Star Trek Voyager should be on blu

[benbess]

In my family, we enjoy this show as much as the original Star Trek, Next Generation, and DS9. Here's hoping that this show, like TNG, makes it to blu-ray someday.

Below is a cool fan-made trailer for Voyager:

Star Trek Voyager Trailer - YouTube

[benbess]

Also pretty good....

Star Trek Voyager - DVD Trailer - YouTube

[benbess]

The title sequence for Voyager is seen by some Star Trek fans as perhaps the best of any of the shows. Ever wondered what it might look like in HD? A fan clearly spent a lot of talent and time doing that. Here it is. Best watched in full screen in HD:

Star Trek Voyager - Blu-ray 1080p HD Intro - YouTube

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by benbess

The title sequence for Voyager is seen by some Star Trek fans as perhaps the best of any of the shows. Ever wondered what it might look like in HD? A fan clearly spent a lot of talent and time doing that. Here it is. Best watched in full screen in HD:

Star Trek Voyager - Blu-ray 1080p HD Intro - YouTube

I'll agree with you there. Voyager had the best title sequence of any of the series. The show has some flaws but that title sequence is the highlight of the four main series

[benbess]

Almost all fans would of course prefer a complete season by season release, like we've had for Next Gen.

But since CBS seems to be hesitating, perhaps because of the time and cost of rebuilding for HD 14 more seasons of Star Trek (7 for Voyager and 7 for DS9), I still wonder if a compromise might be possible. In the DS9 thread a very compelling listing of best episodes has been posted. Perhaps something like that would be possible for Voyager as well. Looking over the first short season, it seems like the following episodes are somewhere between very good and essential:

Caretaker
Parallax
Time and Again
Phage
Jetrel

Are there others I'm missing? I wonder what the very good to essential episodes for S2 might be?

[danielshock]

I would definitely buy.

I haven't seen most of Voyager since it's original run.

It seems like it's probably an all or nothing thing though...if you put the effort into doing a few episodes, you might as well do the whole thing.

[Lord Method Man]

Honestly, I wouldn't buy. DS9 for sure but Voyager was just bad.

[benbess]

Originally Posted by Lord Method Man

Honestly, I wouldn't buy. DS9 for sure but Voyager was just bad.

Disagree. Very good show. My daughter's favorite of all the Treks. Finally we get to see more women in more powerful positions.++

[benbess]

Originally Posted by danielshock

I would definitely buy.

I haven't seen most of Voyager since it's original run.

It seems like it's probably an all or nothing thing though...if you put the effort into doing a few episodes, you might as well do the whole thing.

I'm not sure if it's quite like that. I honestly don't know. But I think I read somewhere a guess that it costs c. $50k-$100k to rebuild an episode of the Next Gen. Because of the greater use of CGI in Voyager, maybe we should guess $100k. If that's close to true, then the 172 episodes might cost as much as $17 million to completely rebuild. Since making 172 episodes of a sci fi show with a large cast, large sets, lots of guest stars, location photography, intricate fx, etc., etc., would cost at least $3 million today to produce, CBS has on its hands a c. $500 million-dollar name-brand sci fi asset. To me, $17m seems like a wise investment to rebuild a half-billion dollar asset for the 21st century.

But if they are blanching at the total price and the c. 3-4 years this would take, what about doing a 1.5-year project that costs a fraction of doing all the episodes. Redoing 60 episodes might cost c. $6 million, would only take maybe 18 months, and would at least save the best of Voyager for HD.

There are some killer Star Trek movies hiding in this show that need to get out!

I really agree that all of it should be redone. But if the all or nothing equation is leaning toward the latter then maybe a middle ground is worth exploring....

[CouncilSpectre]

I really wanted to like Voyager but coming off the back of TNG and airing at the same time as DS9 it just didn't really do it for me.

I actually preferred the earlier seasons of the show before the Borg showed up. I liked Seven as a character, but the Borg in general, meh they kind of ruined them for me.

The show also had a very bland cast IMO. I thought Bob Picardo was great, and I liked the Paris character, and Seven, but Neelix irritated me more often than not and Harry Kim and Chakotay were....less than stellar

Some great episodes though. I'd buy the show on BD and give it another shot. It's been a good few years now since I saw it last so perhaps it'll have grown on me a little

[nametag]

Originally Posted by benbess

Almost all fans would of course prefer a complete season by season release, like we've had for Next Gen.

