"Star Trek Begins" - The 'Origins' Film Discussion

[oktay]

Doubt it. They aren't going to end Star Trek's current TV run until is stops being profitable. And when that happens, the franchise won't have enough popularity to convince Suits that a theatrical movie is worth the gamble.

Look, until Discovery came out in 2017, TV series were dead from 2005 to 2017. And 3 movies were made at that time. So yes, this will happen eventually. I think they can make sure that every movie that is made has a budget of 90-100 million dollars and that every movie does not make close to 400 million dollars at the box office. And even if TV is dead for a while, this will never be the end of the road for Star Trek.


Also this Star Trek series is 60 years old and is and always will be the most popular of the 'niche series'.

 

[Dukhat]

Look, until Discovery came out in 2017, TV series were dead from 2005 to 2017. And 3 movies were made at that time. So yes, this will happen eventually. I think they can make sure that every movie that is made has a budget of 90-100 million dollars and that every movie does not make close to 400 million dollars at the box office. And even if TV is dead for a while, this will never be the end of the road for Star Trek.


Also, this Star Trek series is 60 years old and will always be popular.

The only reason why DSC was produced at all was because those three Abrams films proved that Star Trek was still a viable and profitable franchise. Now, the opposite is true. Paramount can't make a new Star Trek theatrical film if their lives depended on it, and the shows they are producing with CBS were getting cancelled left and right, and who knows what the future is going to be for P+ streaming.

But you're right about Star Trek as an entity still being popular. But it remains to be seen what it will actually look like by its 70 year anniversary.

 

[oktay]

The only reason why DSC was produced at all was because those three Abrams films proved that Star Trek was still a viable and profitable franchise. Now, the opposite is true. Paramount can't make a new Star Trek theatrical film if their lives depended on it, and the shows they are producing with CBS were getting cancelled left and right, and who knows what the future is going to be for P+ streaming.

But you're right about Star Trek as an entity still being popular. But it remains to be seen what it will actually look like by its 70 year anniversary.

We Turks have a saying ' her şey olacağına varır ', time will tell what will happen. Although everything seems to be going towards the end of the series, I'm sure the situation looked like it did when Nemesis came out in 2002 and Enterprise was cancelled in 2005. And let me remind you, the original series is a cancelled series. And since then, 56 years have passed and it has become a franchise with 14 movies and 'the 12th TV show is being prepared'.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I like to keep Star Trek where I found it. On my TV.

 

[fireproof78]

I like to keep it where I found it: on VHS.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Is laser disc still a thing?

 

[Campe]

8" Black and white TV with rabbit ears, tinny audio and a V-hold problem. Future never looked so good.

 

[El Maestro]

But you're right about Star Trek as an entity still being popular. But it remains to be seen what it will actually look like by its 70 year anniversary.

This is what is kind of baffling to me...they have a popular IP in an time when studios are grasping for every IP they can find instead of creating new things and yet they can't get their act together consistently enough to sustainably capitalize on it. Part of it is a mismatch in expectations. Trek, while very popular, is not an IP that will be in the top tier/billion-dollar-generating movie category, but it is not at all unreasonable to expect they can make successful and profitable movies and tv shows....

As for the 70th anniversary I would like there to be 1 anniversary that they just blow the doors off for....maybe 75th? I always kind of scoff at the fans who act like the franchise is moribund but it doesn't help when the owners of it just shrug their shoulders.

I don't think any of this will really improve until the uncertainty around Paramount is resolved.

 

[Tiran O'Saurus]

and yet they can't get their act together consistently enough to sustainably capitalize on it.

They can't? "Capitalize" just means "make money off". In the streaming economy, their primary source of revenue isn't advertisers but subscribers. The only thing you need to "capitalize" on Trek is the rights to it and a platform to put it on, because the modern entertainment industry is running on Field Of Dreams logic: "if you build it, they will come." Simply by requiring people to give them money to rewatch TNG or DS9, they're "capitalizing". That's why all the modern shows are so different from old Trek, because they already have all the fans of old Trek so to increase "capitalization" they need to lure in different kinds of people, who might be interested in an animated kids show or a teen drama or whatever.

 

[El Maestro]

They can't? "Capitalize" just means "make money off". In the streaming economy, their primary source of revenue isn't advertisers but subscribers. The only thing you need to "capitalize" on Trek is the rights to it and a platform to put it on, because the modern entertainment industry is running on Field Of Dreams logic: "if you build it, they will come." Simply by requiring people to give them money to rewatch TNG or DS9, they're "capitalizing". That's why all the modern shows are so different from old Trek, because they already have all the fans of old Trek so to increase "capitalization" they need to lure in different kinds of people, who might be interested in an animated kids show or a teen drama or whatever.

So, I said “sustainably,” maybe what I should’ve said was: sustainably capitalize on it in a way that allows for consistent new content creation as well as monetizing old content.

