I want TNG on Blu-ray because I want TNG on Blu-ray, not because buying it will lead to hypothetical releases down the road. Plus, I simply don't believe other series HD makeovers rely solely on how well TNG sells. I think actual cost, likely revenue sources beyond the Blu-ray (syndication, streaming) and even the sales performance of Enterprise (which I haven't bought and have no intention of buying) will factor as much into any decisions regarding the other two series.
I'm not trying to be a dick and I like Mike Okuda, but I'm pretty sure the decision to greenlight DS9-R is made far above his pay-grade. I buy TNG-R because I like TNG, not because it implies some promise to upgrade the other series and, honestly, I think it's wrong to present it that way.
Amen brother (or is it "
Yeah brother, yeah...")...
For the consumer, the formula has to be simple: On a product-by-product basis,
in your eyes if it's good (examples to me are S1 & S3), support it with your dollars. If it's crap (to me, S2), you're sending the wrong message if you support it in spite of its entirely avoidable flaws. Forget about syndication, etc. as part of this analysis -- just the BDs. For myself, I'm buying TNG-R (sans S2) as long as the quality's good, but not to get DS9-R. If DS9-R's good, I'll buy that. I most likely will not buy VOY-R or ENT-not-R. These are simply my choices.
If you're a fan of X-Files (and I'm personally not; I just never took to it) you need to be out there
now and make it clear to Fox that you
will not buy an upscaled release. When the clearly subpar TNG-R S2 screencaps were released, it was too late to fix the initial release, but the message to CBS should be the same at all points in the process:
I will not support any substandard BD release with my dollars. Place the burden of quality control on them. To CBS's credit, they seem to have learned from the S2 debacle by removing HTV and modifying their production processes. Of course in practice (particularly in Trekdom) consumers for whatever reason buy whatever the studios release regardless of the quality, only too happy to double-dip years (or sometimes months) down the road. Of course the studios know and bank on this.
If I'm CBS, I'm thinking seriously about releasing VOY-R (arguably the less popular series) before DS9-R so I can coax nondiscriminating consumers into buying a show
they don't even like on the promise that it will lead to a DS9-R release.
As consumers we have to distinguish between those with a financial interest in current and future Trek-R projects (e.g. the Okudas) and those providing a thoughtful, objective analysis of the situation (e.g. Maxwell Everett). I'm sure the Okudas are swell people too, but by definition they're shills for these projects, providing little if any technical guidance (and if they are they have some serious 'splaining to do for S2) and basically using their past association with the shows to rubber stamp and hype these releases and cash a check. I personally tune it out and let the products speak for themselves. I do enjoy their commentaries (both audio and text) as they have a wealth of Trek knowledge to impart; I'm significantly less impressed with the modified "Okudagrams" that replace original TNG staff names with TNG-R people though.
The product planners at CBS are going to analyze each of these projects on their own merits in terms of whether potential revenues justify the costs of remastering vs. upscaling, new VAM vs. ported VAM. They already did just that with ENT, determining that the existing HD broadcast masters were good enough for a series with arguably limited sales potential (compared with TNG-R anyway) but new VAM might goose sales a bit -- a worthy strategy. Buying TNG-R on BD tells CBS
nothing about how, say, VOY-R will sell on BD (if BD is even still relevant by that time). I agree with BillJ that ENT is probably a closer model to follow for a VOY-R release. I love DS9, but the reality is that TNG was a much more popular, iconic series and that has probably played the largest role in its stellar HD treatment. If we want a truly remastered DS9-R, CBS has to know
now (through analysis and consumer feedback) that the cost in lost sales resulting from an upscaled release will be greater than the cost to do a proper remaster, perhaps with new, high-quality VAM.
