Direct to DVD

[RobertScorpio]

Direct To Dvd #1
DS9 spotlight on "Nog"
Budget $500,000

While Quark is away (meaning Armin was to expensive) Nog takes an extended leave from Starfleet to run the Bar. (Just the Bar set will be needed). Morn will be there and the two, Nog and Morn, will have to figure out why the Vic Fontane program won't work before Bashir (who will be mentioned, and seen walking through the Promenade via stock footage) finds out...

Turns out, Vic has a special customer...his programer. Some geeky guy who misses Vic and wants to take the program back..at the end Vics sings a song (Moon River) and the geeky dude gives control back to Nog...



All that for $500,000 (maybe even cheaper!)

Rob
scorpio

 

[RobertScorpio]

Somehow my OP has vanished...

The task here? Create a direct to dvd for only $500,000 budget..preferably DS9-TNG-ENT or VOY centric....and give your strategy to meet the budget guideline...

Rob

 

[ChristopherPike]

So what we looking at with a $500,000 budget? An episode of New Voyages, Phase II or whatever it's called these days?

How far would that go towards an episode of ENT anyway? Recreating the bridge? Some CGI up to the standards of Babylon 5 a decade ago?

 

[BillJ]

Somehow my OP has vanished...

The task here? Create a direct to dvd for only $500,000 budget..preferably DS9-TNG-ENT or VOY centric....and give your strategy to meet the budget guideline...

Rob

Build a partial bridge set and either transporter room or shuttle to move the action to a planetary locale. Have the planet's population be humanoid. Build the story around a rogue Starfleet captain that has violated the Prime Directive and set himself up as king.

Tie in some limited cheap CGI and I'd probably be able to sneak in below $500,000.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Sounds like that STARGATE plot from season one..I like it...and very budgetable!!!

Rob

 

[BillJ]

Sounds like that STARGATE plot from season one..I like it...and very budgetable!!!

Rob

Oops... didn't mean to steal from another franchise!

 

[RobertScorpio]

Sounds like that STARGATE plot from season one..I like it...and very budgetable!!!

Rob

Oops... didn't mean to steal from another franchise!

Oh, I wouldn't call that stealing..they all do it...but I liked your approach to keeping the cost down and I could really see them doing it just like that..

Rob

 

[Therin of Andor]

Will ST fans really be satisfied with lowest-possible-budget, minimal cast, minimal sets, minimal SPFX, direct-to-DVD episodes?

I reckon most would wait till the price dropped and the DVDs were in bargain bins, or someone would upload segments to Youtube.

If a ST story is worth doing, it's worth doing BIG.

 

[RobertScorpio]

If a ST story is worth doing, it's worth doing BIG.

Really?? Some of the Star Trek product I have seen took a BIG story and made it small and STILL we went to the movies and saw the product. Would some of us buy a direct-to-dvd small scope production? I think we would...

Rob

 

[Therin of Andor]

Would some of us buy a direct-to-dvd small scope production? I think we would...

If it was the only new ST on offer, of course I'd buy it. But I'd much prefer something substantial.

Direct-to-DVD still carries quite a stigma. "Not good enough for cinematic release". And then there are the fan films. (And I'm not criticizing them by saying that. 'Cos I'm in one.)

 

[RobertScorpio]

Would some of us buy a direct-to-dvd small scope production? I think we would...

If it was the only new ST on offer, of course I'd buy it. But I'd much prefer something substantial.

Direct-to-DVD still carries quite a stigma. "Not good enough for cinematic release". And then there are the fan films. (And I'm not criticizing them by saying that. 'Cos I'm in one.)

Oh, I actually totally agree. This thread is 'fun' like the 'create a bad episode that might be made' thread...in this one the reader is asked to create a small scale story that might be turned into a direct-to-DVD release. Along the lines of BAB-5's attempt. Its all in fun..

Rob

 

[CaptJimboJones]

OK, here's one:

Riker is wounded with a virus that puts him in a coma. He's in sickbay, and put on a machine to artificially induce memories to create endorphins, to help him recover. He has pleasant past encounters (seen via clips from past episodes) of his first meeting with Data, as well as unpleasant ones, like Tasha Yar's death (seen with more clip footage). It's not working, though, so they give him the memory of fighting Klingons (from past footage) and the tar creature (from past footage). Finally the virus is killed and he awakes.

All you'd need is a brief outdoor shoot initially, then the sickbay set, with just two actors - Riker and the doctor. It would be a very, very cheap episode of TNG.

Something like that will never get produced, of course.

 

[omnirad]

^^
Nor wood a show with two guys in a shuttle pod with the AC cranked.

-How lame is that?

 

[RobertScorpio]

^^
Nor wood a show with two guys in a shuttle pod with the AC cranked.

-How lame is that?

