Why Did Star Trek:TNG Bomb on Blu-ray?

[MEHEARTJC]

Maybe bomb is too strong a word, but TNG certainly didn't live up to expectations on blu-ray sales-wise. In fact, they were so weak that we can pretty much forget about ever seeing Voyager or DS9 on blu-ray.

Well really stinks. I am a completest and would love to have the entire Star Trek franchise on blu. Unfortunately, people didn't go crazy for TNG which I don't understand. TNG was one of the first series to be released back in dvd's early days and each season sold for around a whopping $100. Yet Trekkies forked over the money and it stayed at that price range for years.

When the news broke that TNG was coming to blu-ray, I was really excited. I loved the storylines, and seeing them remastered with updated effects was well worth revisiting the series. The price point was high, but not unreasonable.

Within a couple of years though, the price on those seasons quickly dropped. The last holdout seemed to be season 7 which finally dropped last year in price, and now I see today can be had for a mere $19.99 on Amazon. It's great for people who waited, but overall bad because we will most likely never see the other series on blu-ray. It took a ton of work and effort to remaster TNG and they would be nuts to do that again if the return isn't great.

So why didn't Trek fans buy these sets in droves? Has interest in Star Trek faded over the years? Maybe the lack of a new series and the quality of other shows drained the interest level.

[halloween5309]

too expensive, in 4;3 format

[chip75]

A couple of reasons:

• Times change. People may have paid large amounts in the past, but there's no guarantee they will in the future.
• It was available elsewhere on television.
• People are fed up of double-dipping.
• The fantastic HD masters weren't promoted very well. Not many people knew how good they were. After the average DVDs many may have been put off with spending on a new set.
• They weren't able to promote them alongside the movies, if I remember JJ Abrams knocked any cross-promotion in the bud.
• Some people didn't want 1.33:1 sets, they wanted their screens filled. Not that they should be bastardized, but 16:9 versions weren't possible with TNG.
• There wasn't any incentive in buying the sets, there weren't any limited editions, you could wait for a price drop and still buy the exact same item.
• They were relatively expensive compared to other sets. CBS have always charged a premium, the market has changed, but they haven't reflected that change (to some extent after the under performance of TNG they have dropped prices).

But bear in mind that they weren't mastered in high definition for the Blu-ray release, they were done for the streaming and syndication and CBS have made their money back handsomely. The physical releases have just struggled. The problem is TOS and TNG are the crown jewels, Voyager and DS9 are less popular, but will cost a lot more unless they feature upscaled effects. They just have same pull with fans and casual viewers.

[Battlestar]

Yeah unfortunately DS9 and Voyager on blu is a long long shot. So much so I bought the complete series sets for those 2 on DVD. As for why TNG didn't really catch on seems to be a number of reasons. You mentioned the price but Trek on disc has always been expensive so that cuts down on sales. Plus it's a older series that has been released on DVD in multiple configurations. And with streaming being popular that didn't help matters. Plus I've read multiple articles on the time and money to upgrade these shows don't justify releasing them with the sales they are getting.

Just my 2 cents but it's unfortunate.

[cheez avenger]

Price and promotion. The U.S. seasons are/were incredibly expensive. I bought the complete series on BD last year from the UK for less than what one season in the U.S. cost.

[benricci]

People spent hundreds on the DVD sets, and I think a lot of people just didn't feel like spending hundreds more on the upgrade (these were expensive sets when they first came out) . Especially now that we're in a streaming world and you can watch any of these episodes whenever you want on Netflix and Hulu.

The incentive just wasn't there for a lot of people. They can get the episodes elsewhere, on demand, much cheaper.

[Spotty]

Way way way too expensive for when it was released! Following previous expensive DVD sets of TNG, just hard to justify purchasing again. It was also available in HD from most streaming services at the same time it was released on blu-ray...so why pay for something so expensive yet again, when you can just watch the upgrade via streaming?

Now that it has come down quite a bit in price, I know a lot of people who have purchased it on blu-ray.

[Region_unlocked]

I'm going to reiterate what others have said and say the individual seasons were just too expensive. Also, the early seasons may not have sold well due to holdouts for a complete series set. Paramount should've did as Fox did with the X-Files and started with a complete series set.

[ElectricPeterTork]

Originally Posted by halloween5309

too expensive, in 4;3 format

Considering the work done for it, fairly priced.

Original aspect ratio, if someone wants a shitty stretched image, or zoom and crop, stick with the DVDs.l and adjust the settings so all the precious teevee space is filled and the show looks like shit.

