TOS Remastered on HD disc and DVD price announced

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2007-07-31 11:21am

From digitalbits.com's Comic Con report:

Now then... after our DVD Sneak Peek panel concluded, and after some quick pictures and an impromptu "meet and greet" with readers who attended (and it was really great to meet all of you!), Charlie, Paul and I headed over to CBS/Paramount's Star Trek: The Remastered Original Series panel, where the DVD/HD-DVD Combo release of Season One was announced for 11/20. On hand for the panel were supervising producers from CBS/Paramount as well as the actual content producers from New Wave Entertainment. A pair of special guests joined them, including Rod Roddenberry (son of the late Trek creator Gene Roddenberry) and regular Original Series extra Billy Blackburn. They showed a video of some of the extra features you'll get on the ten disc set, including the HDi ability to fly a shuttlecraft around the CG model of the Starship Enterprise, as well as various picture-in-picture and pop-up features that include shot by shot comparisons of the original effects compared to the remastered effects, trivia/data files about various vehicles, equipment, characters and planets, and video interviews with members of the cast and crew (unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if any new interviews were shot with the major cast members - it was all file footage shot for the previous DVD release). The best of the extras on this set is really special: Billy Blackburn's original 8mm and Super-8 footage shot on the set of the series way back in the 1960s. Blackburn was an extra on many, many episodes of the show, and he shot tons of footage behind-the-scenes, including fun footage of the various cast members clowning around on set. THIS is a real gem, and we can't wait to see it. Unfortunately, most of the pop-up stuff seemed awfully gimmicky. One guy behind me even whispered during the presentation, "Why the hell would I want to fly around a bad CG model of the Enterprise?" (and for the record, it wasn't Daren Dochterman!). Personally, I've been pretty open to the idea of TOS Remastered, as long as the original versions of the episodes are also preserved. My own feeling is that the new CG effects are interesting, but have been somewhat uneven. Some have been great, others not so much.

Anyway, it should be noted that, all through this panel, those on stage referred to HD-DVD and "the other format." But they never indicated whether a Blu-ray Disc was being planned, and never actually mentioned Blu-ray by name. Inevitably, someone in the audience finally asked them directly about Blu-ray Disc during the Q&A session that followed (and, interestingly, there was a smattering of cheers and applause from the audience when the question was raised). The panelists admitted that one was currently "under consideration," presumably for 2008. They also revealed that Seasons Two and Three were expected to start production this week. They further revealed that tests had been done for a possible future Star Trek: The Next Generation - Remastered effort. But here's what WASN'T announced during the panel, and I can understand why (because it may have started a riot among the Trek fans in attendance): The price tag for just Season One alone is currently set to be a whopping $217, and there's no separate DVD-only release planned! No, I'm not kidding. $217 for just a single season on ten discs!! And it doesn't include the original versions of the episodes - just DVD and HD versions of the remastered episodes. Are they INSANE?!

Let me put this in further perspective for you. Later on Thursday evening, I participated in another Trek event - the Living Long and Prospering: Celebrating 40 Years of Star Trek panel - along with Mark Altman, Jeff Bond, Robert Meyer Burnett, Anthony Pascale and Daren Dochterman. The $217 price tag, which had been uncovered by Anthony after the CBS panel, was the butt of almost continuous jokes and ribbing the entire hour. At once point, I asked the audience for a show of hands to see how many people would be interested in purchasing the set at that price. Out of the entire 500-strong audience (and keep in mind, these were not just casual Trek fans but major Trek über-fans), just THREE people raised their hands. Just three. CBS/Paramount is going to eat this release if they stick to the $217 price tag. Given that many Trek fans already have mixed feelings about the whole Remastered effort, $217 is just crazy - it'll be a poison pill for this release if it doesn't change between now and November. Ouch!

http://www.digitalbits.com/#mytwocents

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-07-31 11:27am

I was going to comment that $217 for three seasons is almost triple the standard rate for TV shows.

Then I looked closer.

Out of the entire 500-strong audience (and keep in mind, these were not just casual Trek fans but major Trek über-fans), just THREE people raised their hands.

