Star Trek Fan Collectives on DVD

[Gojira]

I enjoy the Fan Collectives and I also own all of the Original series, The Next Generation and just starting to collect Voyager on DVD. I own the Time Travel and Alternate Reality Fan Collectives because they are some of my favorite science fiction topics in science fiction and there are times when I am in the mood to watch episodes around those themes and having them in one collection is a big bonus for me.

Also, with the time travel episodes, there is much more material to have included on another disk or at least they could issue another volume of time travel episodes.

Does anyone know if there will be more Fan Collectives on DVD?

 

[ChristopherPike]

I think they're pretty much done releasing Fan Collectives. The last DVDs were those Best of TOS and TNG volumes, single discs featuring a handful of classic episodes. Later series were left out altogether from this strategy.

Which is a shame because I'd suggest a Vulcans & Romulans set. It could've been a decent plot tie-in with the last film. The 10 best efforts featuring the Star Empire and some logically connected stories:

Disc One - Vulcans
ENT The Forge/Awakening/Kir'Shara
TOS Amok Time
extra feature: TAS Yesteryear

Disc Two - Vulcans
TOS Journey to Babel
TNG Sarek, Unification Part I & II

Disc Three - Romulans
ENT Babel One/United/The Aenar
TOS Balance of Terror

Disc Four - Romulans
TOS The Enterprise Incident
TNG The Enemy, The Defector, Face of the Enemy

Disc Five - Romulans
DS9 In the Pale Moonlight, Inter Arma Silent Leges
VOY Eye of the Needle, Message in a Bottle

 

[The Wormhole]

The Fan Collectives were a good idea, but they weren't handled the best way. One problem they had was double-dipping, there were a lot of episodes which appeared on multiple sets. Another was relevance. The Trouble with Tribbles, Trials and Tribble-Ations and Broken Bow feature Klingons, but they aren't really Klingon episodes, so they shouldn't have been one the Klingon set. Likewise, Flashback was actually a Tuvok episode, so why was that included on the Captain's Log set?

Finally, the Alternate Realities set was just a mess. They said they were going to include all the MU episodes, plus 10 other alternate reality episodes. Of the MU episodes, they left out The Emperor's New Cloak. Likewise, The Enemy Within, Turnabout Intruder, and Frame of Mind have nothing to do with alternate realities. Course: Oblivion is debateable as well, but I'll let it pass since it does feature an alternate version of the Voyager crew.

One other thing: How the hell did TATV end up as a fan voted episode on the Captain's set? I was under the impression no one liked that episode. Hell, even the novels have tried to pretend that episode doesn't exist. But enough people voted for it to be included on a DVD set? WTF?

 

[Saxman1]

One other thing: How the hell did TATV end up as a fan voted episode on the Captain's set? I was under the impression no one liked that episode. Hell, even the novels have tried to pretend that episode doesn't exist. But enough people voted for it to be included on a DVD set? WTF?

I am normally not a huge critic of Berman/Braga, but one has to think it has something to do with them writing that ep and wanting additional royalties, or perhaps including it as vindication, even if the fans didn't vote for it.

To be fair, in the past couple of years or so, Braga has admitted the ep simply didn't work as a series finale. I've always looked at it as an inaccurate holodeck program, akin to Voyager's "Living Witness." But that doesn't mean it's GREAT Trek, not by any stretch of the imagination. It has Trip TOTALLY out of character with the freaking out and decking Archer, plus the "suicide," so again, I always chalked it up to an inaccurate program.

 

[Gojira]

I think they're pretty much done releasing Fan Collectives. The last DVDs were those Best of TOS and TNG volumes, single discs featuring a handful of classic episodes. Later series were left out altogether from this strategy.

Which is a shame because I'd suggest a Vulcans & Romulans set. It could've been a decent plot tie-in with the last film. The 10 best efforts featuring the Star Empire and some logically connected stories:

Disc One - Vulcans
ENT The Forge/Awakening/Kir'Shara
TOS Amok Time
extra feature: TAS Yesteryear

Disc Two - Vulcans
TOS Journey to Babel
TNG Sarek, Unification Part I & II

Disc Three - Romulans
ENT Babel One/United/The Aenar
TOS Balance of Terror

Disc Four - Romulans
TOS The Enterprise Incident
TNG The Enemy, The Defector, Face of the Enemy

Disc Five - Romulans
DS9 In the Pale Moonlight, Inter Arma Silent Leges
VOY Eye of the Needle, Message in a Bottle

That is a great idea for a fan collection!!! Too bad it won't see the light of day. I wish they would make more like the one you selected and another time travel set.

 

[DarKush]

I own all the collectives, save one, and I wish they would continue. It would be great to see Romulan and Vulcan sets, heck, even a Cardassian one. Or a War-themed or Cloak and Dagger-themed one.

