• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Star Trek episode on 16mm film -- for a mere $5K

I was checking out Cap Store's shop.

capstore.jpg

One of these things doesn't quite fit the pattern.

It's a shame they don't give us a glimpse of what it looks like, I want to see what the image quality is like.
 
Strange, from the Miami-Dade Public Library System according to the bar code on the film canister.
 
He just posted "And The Children Shall Lead" too.
Now THERE'S an episode that's actually worth five thousand bucks. /s
 
Strange, from the Miami-Dade Public Library System according to the bar code on the film canister.
Probably sitting in the library’s basement for 50 years and then they decided to liquidate it. Seller probably thinks he found a gold mine, but I don’t know how much these old reels actually go for, and I assume this one probably wasn’t kept at archival conditions.
 
I can't imagine that a 16mm copy is worth much honestly. I can understand that a 35mm print may be worth something but there must be thousands of the old 16mm reels left over from syndication.
 
We've all seen the blooper reels, it's bound to be that level of quality. The colour film degrades and goes pinkish. An episode on 16mm that looks like that is worth hundreds, tops.

You'll be lucky if it was freshly struck print loaned to a TV station back in the 70's or 80's, still broadcasting from telecine and has remained virtually untouched, held in ideal storage conditions since. More likely to have been grinded many times through projectors regularly at conventions & events in that period.

For that price, it would need to be an earlier workprint...and if that were the case, experts like the Okudas, those who worked on the last Remastering/Blu rays should be alerted to preserve such a thing.

It could be from the earliest days of home video, when companies sprang up and without the permission of the copyright holders, released tapes on the market. A usually poor quality 16mm would be transferred to U-Matic and then mass duplicated onto Betamax, Video 2000 and VHS.
 
Last edited:
I have no idea why this is on two reels, it should fit comfortably on one. Even if this was on a higher quality stock with no vinegaring or orange tint, it wouldn't be worth that much. I could see $500 for it, I paid $200 for a Lost in Space episode in near perfect shape.

Get me the first season episodes with the original opening closing electric violin credit music and maybe we'll talk.
 
It would probably have been easier on the telecine operator in a TV station to have it on 2 reels rather than one.

The changeover would probably have came between acts two and three..... but it might have been in the middle of an act. Who knows... :shrug:
 
It would probably have been easier on the telecine operator in a TV station to have it on 2 reels rather than one.

The changeover would probably have came between acts two and three..... but it might have been in the middle of an act. Who knows... :shrug:

Not saying you're wrong but in the heyday of my 16mm TV and film collecting, the only programs I had on more than one reel were movies. However, the two reels may still have period ads attached. Some of my TV shows were pushing the space limits at 51 minutes.

I would be interest in this if it was around $500 ish. I love owning a piece of the broadcast history of the show and really enjoy watching unrestored TV episodes, before all the tinkering for home video consumption was done.
 
I would imagine it depends on how they received it. A donation, more than likely, and if it had commercials already attached, they weren't going to remove them. They probably wouldn't have had an editing bay.
The reels have the label "National Film and Video Center" on them. Would such a source have material with commercials on them?
 
The reels have the label "National Film and Video Center" on them. Would such a source have material with commercials on them?
Sure why not? If they had broadcast copies sent to them for preservation, or however they got possession of them.

I wound up with a couple of 16mm reels of tv shows from a guy named Mike who fished them out of a TV station dumpster when they went over to S-VHS tape copies. Back when I was really into collecting them in the mid-90's, I would snatch up full episodes for $45 a pop. None with commercials, but Mike had a bunch - even some of these were fished out of local station trash.

This is all conjecture, I'm sure if I asked the seller, he'd tell me. TBH, he probably would have noted it in the listing if they did, so it's just me guessing because an uncut 51 minute episode would sit nicely on a single reel.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top