT are being released to coincide with the 2013 movie.

Doesn't look like market saturation to me. It also doesn't look that different in quantity.

[toughlittleship]

The Wormhole wrote:

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DS9 did better than Voyager, yes, but it didn't really do that well in the ratings. It only had a fraction of the viewers TNG had.

I think 7% was mentioned somewhere, with TNG having 11%. But come on, TNG had basically no competitors; DS9 had TNG and VOY themselves, as well as B5, Xena, Hercules, X-Files etc.

[Anji]

Beta-Z wrote:

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Hi everybody,

Am I interested in ENT? Not at all.

Will I buy the ENT BDs? Sure! Because I want to show my support for DS9 and VOY and want them to be released on BD as well.

Hey dude, don't do that. Buy what you like to watch. Take it from an old time Trekkie, they're gonna release DS9 and VOY anyway because IT IS STAR TREK. And anything Star Trek eventually gets released, and re-released and re-re-released.

They want the money. They know were out here willing to buy. They're just waiting for when they think fandom is strongest for those shows before releasing the BDs.

Until then enjoy your DS9 and VOY on videotape or however you watch them. Don't become a slave to Paramount.

[Joe_Atari]

Beta-Z wrote:

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I guess it's a very clever calculated step of CBS to release ENT now.

Damn right it's clever; somehow CBS & Paramount have people thinking if people don't buy every Trek video release there won't be any more! I am so in the wrong line of work...

Seriously though, are people just assuming this to be the case or did an exec at CBS actually come out and say that future releases depend on everyone buying the previous ones?

Anji wrote:

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Hey dude, don't do that. Buy what you like to watch. Take it from an old time Trekkie, they're gonna release DS9 and VOY anyway because IT IS STAR TREK. And anything Star Trek eventually gets released, and re-released and re-re-released.

They want the money. They know were out here willing to buy. They're just waiting for when they think fandom is strongest for those shows before releasing the BDs.

This x10. I can't believe it took 29 posts for anyone to say it (and Anji beat me to it by just a few hours). I'll take it even further; CBS's revenues from these BD releases are gravy in the grand scheme of things. The real money comes from selling the series into broadcast (or streaming or whatever) syndication, which the HD remaster enables them to do to a much greater extent. If anything hurts DS9 in this regard relative to other Trek series it's its then-novel serialized format in its later years; serialized shows tend to not play as well when stripped in syndication (i.e. people who can commit 1 hour a week to a series may have problems doing the same 5 times a week). Furthermore, the main market for the BD releases really and truly is the avid fan community, and I find it amazing (and gratifying) that it is large enough to justify the work that went into the supplements. Let's face it, Joe Sixpack who might have caught TNG at the height of its popularity when he was in college is not shelling out $60-80 per season for these sets; he's long since moved onto current flavors like NCIS, Vegas, etc. (not that there's anything wrong with those shows; of course TNG was a popular flavor at one time as well) and couldn't care less about Robert Meyer Burnett's (amazing) VAM.

So I'm amazed at how many people around here bought TNG S1 & S2 even though they feel most of those episodes sucked (the questionable mastering job on S2 aside) and they couldn't wait for S3; as though if they didn't buy S1 & S2 there would be no S3 (OMG no BOBW!). By all means spend your money how you want, but for heaven's sake don't spend it on something you don't even like! Support DS9? Please...

I'm really not concerned how fans spend their money; what concerns me is that when people buy substandard products (I'm looking at you, TNG S2 BDs) it tells CBS and Paramount that Trek fans don't care about quality -- that they really will buy anything with Star Trek slapped on it (this doesn't apply to JJ's "Star Track" films, which really aren't aimed at Trek fans anyway) and they can cut corners all day long. Why do proper remasters on the theatrical features (except TWOK) when we can slap substandard broadcast HD masters on the BDs and sell just as many... and repackage them and sell them again a couple of times over! Although with JJ's films taking center stage over at Paramount it might be a while before we see those remastered. And why properly vet the post facilities handling the intricate TNG HD remasters? Give the gig to the lowest bidder and if one of the former VFX staffers on the show happens to be an employee, investor, or principal, so much the better!

Nothing against ENT, but the only reason I can see for it to be released now it that CBS must not think timing is very important for sales and best to make a few bucks (again, gravy) while BD is still viable and with streaming becoming more and more capable and prevalent. Even though theoretically it would be competing with future seasons of TNG for the finite resources (both time and money) of Trek fans in a tough economy, I guess they feel it makes sense.