I did have a problem with some of the existing collectives. The Q one was the best in terms of having all the Q episodes on it. The Borg one was second best, though I wish it had included the VOY episode "Unity". The others I felt were lacking. I wish the Time Travel episode had VOY's "Timeless", the Gabriel Bell episodes from DS9, ENT's "Shockwave" and "Stormfront" for example. The Klingon set should've had the ENT Klingon eps. "Affliction" and "Divergence", those were essential Klingon episodes. Also, DS9's "Blood Oath", "Soldiers of the Empire", and "Once More Unto the Breach." More TNG episodes like "Heart of Glory" should've been on the Klingon set too.

 

[The Wormhole]

^^One has to remember these sets were fan-voted episodes. StarTrek.com had polls for fans to vote their favourite episodes on each particular subject. That was why certain episodes were omitted.

 

[DarKush]

I still think the collectives were slight on episodes. That's cool letting the fans vote, though I am skeptical that TATV was a fan favorite, but that still didn't negate TPTB from filling out the sets with additional episodes, fan favs and others to give a more complete picture for each set.

 

[Elzie]

How many collectives are there, by the way? Some time ago my uncle gave me the AU collective, which was cool, because I like AU stuff. This very Christmas I got the Klingon and Q fan collectives! I've heard of the Borg one, but that's as much as I know.

I like the collectives very much, especially because it seems they're not selling anything else except the movies and TOS series here (in Finland). Therefore, there's no chance of me finding any other series. I know it's not too difficult to look eps from the net, but I'd like to see more of the other series subtitled, (especially DS9) just so I surely understand as much as I can.

It's actually the collectives to thank for my increased interest for the other series. The AU set included 'The Visitor' from DS9, and although it was one of the first eps I saw of DS9, I think it's a very beautiful ep.

 

[The Wormhole]

How many collectives are there, by the way? Some time ago my uncle gave me the AU collective, which was cool, because I like AU stuff. This very Christmas I got the Klingon and Q fan collectives! I've heard of the Borg one, but that's as much as I know.

Borg
Time Travel
Q
Klingon
Captain's Log
Alternate Realities

 

[Elzie]

Thank you very much!

 

[Gaith]

Fan Collectives were a cool idea until Netflix became as ubiquitous as it is. And as a lifelong TNG fan, I enjoy TATV, so there.

 

[The Wormhole]

Fan Collectives were a cool idea until Netflix became as ubiquitous as it is. And as a lifelong TNG fan, I enjoy TATV, so there.

You enjoy the episode which takes a piss all over The Pegasus?

 

[Gaith]

Eh, it's a goofy ep, no question, and not worth getting worked up about, but even the older and poofier Sirtis/Frakes have more chemistry then pretty much anyone on ENT, so I give it a pass.

 

[The Wormhole]

Eh, it's a goofy ep, no question, and not worth getting worked up about, but even the older and poofier Sirtis/Frakes have more chemistry then pretty much anyone on ENT, so I give it a pass.

I guess, when you put it that way. My problem is go back and watch The Pegasus, there is no time during that episode in which Riker could have stepped away to go to the holodeck.

But more importantly, why did they bother trying to sandwhich this into The Pegasus? They could have easily have had this take place after Nemesis, with Riker and Troi on the Titan. Building sets for the Titan couldn't be any harder that rebuilding the Enterprise D sets were, they probably had a CG mesh of any old 24th century ship which could be the Titan, and the fact that Frakes and Sirtis look older isn't an issue, since they are supposed to be older.

Granted, this would still be a crappy way to end Enterprise, but I could have accepted TATV on it own merits as an episode if they had tried to take a logical approach to things. They didn't want to be logical about anything here, and that's where I take issue.

 

[Gaith]

why did they bother trying to sandwhich this into The Pegasus? They could have easily have had this take place after Nemesis, with Riker and Troi on the Titan. Building sets for the Titan couldn't be any harder that rebuilding the Enterprise D sets were

Well, the D sets were all designed and ready to be rebuilt, whereas Titan sets could have required more conceptual effort. There's also been rumors on the ENT board that TPTB didn't want to go post-Nemesis in case it got in the way of any other future efforts.

I guess, when you put it that way. My problem is go back and watch The Pegasus, there is no time during that episode in which Riker could have stepped away to go to the holodeck.

Setting it on the Titan would have been awesome, no question, but as non-credible as the Pegasus scenario is, it at least gives Riker some ready-made drama they couldn't otherwise have done in 40 minutes.

