What We Left Behind - Documentary Update Confirms *Some* HD Remastering

Well, my son and I really enjoyed it. (Can't say the same for my wife.)

I loved that it started with Max singing. I agree that the lack of respect stuff got a little old. OTOH, I loved that it focused much more on the people who made the series and what drove them. Season 8 Episode 1 was underdeveloped, but nonetheless intriguing. I was not entirely clear what role Kira was playing in Bajoran political developments at this point. I hope the extended writers' room clears it up.

 

I missed the beginning even though I arrived a minute or two before 7pm. When I arrived they were showing the vintage tv add for the show. Than talked about casting Avery Brooks. How much did I miss?!?!!!

Great documentary but Fathom handles things very badly. This is not the first time I had this issue with them. Often their screenings start way early or way late than advertised. Once I drove an hour for the animated Batman movie staring Adam West and the theatre did not get the satellite signal at all. I was told to return for the night showing. Not possible, they refunded my ticket and gas money and gave me multiple passes.

This was in my home town but still unhappy I did not get to see whole thing. One pass does not make up for it. What I did see was wonderful though.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't think anything was particularly overplayed as it was the thoughts from the people who made the show. Those were their feelings. Ira made it clear that he had a tough job to cut the thing together, and I don't envy that job! I'm sure he had tons of material to choose from. My biggest takeaways:

Max is a great songwriter. Loved his tunes, especially "what we left behind."

Again, what a fantastic cast and extended cast. None can compare.

The Season 8/Episode 1 pitch plus art (with music and sfx added) was worth the price of admission. Though, if they were doing it for real, I think I'd bring on the original cast sort of sprinkled in through the season instead of all in the first episode. Regardless, there were some fantastic ideas (of course). Can't wait to screengrab the finished whiteboard when it comes out on blu!

Seeing the HD clips, and in widescreen...and hearing that most of the series was shot at 16:9 for safety makes me want this series in HD that much more.

Loved the way they did the end credits.

If they're going to truly pitch/try to do an 8th season, they better hurry!

 

Our showing started late, by seven or eight minutes or so, but afterwards there was no problem.

I loved the bit in the closing credits where Visitor takes Behr to task for all the stuff they didn't have time to cover. It anticipated some of the thoughts that were going through my brain at the same time: "That was great . . . but how could they not mention 'In the Pale Midnight'?"

Bingo!

 

I could've done without those. They were rather cheesy and the opening number gave me a very bad feeling about what the doc would be. Thankfully, it didn't really continue in that vein.

The breaking the story of a hypothetical season 8 premiere was pretty great. I wish it could come to fruition somehow. I think the drawings they animated the story with could've been better, but I suppose that was the best they could afford.

I was fine with that. I didn't think they hit that note too much, personally. And when you're discussing DS9 as a whole, its status as the underappreciated middle child of the Trek franchise is the elephant in the room.

I was impressed that Behr made a point of saying that they could've done more with LGBTQ issues. I thought that was pretty classy of him.

I agree that they made too much of the serialization of the show. During that part I was thinking "Babylon-Fucking-5, people." That was a serialized show. DS9 would typically lurch in one direction for six episodes, and then lurch in another for another six. DS9 was a good show (probably my second favorite Trek show after TOS), but it was not the trailblazer of serialized storytelling that they tried to present it as.

I personally found it very ironic that some praise for Homicide: Life on the Street's handling of racial issues ticked Behr off so much, since that is another criminal underrated show (It's neck & neck with TOS for my all-time favorite TV series). Sadly it's constantly overshadowed by both Law and Order and The Wire.

I appreciated the frankness with which they dealt with Terry Farrell's leaving the series. I wish they'd delved a little deeper into that and even confronted Rick Berman about it (I believe I read in Mark Altman and Edward Gross' The 50-Year Journey oral history books that he was the producer who was really down on her.) I was really surprised that they didn't even mention the fact that Nana Visitor and Alexander Siddig got married during the show. There was a mention of her pregnancy as a throwaway gag during the end credits, and that was it. I guess the fact that they got divorced later on made it too personal of a subject?

