Babylon 5, did someone have a vendetta against the series?

[Triple-F]

One would have thought studios would have learned something from the Doctor Who disaster. I could understand if it were all stored on huge reels of film. But it still boggles my mind that not one production person who probably spent hours or days working on these designs thought to dump copies of a few files onto spare harddrives and carry them home.

The short sightedness of some of these companies is mind-boggling.

It's the stories which evolved round some of this which is mind-boggling. Of course they did. If you know the right people you can even see the proof of concept video put together for the meeting with Warner Bros. ; )

From Ron Thornton talking about the LoTR and TLT productions having difficulty finding the original 3D assets (though the same library that was found for LoTR was again found ‘found’ for TLT ; ).

Let’s put it this way, I can grab at least 4 or 5 people who have pretty much all the assets from Babylon 5. Even down to the original ships I did for the test, because it was all on the Foundation servers before we went bankrupt. . . . . . . . . . . If they had asked me I could have given them straight away. But realistically the original assets really aren’t up to anything like the modern standard. They are so simplistic. Plus the guys did such a good job on the station, Starfury and also the green ship for the Lost Tales.

And BTW, Doug Netter didn’t set anything up, as far as the CGI went – other than a company using some junior animators which FI temporarily brought onboard to work on Hypernauts. Foundation Imaging was then kicked off the show, and had to end up begging Dan Curry to throw them some Voyager work as a lifeline.

http://www.themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/B5Scrolls.htm#Screen1_01_1

 

[JoeD80]

FYI, Shant Jordan and Patrick Perez who were the senior animators for Netter Digital were previously on the staff of Foundation.

 

[Triple-F]

For 10 minutes.

http://www.themadgoner.com/B5/B5Scrolls/B5Scrolls.htm#Screen1_01_3

They were among the staff (junior animaters in this case) brought in to work on Hypernauts, when it got cancelled only a few (like Larry Bowman) were kept on to work on B5. Though they did play an important role in settng up Netter Digital, of course.

 

[Noname Given]

One would have thought studios would have learned something from the Doctor Who disaster. I could understand if it were all stored on huge reels of film. But it still boggles my mind that not one production person who probably spent hours or days working on these designs thought to dump copies of a few files onto spare harddrives and carry them home.

The short sightedness of some of these companies is mind-boggling.

IDK - that's like saying you can't believe they destroy built filming sets after they're done using/filming on them.

The CGI models made were used for what they were designed for. Also, given the rate at which CGI technology is progressing; saving old Lightwave models wouldn't really net you much. It would probably take more time and effort re-texturing and other elements; then it would to re-create a new model from scratch in whatever software they're using for a new production. T

hus why waste the time, money, and effort on archiving and storing something that you won't need again - and if you do, can probably be re-created at a lesser cost then archiving, restoring and updating the original models might?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I'm very surprised that Enterprise is due out next after TNG. Is DS9 and Voyager really an issue?

They would require the same expensive restoration currently being done on Star Trek: The Next Generation. It probably will happen within the next ten years, but since Enterprise was mastered in high definition and is therefore ready for Blu-Ray, it is being released first.

I believe Enterprise is already available in 720p HD on iTunes. I'm not tempted for some reason...

 

[Dream]

If ENT fails to sell well, say goodbye to DS9 and VOY remasters.

 

[Noname Given]

If ENT fails to sell well, say goodbye to DS9 and VOY remasters.

Not really. 'Enterprise' requires NO 'HD rematering' as it was done in HD to begin with. At this point it's just press/burn to Blu-Ray and distribute. I don't hget why they hadn't released it to Blu-Ray sooner.

 

[Harvey]

If ENT fails to sell well, say goodbye to DS9 and VOY remasters.

Unlikely. Both series were more successful than Enterprise. A better indicator will be how well subsequent seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation sell.

 

[diankra]

If ENT fails to sell well, say goodbye to DS9 and VOY remasters.

Unlikely. Both series were more successful than Enterprise. A better indicator will be how well subsequent seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation sell.

Yes, but no.
If Enterprise doesn't sell, then one argument is 'That's because it's the final, least popular, Trek series'. [FX: waits for the sound of a fatwa from those who do like Enterprise]. 'Let's spend a hefty amount of money on remastering DS9 and Voyager, as they'll do better.'
Option two is: 'Even the one that was HD ready didn't break even. No more. It's an old property, it's had its day*'.
The problem is the the person who goes for option two keeps their job. The person who goes for option one loses their job if they're wrong...

*10 no-points if you can name the person, company and decade, and series it refers to, that quote comes from...

 

[MacLeod]

^Or, this HD thing is around to stay, more and more HD channels are popping up, what properties do we have that these channels might be interested in buying over the next decade or two.

Remastering is in part protecting your property for long term profits. Besides it's likely these shows have already paid several times over for the cost of remastering them into HD.

Remember TNG HD has already been sold and is airing on the Syfy Channel (UK).