TATV was far from perfect, but it did have Riker and Troi, a senior staff death, a glimpse at the Federation's founding, Phlox's double-wide smile, the inexplicably unseen chef (sort of), names on uniforms and no gratuitous Mirror sleaze or sexist dreck. I actually take it as a meta-parody of ENT's shortcomings as a whole... and, as an individual 40-minute piece of drama, it's not bad or boring, something that can't be said for much of the show.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

why did they bother trying to sandwhich this into The Pegasus? They could have easily have had this take place after Nemesis, with Riker and Troi on the Titan.

Did the same person write TATV as wrote ST:Nemesis? If not, perhaps the Titan was not used because the writer of NEM - the first and only onscreen mention of that ship - might be entitled to get paid every time the Titan is mentioned, and so that's why they couldn't use it.

(It's the same reason why characters like Taurik or Nick Locarno did not appear on Voyager, but the actors who played them did, to play very similar characters.)

 

[The Wormhole]

[Well, the D sets were all designed and ready to be rebuilt, whereas Titan sets could have required more conceptual effort. There's also been rumors on the ENT board that TPTB didn't want to go post-Nemesis in case it got in the way of any other future efforts.

Any old starship corridor that was in storage could have been used for the Titan, any old crew quarters in storage could have been used for the Titan, and old ship's lounge in storage could have been used for the Titan. There's no reason why it couldn't have been on the Titan.

And if I remember 2005, there were no plans for any future Trek productions. The still recent failure of Nemesis made any future movies doubtful, and with Enterprise reaching its end there would be no more TV shows. Hell, five years later, we've had one movie, which was a reboot, and still no new TV shows. There were no, and are no, future efforts to get in the way of.

Setting it on the Titan would have been awesome, no question, but as non-credible as the Pegasus scenario is, it at least gives Riker some ready-made drama they couldn't otherwise have done in 40 minutes.

Well, with the Titan you could make up some random situation like Riker looking for guidance on his first official mission as Captain. Makes about as much sense as using The Pegasus did.

Did the same person write TATV as wrote ST:Nemesis? If not, perhaps the Titan was not used because the writer of NEM - the first and only onscreen mention of that ship - might be entitled to get paid every time the Titan is mentioned, and so that's why they couldn't use it.

(It's the same reason why characters like Taurik or Nick Locarno did not appear on Voyager, but the actors who played them did, to play very similar characters.)

While I don't fully understand those rights issues, I'm pretty sure they don't apply to a situation like this. Or does John Logan actually get paid royalties for Pocket Books's Titan novels just because he thought up the name of the ship? For that matter, did he get paid royalties when other novels used Shinzon and Remans, or when IDW's comics used not only Remans, but the Scimitar itself (a ship he created and actuall appeared in the movie)? For that matter, did they have to pay him roayalties when Remans themselves appeared in Enterprise (the Babel One/United/The Aenar arc)? I'm pretty sure they could have used the Titan without worrying about any reaction from him.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I don't think "These Are The Voyages..." was voted onto a set by fans. I thought it was included because the episodes in that set were chosen by the actors who played captains as their personal favourites (in this case, Scott Bakula). I have the Q and Time Travel sets. They're okay. I'm most happy with the Q one because I enjoyed every episode on it (which is how it should be on compilation DVDs), even the "Voyager" ones, despite the fact that I've hated every other episode of that series I've seen. It should have had at least one interview with John De Lancie as a special feature, though.

The Time Travel one is a bit more frustrating. As mentioned before, the most annoying thing about these sets is episodes appearing on several of them. "All Good Things..." for example, is on both Q and Time Travel. And I wish they'd put "Clues" instead of the awful "Time's Arrow" on there. Still, since I don't want to buy entire seasons, it's nice that this set has allowed me to have "Little Green Men" and "Trials and Tribble-Ations" on DVD.

 

[The Wormhole]

I don't think "These Are The Voyages..." was voted onto a set by fans. I thought it was included because the episodes in that set were chosen by the actors who played captains as their personal favourites (in this case, Scott Bakula).

Partially true. The Captain's Log set includes 10 fan voted episodes, plus one episode selected by each of captain's actor as their favourite. The episode Scott Bakula selected as his favourite was Judgment. First Flight and TATV were fan voted episodes. The set even includes an interview where Bakula expresses his surprise that TATV got on the set through fan votes.

Just for kicks, the episodes on the set were:
TOS: Balance of Terror, The City on the Edge of Forever (Shatner's pick), The Enterprise Incident
TNG: In Theory (Stewart's pick), Darmok, Chain of Command
DS9: Far Beyond the Stars (Brooks's pick), In the Pale Moonlight, What You Leave Behind
Voyager: Flashback, The Omega Directive, Counterpoint (Mulgrew's pick)
Enterprise: Judgment (Bakula's pick), First Flight, These Are the Voyages