Not bad at all..as for not being done? Depends if Rick Berman comes back or not..he was great at creating bottle episodes, as was RDM...some were good, some were bad. But OFFSPRING and VISTOR show that you do not have to have big bucks to make a great episode..or in this case, a direct to dvd release..

Rob

 

[All Seeing Eye]

I was thinking about having a Guinan mini film but Whoopi Goldberg would probably want $500,000 just as a deposit to aquire her services.

Anyway it would basically follow her journey from El'Auria after the Borg attack to when she got onboard the Enterprise-D, it wouldn't need any snazzy CGI or anything.

The plot would be, wait for it....................... Guinan is infact a twin, her twin sister however is the complete opposite of Guinan and Guinan finds out that her twin sister is responsible for alerting the Borg to the location of El'Auria. Guinans journey from El'Auria is her quest to track down her sister and bring her to justice. She finally brings her to justice on Earth and it's after this she joins the Ent-D as a bartender.

 

[BillJ]

Will ST fans really be satisfied with lowest-possible-budget, minimal cast, minimal sets, minimal SPFX, direct-to-DVD episodes?

I reckon most would wait till the price dropped and the DVDs were in bargain bins, or someone would upload segments to Youtube.

If a ST story is worth doing, it's worth doing BIG.

Sounds really condescending there. Give me a decent sci-fi writer that is telling a story about something and it won't matter whether it cost $500,000 or $50,000,000.

Most of my favorite episodes were either bottle shows or shows that had a substantial story told planet-side with minimal special effects (low-budget episodes). Made the writers' and directors' think about how to effectively convey an idea without just throwing cash at it.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Will ST fans really be satisfied with lowest-possible-budget, minimal cast, minimal sets, minimal SPFX, direct-to-DVD episodes?

I reckon most would wait till the price dropped and the DVDs were in bargain bins, or someone would upload segments to Youtube.

If a ST story is worth doing, it's worth doing BIG.

Sounds really condescending there. Give me a decent sci-fi writer that is telling a story about something and it won't matter whether it cost $500,000 or $50,000,000.

Most of my favorite episodes were either bottle shows or shows that had a substantial story told planet-side with minimal special effects (low-budget episodes). Made the writers' and directors' think about how to effectively convey an idea without just throwing cash at it.

You're making my point for me...I didn't say these would be BAD stories, just done cheaply like a bottle-show...would you pay money for bottle episodes, thats really what I'm asking. Would I pay for story on par with OFFSPRING or VISITOR or any of the other great bottle shows? Yes...thats the point...

Rob

 

[Shawnster]

Somehow my OP has vanished...

The task here? Create a direct to dvd for only $500,000 budget..preferably DS9-TNG-ENT or VOY centric....and give your strategy to meet the budget guideline...

Rob

Build a partial bridge set and either transporter room or shuttle to move the action to a planetary locale. Have the planet's population be humanoid. Build the story around a rogue Starfleet captain that has violated the Prime Directive and set himself up as king.

Tie in some limited cheap CGI and I'd probably be able to sneak in below $500,000.

Sounds like that STARGATE plot from season one..I like it...and very budgetable!!!

Rob

Sounds like that STARGATE plot from season one..I like it...and very budgetable!!!

Rob

Oops... didn't mean to steal from another franchise!

Funny, I thought it sounded like TOS: Omega Glory.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Somehow my OP has vanished...

The task here? Create a direct to dvd for only $500,000 budget..preferably DS9-TNG-ENT or VOY centric....and give your strategy to meet the budget guideline...

Rob

Build a partial bridge set and either transporter room or shuttle to move the action to a planetary locale. Have the planet's population be humanoid. Build the story around a rogue Starfleet captain that has violated the Prime Directive and set himself up as king.

Tie in some limited cheap CGI and I'd probably be able to sneak in below $500,000.

Sounds like that STARGATE plot from season one..I like it...and very budgetable!!!

Rob

Oops... didn't mean to steal from another franchise!

Funny, I thought it sounded like TOS: Omega Glory.

And like the plot of one of the DC Trek comics set between TWOK and TSFS though in the captain in that one wasn't an insane jackass like Tracy.

 

[STIntergalactic]

Direct To Dvd #1
DS9 spotlight on "Nog"
Budget $500,000

While Quark is away (meaning Armin was to expensive) Nog takes an extended leave from Starfleet to run the Bar. (Just the Bar set will be needed). Morn will be there and the two, Nog and Morn, will have to figure out why the Vic Fontane program won't work before Bashir (who will be mentioned, and seen walking through the Promenade via stock footage) finds out...

Turns out, Vic has a special customer...his programer. Some geeky guy who misses Vic and wants to take the program back..at the end Vics sings a song (Moon River) and the geeky dude gives control back to Nog...



All that for $500,000 (maybe even cheaper!)

Rob
scorpio

I may be wrong, but wasn't Bashir Vic's programmer?