Such a shame if that is the case. All the films have something to offer. Actually, I'm rather surprised that they don't push VOYH more. That one always seemed popular as well.
DVD'S Vs. Blu Rays
- Thread starter DeepSpaceYorks
- Start date
I think it's more to do with that TWOK's original camera negative was in terrible shape when they went back to remaster the films. Unlike with the rest of the movies, they couldn't wait another ten or so years to eventually give it a new transfer, so they did it then, and then yet again for the director's cut before the negative is too far gone.
It's nothing to do with sales, if that was the case, companies like the Criterion Collection who are known are remastering smaller, older films with intense care and passion wouldn't exist. People will buy the Blu-rays, it's just that Paramount thinks the current masters are satisfactory.
It's nothing to do with sales, if that was the case, companies like the Criterion Collection who are known are remastering smaller, older films with intense care and passion wouldn't exist. People will buy the Blu-rays, it's just that Paramount thinks the current masters are satisfactory.
If they thought remastering would lead to more sales, they'd do it in an instant. Lacklustre sales of TNG on blu-ray perhaps led them to conclude it wouldn't be worth the bother. Personally, I'd like Meyer to do his remaster of TUC in the same way he did TWOK. I don't think the director's cut has been released on blu-ray yet.
CBS did the TOS/TNG Blu-rays. Paramount does the movies. Two separate companies.
Trek movies sell fine. It's about why bother doing new masters when the current editions sell perfectly fine? Look at the new 50th Anniversary set, it's gonna sell like hotcakes yet they're still selling 2001 DVD masters.
The only reason they did a new master for TWOK was because the negative was very damaged, then they remastered it again because Director's Cut. They would've been perfectly comfortable re-issuing the old DVD master again on Blu-ray if it wasn't for those things, and it would've sold either way.
The films are pretty easy to remaster altogether, much unlike the shows. They just need to scan the negative, clean it up and colour grade it. There's no shot-for-shot re-editing or added CG.
If Criterion can do all of these niche classic films in fantastic quality and have them sell, there's no reason Paramount can't remaster their crown jewel in 4K and have them sell.
So far I've been making my way through them and I've been very happy with the blu rays.
TMP: Visually, it's very good. No problems with it, no color filters or nothing. I still don't like the movie very much but the quality is good.
TWOK: (Directors cut.) It's amazing, the best version out there. I prefer it to the DVD directors cut, though I miss the Brown color of Regula.
TSFS: It looks fantastic. A wonderfuly upscaled version of the DVD version. No changes, it's great.
TVH: Same thing, It's a great upscale of the DVD version.
Thoughts on TFF and TUC to come soon.
TMP: Visually, it's very good. No problems with it, no color filters or nothing. I still don't like the movie very much but the quality is good.
TWOK: (Directors cut.) It's amazing, the best version out there. I prefer it to the DVD directors cut, though I miss the Brown color of Regula.
TSFS: It looks fantastic. A wonderfuly upscaled version of the DVD version. No changes, it's great.
TVH: Same thing, It's a great upscale of the DVD version.
Thoughts on TFF and TUC to come soon.
It's a confusing situation! Don't Paramount have distribution rights to the TV shows and old films? Either way, I'm sure they'd have access to sales figures. My TNG Blu-rays have CBS and Paramount logos slapped all over them.
Depends on your TV size and sitting distance, but I just can't agree for TSFS and TVH. Way too smooth and glossy.
CBS have distribution rights to all the old shows and any new shows, as well as owning the Star Trek trademark. Paramount license the rights to make new movies and have distribution rights to the old movies.
The difference between Criterion (and its partners, notably Janus Films and RLJ Entertainment) and Paramount is that Paramount, as I said in another thread, has been for decades notoriously lazy when it comes to the preservation and restoration of its film catalog. The Criterion Collection is also largely subsidized by its occasional releases of very popular movies, which make the money to cover the costs of restoring the far more esoteric and lesser-known films.
I also think you're wildly over-estimating the sales potential of ten incredibly niche movies that have been released twice on DVD, and re-packaged at least three times on Blu-ray.
As I also said, but that's no excuse.
Fair enough.
The Wrath of Khan seems to be doing fine.
New 4K releases of the ten Prime Trek films in one package? I guarantee they would make more than the cost of remastering for Paramount. I've seen beautiful remasters done by big studios for the smallest, most niche type of movies, and it doesn't hurt anyone. The people who are still consistently buying Blu-rays or physical media for that matter are a niche audience in themselves. It's not like they're remastering a low-budget series of films from the '60s, it's facking Star Trek!
Have sales data, do you?
If they thought it would be profitable, they would be doing it. That's how business works. They wouldn't run away from profit.
People are still buying their other masters. Until people stop, we won't get new ones.
Question asked, question answered, then. If Paramount is still making money trotting out the old Blu-rays with new packaging every two years, then why should it spend the $600,000 - $800,000 per movie to restore nine films that were never particularly or hugely popular in the first place?
The way I feel about the movies on Blu-Ray is that there is patience and there is depriving yourself. I'm an original aspect ratio fiend, and I'm a Babylon 5 fan. When the DVDs were released, they were reformatted for widescreen. I thought they'd quickly see sense and correct the 'mistake'. Instead, I haven't seen B5 for over 20 years. Bought the box set this year though. There comes a point where you have to realise that the studios aren't going to cater for your personal wants,
I feel exactly the same, especially about B5. What's a person to do? You'd think it would be easy to just 'get it right'!
If everyone had this attitude, no one would ever get anything done!
As long as I'm not the one making the $600,000 - $800,000, I'll continue asking for half-decent transfers of today's standards
If it bothers you, there's a guy doing a big hybrid widescreen DVD/4:3 VHS fan cut here for the whole series. You can watch the first episode in full to get a taste.
https://forums.fanedit.org/showthread.php?tid=13994
