What, they were surprised that nobody is gonna pay 800 dollars for an old TV series everybody has seen countless times over? Wow, genuises! The BR release is an exercise in what's possible. Look at me, mimimi! Just like the Bond50 collection (which had the advantage of no CGI and being shot entirely on film - and being a lot cheaper). Redoing all of DS9s CGI sequences in Full HD and replacing all the cheap sets in the process would be a nice fan project, wouldn't it.
Yeah, I never really expected DS9 and Voyager to be released in HD. The TNG project was a massive undertaking, and as @Aurora says, it was "an exercise in what's possible," not necessarily practical. It was a project of love for Trek. It turned out really well, and looks great, but fuck paying $800 for a 30-year old TV show when I can watch the HD episodes on Netflix (essentially for fractions of a penny per episode). Maybe someday, when the process gets more efficient and/or cheaper, we might see DS9 and Voyager rereleased with HD and updated effects ("We always meant for Dewbacks to be walking around on the Promenade, but it wasn't in the budget"; "In the original Voyager, we had 5 men inside the Neelix puppet, but with advances in CGI we've built a fully customizable 3D rendering of Neelix"), but I'm not going to hold my breath. As long as the episodes are always available on Netflix or some streaming platform, I'm happy.
It's Paramount's fault for gouging the fandom many times over. Even when DVD tech was still new, $100+ a season was ridiculously overpriced. Edit: what Chad said above. DS9 has the benefit of strong writing and engaging characters for that to hold its own with or without retouching. Voyager is....still Voyager.
I wonder if BABYLON 5 was shot on film. Probably not given the shoestring budget. But if it was... redo the 90s style CGI shots, kill season 1 and 5 with fire with a few exceptions and boom, Ultimate Version.
Pretty much agreed, although you should be kinder to season one. Babylon 5 weaved such a good story arc that subsequent seasons actually made season one look half decent. I can't think of many other television shows that accomplished that feat. But season five, other than the finale, was pretty awful and superfluous. If memory serves, the arc wasn't even meant to go past season four as the show runners thought they were going to get axed.
^ Yes. S1 has a few important episodes AFAIK. Keep 'em, cut the boring fat. S5 was completely forgettable except for the last episode - which was actually filmed as the series finale in S4 (it's why cast members who left are in it).
You linked to the wrong article. That's just the summary. Here's the detailed explanation: http://www.treknews.net/2017/02/02/why-ds9-voyager-not-on-blu-ray-hd/
Agreed. I didnt buy TNG blu-ray do to having already spent the huge dollars for TNG and DS9 on DVD. I bought the sampler that came out for 14 bucks and didnt think the upgrade quality was worth rebuying the same show.
I never watched B5 but I'd bet a lot of money that it was mostly shot on film. It was produced long before video cameras had the ability to mimic or exceed the quality of 35mm film.
Same here. I received remastered S1 as a Christmas gift but I never bothered buying the rest. I watch them on Netflix.
I really want to get into Babylon 5, but having never watched it while it was originally airing, it's difficult to go back and watch it now. A lot of the CGI, costumes, and sets are so cheesy. I had the same problems watching TOS. But having grown up with TNG, DS9, and VOY, I can somehow overlook the cheesy crap that those series had. But I digress. If Babylon 5 was given an HD conversion, I'd make a point of watching it.
I've never bought any of the blue ray's the HD versions are on Netflix and I've seen these shows several times. I can watch them at any time on multiple platforms, if TOS or TNG leaves Netflix, Hulu or Amazon, then maybe I'll buy the blue ray.
They could still release the standard def episodes on Blu Ray. They could fit more episodes per disc on a longer lasting and more scratch resistant storage format. The ds9 DVDs are practically ancient. I haven't watched the show in a while but I'm sure half my discs don't even work anymore (simply due to disc rot). I'd rebuy the show on blu ray even if they weren't remastered. At the very least the episodes wouldn't be as compressed and that might make them look better right?
Yes, Babylon 5 was shot on film, in 16:1 no less. But the CGI effects were done at whatever resolution the Video Toaster could manage, which I think was 720 x 480. Interlaced. Of course later seasons benefited from the rapid advance of CGI tech, and were every bit as high quality as DS9's CGI effects. But all those files were lost, so any effects would have to be recreated from scratch, and B5 was an effects-heavy show. And Warner Brothers really couldn't care less about B5 any more. Season 1 was chock-full of important set-up for later events, so if you miss it, you lose out on a lot. Season 5 had a crappy start with the annoying telepath arc, but once that was over, the second half of 5 was as good as the rest of the series.
Funny I was just watching B5 pieces on YouTube. B5 was an awesome show. Especially seasons 2, 3, and 4. Reboot? Why not? Hollywood has just about rebooted everything else.
I'm down for a B5 reboot, as long as JMS' original plan for the show could go unmolested, Ivanova SO got robbed.