 

[oktay]

Paramount's biggest mistake was not opening this platform everywhere. Why is there a platform called Skyshowtime in Eastern Europe? And why did they license content to other platforms in many countries? You establish a platform and don't open it everywhere and there are only 74 million subscribers. They announced profit this year but it's a lie. If you make such high budget TV series and only have 74 million subscribers, it means you are going bankrupt in your business. Then of course Star Trek shows would be cancelled. If Paramount had opened this platform everywhere in the beginning. It would not have ended with more subscribers; Discovery, Lower Decks, Prodigy would not have been cancelled. 'They would have continued for as many seasons as they planned and finished them.'

 

[137th Gebirg]

It's likely they couldn't. International licensing is a byzantine labyrinth of legal blockades, enforced by digital geo-fencing. Shit, people can't even watch YouTube videos sometimes without running into a wall blocking their access. The whole "region" nonsense with DVD's that followed into the BRD market (albeit to an admittedly less extent) was the enforcement arm of these roadblocks for decades - at least, as far as physical media was concerned. It was a little more justified with the DVD's, as back then we had lo-def variants like NTSC, PAL, SECAM, ME-SECAM and other tech flavors that used CRT scan-line-based TV's and the region limits helped to ensure a good viewing picture. But in this day of globally-standardized HD 1080p and more, there really isn't any region to region block any more outside of bullshit licensing limitations.

 

[oktay]

It's likely they couldn't.

What I mean is these shows wouldn't have been cancelled. They would have continued for as many seasons as they were originally planned. Paramount Plus is in this state because of the stupid decisions Paramount has made.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Yeah, no argument there.

And as far as streaming services go, technologically speaking, it's pretty mediocre. Never been a fan of their app's interface. I've always found Netflix, Prime and pre-Disney Hulu to be the best-engineered interfaces for streaming. I wish others would take design queues from them.

 

[oktay]

there really isn't any region to region block any more outside of bullshit licensing limitations.

This is not entirely true. Repressive countries like Turkey also broadcast scenes of male genitalia in Amazon and Disney content in a censored manner. LGBT-themed series are a completely different matter. Amazon does not bring productions that deal with LGBT as the main theme. Disney, on the other hand, brings LGBT-themed 'adult' series or movies as +18. However, Disney Plus prefers not to bring original productions such as 'High School Musical The Musical The Series', which are Disney Channel productions aimed at young people under the age of 18. If there are LGBT characters in animations aimed at adults, they bring them to Disney. However, if there are LGBT characters in animations aimed at children or young people, they either bring them with incomplete episodes or do not broadcast them. The Middle East is 'worse' in terms of censorship. Netflix and other platforms do not apply censorship in our country either. But they do not advertise such content either. Oh, and all broadcasting platforms in Türkiye are under the control of the repressive Radio and Television Supreme Council, which controls TV channels. There are TV series, TV series episodes and movies that have been removed due to the penalties it has given. These platforms have also been fined. However, the fines given to streaming platforms by the Radio and Television Supreme Council in a year are not as many as those given to TV channels, so Netflix and other platforms do not remove content unless they are fined.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Sorry - I meant to type that there really is no reason to region block, but they still do it anyway.

 

[oktay]

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This has nothing to do with the title, but I wanted to share it because I mentioned it the other day. Disney Plus users on MENA are dealing with the issue of censorship. Moreover, the person Disney appointed to manage Disney Plus MENA is closing Disney Plus accounts that criticize the platform's censorship practices. And he has a monopoly on dubbing.

This is not entirely true. Repressive countries like Turkey also broadcast scenes of male genitalia in Amazon and Disney content in a censored manner. LGBT-themed series are a completely different matter. Amazon does not bring productions that deal with LGBT as the main theme. Disney, on the other hand, brings LGBT-themed 'adult' series or movies as +18. However, Disney Plus prefers not to bring original productions such as 'High School Musical The Musical The Series', which are Disney Channel productions aimed at young people under the age of 18. If there are LGBT characters in animations aimed at adults, they bring them to Disney. However, if there are LGBT characters in animations aimed at children or young people, they either bring them with incomplete episodes or do not broadcast them. The Middle East is 'worse' in terms of censorship. Netflix and other platforms do not apply censorship in our country either. But they do not advertise such content either. Oh, and all broadcasting platforms in Türkiye are under the control of the repressive Radio and Television Supreme Council, which controls TV channels. There are TV series, TV series episodes and movies that have been removed due to the penalties it has given. These platforms have also been fined. However, the fines given to streaming platforms by the Radio and Television Supreme Council in a year are not as many as those given to TV channels, so Netflix and other platforms do not remove content unless they are fined.

The Little Demon TV series, which FX cancelled at the end of the first season, was never broadcast in Türkiye.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Dafuq is “MENA”?

 

[Daedalus]

Dafuq is “MENA”?

Middle east and north Africa.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Ah, thank you for the clarification.

So, is there really any surprise there’s extreme censorship going on in that part of the world? I mean, seriously, in other news, rain is wet.