I'd be surprised if they can somehow squeeze out 500 sales total. The 8mm footage is interesting, but once it's ripped and leaked, those sets are going to collect a lot of dust on the store shelves.

TNG remastered is going to remain a pipe dream if they're going to use HD set sales to get it greenlit. Too bad...

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-07-31 11:49am

$217, eh? Well, shit. It looks like Paramount hasn't learned anything about gouging customers being bad for business. . . .at least the regular clamshell DVDs of the Original Series have gone down significantly.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-07-31 11:56am

It looks like Paramount hasn't learned anything about gouging customers being bad for business

Oh, but they have! You see, you're just paying a reasonable $60 for the SD-DVD portion of the set. And since HD-DVD is twice as good as the normal one, that's going to cost you double. Add in another $30 for all the awesome new material and really, $210 is a steal!

If this had retailed for $75 on both formats, it would have been a decent deal, depending on how much they're still charging for HD discs. Perhaps even a bit more since you're getting both versions. $217 has just priced them out of the budget range for everyone but die-hard, wealthy Trek nuts.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2007-07-31 12:13pm

At the mall stores I see high def discs typically going for $25 to $35 (and these are the stores that tend to charge more than the likes of "Wal-Mart" and such for movies anyway). The same places tend to charge $20 to $30 for regular DVD movie releases (not counting the "bargain bin" of the $10-15 categories).

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2007-07-31 01:48pm

Fuck 'em. My home-burned DVDs of the Trek uncut episodes from G4 will do me quite nicely for a few years until Paramount get reasonable on prices. I could care less about the remastered FX or the extras.

apocolypse · Post by **apocolypse** » 2007-07-31 02:13pm

Wow....at first I thought it was $217 for the entire TOS run. And while it seemed a bit steep I could see quite a few going for it. But $217 for just one season is fucking crazy.

Count Dooku · Post by **Count Dooku** » 2007-07-31 02:22pm

Patrick Degan wrote:Fuck 'em. My home-burned DVDs of the Trek uncut episodes from G4 will do me quite nicely for a few years until Paramount get reasonable on prices. I could care less about the remastered FX or the extras.

I'm going to net-flix them, and then use my Neuros to bring them onto my PC. I barely save 350 a month after all expenses are paid - I don't have the money to pay for something that expensive...

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-07-31 02:46pm

That pricing is terrible, considering that you can get all three TOS season sets bundled together for only $176 on Amazon.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2007-07-31 03:23pm

Wow, you're right.. or as low as $120 (seperately, used, before shipping/taxes).

Of course it's not high-def, but still!

Netflix seems like the way to go, since they also are doing high def releases now.

I've held off buying any Star Trek releases thus far, because I knew of their habit of double-triple dipping. Plus I don't have that kind of cash for something like that... (the only TV shows discs I buy are Doctor Who, though I did buy that Highlander "ultimate collection" which was just the 15 voted best episodes + some exclusive extras).

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-07-31 03:31pm

I actually managed to snag the entire series for about $100 from buying the sets used.

And I don't care if it's HD, that price is just totally unrealistic; about twice what it should be at least.

As a poster over at DVD Active remarked, "Paramount continues to show they have no concept of reality in their pricing..."

Plus the packaging is an ugly waste of space:

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/ ... ries3.html

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-07-31 04:26pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:That pricing is terrible, considering that you can get all three TOS season sets bundled together for only $176 on Amazon.

I only just started buying the clamshell TOS sets because stores in my area were selling them for around $60 new, which is about my upper limit on what I'm willing to pay for a TV season. Anything more than that and you're really getting gouged considering what most companies sell their shows for. Hell, I could get the complete slim-pack run of a lot of shows for one TOS remastered season.

Lord Poe · Post by **Lord Poe** » 2007-07-31 07:31pm

I'm still waiting for quality shows like Deadwood and Sopranos to come down from their $85 / season price!

I'm not sure I can blame Paramount. The idiot fringe Trekkies will buy a drink from a sick cast member (and drink it), and pay thousands for a throw-away Klingon forehead.