 

Great fun! Enjoyed it very much. Started right on time here in Buffalo, NY.

I expected a handful of people but was pleasantly surprised to see maybe 80-100?

Forgot about the poster but would have recalled if I saw any. No sign of them either before or after the show.

 

They mentioned it briefly during the closing credits, even showing a photo of the couple together.

 

Did anyone else feel punked by the best moment of the series in the end credits?

 

Yes, but like I said, I was surprised they didn't mention it beyond that.

 

That definitely got the biggest laughs in the theater!

Great film! I agree that they made a very big deal about what an underdog they were, but they were just speaking from what they'd experienced first-hand. I'm sure if they'd experienced it from the TNG or VOY angle, they would've said differently. At the same time, it really was kind of an uphill battle to make a broken down Cardassian space station as sexy of an idea as new adventures on different planets with starships Enterprise and Voyager.

I liked so much of it. However, I was sad that they showed Robert O'Reily doing a sitdown interview, but we never actually heard from him and his time as Gowron. I always appreciated how much he brought that character to life. I'm hoping that will be in the extras when it comes out on DVD.

It was exciting to see the HD, although I wish they would've trimmed down that discussion just a bit at the end regarding the process of converting it. It was a cool discussion, an important discussion, but it just dragged on a bit.

Well worth the wait!

 

Yeah, that whole discussion could have easily simply been an extra in the blu/dvd release. I was secretly hoping for a series remaster and/or S8 announcement!

 

Thanks for the info. Interesting that they told you guys that and yet in an email sent out today to the Indiegogo contributors, they said we would know those dates "soon."

 

Yeah, I thought it was strange that the only time they showed him his name was "Silent Bob O'Reilly".

 

Even though I watched the initial stream for backers, I'm glad I went to see it on the big screen tonight. I really enjoyed it both times, and I saw some bits tonight that I must have missed the first time around. Really well-done, with an off-beat feel that I assume reflects Behr's outlook. Non-linear (heh), but hitting a lot of the high points of the series. I look forward to a slew of extras on the blu-ray.

I disagree that they played up the least-liked, middle-child aspect too much. I remember trying to get other people to watch when it was running and getting the same sorts of reactions. Lots of folks didn't get that being different can be good.

While I'd always liked Nana Visitor and her portrayal of Kira, I'm an even bigger fan now. She was in turn funny, heart-felt, and impassioned during the documentary. I need to seek out even more projects she's been a part of. And her by-play with Behr during the credits was wonderful!

TL;DR - A very enjoyable documentary. Big thumbs up!

 

Just got back. Great doc. Ira confirmed at the end we'll get a lot of Special Features on the Blu-Ray. Many discussions of specific episodes were cut out to keep it at 2 hours.

 

They don't to give us a lot of special features. Give us ALL of them. Everything they got filmed. Just toss it on the disk or disks.


Jason

 

It was such a long time coming I just had to go see it. Only a few persons in my local theatre. I thought the documentary was mediocre. It was a mixture of reminiscing, explaining a bit of the origin of the show, it's purported societal impact, it's black sheep status in the Trek community (not anymore-it has the highest Trek show rating of any Trek series on RT), a writer's room breakdown of what an 8th season premiere would look like, etc. I'm not sure what I was expecting. I liked hearing about Jadzia's exit, that was the most interesting part, I had never really heard the story before and I'm still perplexed by it.

 

That's precisely what I'm hoping for.

 

I think that they already confirmed at LV19 that they intend to make the entire writers' room available. What was in the film did not get too far into the season, other than where Odo fit in, and they've said they did consider the structure of the entire season, if they only broke one episode.

I think they gave it enough weight in the story. However, it took up too much time in a documentary that did move quite briskly from topic to topic. On the other hand, at least a little more attention could have been given to us who were with the show from the beginning.