Though I'd say the streaming factor hurt. Of course, when it's eventually locked away behind CBS's paywall, well... that won't do much good for the streamers unless they want to pay another $10 a month.

[xellos2099alpha]

It was extremely expensive!

[steve_dave]

The biggest factor was actually underwhelming fan response.

Yes, the US/Canada sets were expensive but that was due to the restoration and reconstruction costs along with visual efffects changes.

Yes, they were 4x3 but that is the original format and they went through the original elements. Paramount could have included a 16x9 format but that would result in cramped framing and tilt & scan.

Yes, the fans already bought the DVDs but they begged for an HD upgrade.

When it came down to it, US fans didn't live up to the hype. You are talking about over a million people demanding it but few of these folks actually put up the money for them. Even the conventions are finding attendees numbers dropping. Star Trek as a brand is fading very slowly, With Paramount holding back on the followup to Beyond, all hope rests on Discovery from CBS.

CBS is banking on Star Trek fans to provide revenue for CBS All Access and it kinda worked for Good Wife fans who paid to enjoy the follow up The Good Fight.

Time will tell how Paramount could relaunch interest in Star Trek. Lucasfilm was able to resurrect Star Wars fever mayhaps Paramount and CBS could look to them for advice.

[TM2-Megatron]

It was more than fairly priced for the work that went into it, but it was the price that did it in. Many people who had the money were just too cheap, but considering how income inequality has only gotten worse since the DVDs were released I'm sure there were many others who couldn't justify the expense, especially if they already owned the series on DVD.

I wasn't old enough to have had much in the way of disposable income back in the DVD days, so I never ended up buying the TNG DVDs (the only Trek I ever owned on DVD were the movies), especially as they went for anywhere from $130-160/season in Canada. Today I'm much more financial comfortable, and have long-since cancelled cable. As such, I didn't even need to think about buying the show on blu-ray when it started coming out for nearly half the price per season as the DVDs had been. We all knew a complete series set would eventually appear at a bargain price, but I was happy to pay day 1 prices. I prefer the look and packaging of the individual releases, and I wanted to support the remaster effort.

Now it's the opposite; I have all possible Trek TV on Blu-Ray, but none of the films since, no matter how cheap they get, I can't support the garbage Paramount puts out. When TWOK hits UHD, I'll be able to retire one of the old 2-disc DVD sets.

[shinobipopcorn]

I bought the DVD cube but was totally POd when it turned out to be a bootleg. So I would have bought the BD set, except that I just couldn't afford it. I appreciated the work they did, and I got the sampler and the All Good Things standalone, but that's all I could afford.

[Mykol Gantt]

Restoration cost aside, did they really sell poorly? CBS was trying to recoup $20 million from Bluray sales, and that in itself was ludicrous. That HD upgrade served multiple purposes beyond just bluray sales and all of that should have been taken into consideration. Those HD masters are now used for streaming, syndication, and VOD. All additional revenue beyond bluray...

[Arch Stanton]

A lot of the fans just aren't interested in physical media at all and were happy to wait for streaming. I guess many already had the DVDs since they predate Netflix etc.

[PrestigeWorldwide]

Originally Posted by MEHEARTJC

TNG was one of the first series to be released back in dvd's early days and each season sold for around a whopping $100. Yet Trekkies forked over the money and it stayed at that price range for years.

Did that many people really buy the DVD's? Out of all of the many Trekkies in my family and friends, only one person had two seasons of the DVD's (season 1 and season 7), and those were Christmas gifts from a spouse. I could have bought a season or two of the early DVD's, but I thought the $100+ per season was ridiculous.

[Sylvester1]

Originally Posted by halloween5309

too expensive, in 4;3 format

The one and only reason it failed so badly was the price. It might have been a fair price for the work but people are too used to paying much less for complete series.

Had the show been released in 16:9 it would have sold even less than it did when released in the correct ratio.
Had it been 16:9 I think many fans would not ever have bothered with it at all

I doubt that many collectors are interested in paying to stream. Renting maybe but collectors want something for their money other than a file they can't watch without an internet connection.

Casual fans not interested in discs can catch it on broadcasts

[LeeFanatic007]

I didn't get them due to the very high costs, $60-80 a season is just too steep for a catalog TV series, even though they look amazing on Blu-ray. I got season 1, then found a couple seasons used at FYE during a BOGO. Ended up getting the complete series set for about the price I paid for Season 1 on release day.

[oldgame]

I have every episode on laserdisc. I'm fine with that.

[Sylvester1]

Originally Posted by oldgame

I have every episode on laserdisc. I'm fine with that.

Old effects and not even up to dvd standards.
I guess nostalgia goes a long way