Luke Lightsaber
Captain
Fans who want more Trek should just watch those dumb fan films
Why no direct to DVD Trek Movies?
- Thread starter Falcor5
- Start date
Well why cant we have both Paramount produced direct-to-dvd features and fan produced stuff?
Perhaps more importantly, in what way are they "dumb"?
Perhaps it didn't work for B5 because the stories were lacking, even though I liked the second story a lot, the first one with Lockley was a bore. I think JMS erred in not doing something balls to the wall with his first DVD series to make us want more. The FX, particularly the background shots of B5 left a lot to be desired. Perhaps a B5 DVD movie might've been the best bet, or at least a more interesting story to go along with Sheridan's, perhaps something with Londo.
That being said, Star Trek is way more popular than B5 ever was, not to knock B5. How much Star Trek merchandising is out there? Not to mention books, comics, magazines. Now compare that to B5's merchandising which has all but dried up.
I think Star Trek DVD movies could be an awesome thing and help fill in some gaps or give the fans some things many have wanted to see, such as:
-The Earth-Romulan War
-The creation of the Federation
-Bajor's admission into the Federation
-An Excelsior adventure
-An Enterprise-B adventure
-A Titan adventure
-Just more adventures from DS9, VOY, ENT, and TNG (though I don't think Stewart or Spiner would probably do it. But so what, it's about time they focused on Geordi, Dr. Crusher anyway. And then bring back Worf, Barclay, maybe Q, maybe Wesley and you've got the makings of an interesting TNG story)
The fan films have shown there is interest in more Trek, and just imagine the response if CBS put a little money behind similar efforts. I think it would pay off for them.
And they are made by people who are not permitted to make a profit. In any case, how do we know what percentage of ST fans watch fan films? (For example, I was in "Starship Exeter: The Savage Empire" and the only ST friends I have who've seen it are the ones I've forced to watch at phaser-point.)
CBS's and Paramount's shareholders anticipate excellent returns on their investments.
I'm sure the folks who make the fan films could give us numbers on how many downloads their episodes have had, but the truth is it's a very small number compared to those who watched the TV shows on a regular basis or ponied up for movie tickets.
Just like only a fraction of the fanbase purchases the novels, only a fraction of the fans download or watch the fan-films. Certainly press coverage of New Voyages/Phase II has boosted the profile of fan-films, but it's still a small niche of what is today a niche audience.
Just like only a fraction of the fanbase purchases the novels, only a fraction of the fans download or watch the fan-films. Certainly press coverage of New Voyages/Phase II has boosted the profile of fan-films, but it's still a small niche of what is today a niche audience.
Good points. But at least fan films have shown us that Trek can be made relatively cheaply, so I think the suits might get a good return on their investment with canon Trek stories made for DVD only. Trek is a billion dollar business, so somebodies buying this stuff. I don't think it would hurt to try it out.
The problem is that a professional ST film cannot be made cheaply and, if it was too "cheap" looking, the public will ignore/berate it. Fans demand and expect high production values and talented actors, writers, SPFX and directors.
In fan films everyone works for free and many participants donate huge amounts of money and time to the cause.
You can't really compare them.
I thought that was only due to syndication futures, which clearly are going to be less and less secure a revenue source as time goes by...
In any event, sure it's a gamble as some fans hate CGI sets, but then so is a big budget motion picture and they're making one of those, right? Also, don't use the same cast from movie to movie and the contract issues aren't as big a deal. Do a series, make it sell it. It does really well, change up the cast and do a different one next time.
I still think it could be done provided someone at the studio wants to; clearly they don't.
Really? Who did you play? I thought that was a GREAT show!
The problem with the DVD, while I enjoyed it, was that it wasn't an event. The first direct-to-DVD and the stories just weren't much of an event that helped bring us the audience back into the universe. The first story didn't have anything at stake for Lochley other than the station being in "danger." Her faith wasn't tested, her decision and conclusions came too easily and she had only herself to bounce her thoughts against. The Sheridan story was better in that it was an ethical choice that he has to make-- let the boy live and thousands will die, or kill him and save thousands. And in true Sheridan fashion, he comes up with a third choice.
But WB threw barely any money into the venture. The budget wasn't there for an "event" movie. Therefore, the DVD felt a little flat.
As for a Trek DVD, it will face all the problems that The Lost Tales faced and that's start-up costs, whether or not Paramount/CBS decides that the potential profits warrant those costs. With most of the Trek vault sold off at various auctions, a lot of money would be spent on new costumes, new sets and new make-up regardless if those things are mere recreations of the old stuff. The only way I can see the studio suits going for it is if it is based on the new Trek movie, where they can use the sets, props and costumes created for that which would reduce the start-up expenses. Much like the Get Smart direct-to-DVD side adventure or the recently greenlit nuBSG DVD movies.
Yes, because the budget was far too conservative on WB's part, the sets were limited and the scenes only involved two or three people in a small room gabbing.
Check my avatar and my TrekBBS nick. I played Andorian Senator Therin, of course, father of the character shown in my avatar. (That avatar pic dates back to March 1980.)
I live in Australia, so my scenes were shot here in my house (in front of the curtain I'm sitting in front of right now), and sent to the USA for Jimm to edit into a tridee viewer in the main footage.
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You can bet on it that they have crunched the numbers. Probably every few years since 1975 or so.
Luke Lightsaber
Captain
The B5 movie DVD thing could have been a lot better, but they did have a budget. But look at Classic Star Trek. They seemed to do fine without a huge budget. The Lochley story on the B5 disk was so empty. I was hoping for a little bit of action, and some sweeping story that B5 is known for.
In its day, the budget of TOS was huge compared to other Desilu and Paramount TV series.
People seem to forget that fact.
In Solow & Justman's Inside Star Trek, from the chapter about the making of "City on the Edge of Forever," they give the episode's budget as $190,635. (It ended up over-budget by about $60,000.) Taking inflation into account, that's the equivalent of $1,220,238 today (and the final, over-budget total would have been $1.6 million). I don't know how that compares with the per-episode budget on the modern-day Trek series, but it's not chump change either.
In Solow & Justman's Inside Star Trek, from the chapter about the making of "City on the Edge of Forever," they give the episode's budget as $190,635. (It ended up over-budget by about $60,000.) Taking inflation into account, that's the equivalent of $1,220,238 today (and the final, over-budget total would have been $1.6 million). I don't know how that compares with the per-episode budget on the modern-day Trek series, but it's not chump change either.