But since CBS seems to be hesitating, perhaps because of the time and cost of rebuilding for HD 14 more seasons of Star Trek (7 for Voyager and 7 for DS9), I still wonder if a compromise might be possible. In the DS9 thread a very compelling listing of best episodes has been posted. Perhaps something like that would be possible for Voyager as well. Looking over the first short season, it seems like the following episodes are somewhere between very good and essential:

Caretaker
Parallax
Time and Again
Phage
Jetrel

Are there others I'm missing? I wonder what the very good to essential episodes for S2 might be?

Jetrel? really? I don't remember it much but Neelix episode = AVOID AT ALL COSTS, haha. I'd probably put Faces, Eye of the Needle and State of Flux in there over the latter three you chose (though I have a soft spot for Time and Again as I think it was the first Voy ep I saw on TV when I was like 7 years old)


Projections, Manoeuvres, Meld, Dreadnaught, Death Wish, Deadlock, The Thaw, Tuvix and Basics are pretty good season 2 eps. I also kind of like Cold Fire even though it's not a fan favourite, and Threshold is always worth watching for the lolz.

The complete series DVD set was recently re-released in the UK *finally* in compact plastic packaging (rather than the previous cardboard set which scratched the discs), managed to pick it up from Zavvi for £50 and have been watching it a lot recently. It's probably the laziest-written and dumbest Trek, but it can be good fun and has major nostalgia factor for me.

[Maxwell Everett]

Originally Posted by benbess

But if they are blanching at the total price and the c. 3-4 years this would take, what about doing a 1.5-year project that costs a fraction of doing all the episodes. Redoing 60 episodes might cost c. $6 million, would only take maybe 18 months, and would at least save the best of Voyager for HD.

Trouble is, while a "Best of Voyager" might sell decently on blu-ray, it wouldn't interest television channels or streaming services who would rather purchase a license agreement to show all the episodes (because they have to fill a time slot or series slot). The magic number for syndication is typically 100 episodes or more, and if you're doing 100, you might as well do 172, because you're already 60% of the way there. And syndication deals and streaming packages are where the big mega millions are made, not blu-ray, I'm afraid.

Don't worry, CBS will eventually get around to Voyager too, just like Deep Space Nine. It makes little sense for them to continue to store the 35mm film assets (at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, decade after decade) and do absolutely nothing with them!

[yanksno1]

I always liked Voyager and watched it off and on when it was on air. I watched it straight through on Netflix a year ago or so and still really liked it. The 2 episodes that completely blew me away were the in the 4th season (both 2 parters) "Year of Hell" and "The Killing Game". Loved both of those and was shocked at how great they were compared to the rest of the episodes. Might have to watch them again haha. Would love to see those 2 eps get remastered.

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by benbess

The title sequence for Voyager is seen by some Star Trek fans as perhaps the best of any of the shows. Ever wondered what it might look like in HD? A fan clearly spent a lot of talent and time doing that. Here it is. Best watched in full screen in HD:

Star Trek Voyager - Blu-ray 1080p HD Intro - YouTube

Without narration or dialogue, that opening sequence captures the exploratory spirit that is so frequently associated with Star Trek.

[benbess]

Originally Posted by Maxwell Everett

Trouble is, while a "Best of Voyager" might sell decently on blu-ray, it wouldn't interest television channels or streaming services who would rather purchase a license agreement to show all the episodes (because they have to fill a time slot or series slot). The magic number for syndication is typically 100 episodes or more, and if you're doing 100, you might as well do 172, because you're already 60% of the way there. And syndication deals and streaming packages are where the big mega millions are made, not blu-ray, I'm afraid.

Don't worry, CBS will eventually get around to Voyager too, just like Deep Space Nine. It makes little sense for them to continue to store the 35mm film assets (at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, decade after decade) and do absolutely nothing with them!

To take your last point first, the idea that because they are paying to store these assets that then makes rebuilding the show for blu-ray someday inevitable doesn't quite make sense. Studios have thousands of titles, both movies and tv shows, that they pay to store—and many never make it to blu-ray. And so while this is a nice thought, I'm not sure it really holds water. Since what's being stored is Star Trek, however, there's still a chance, obviously, otherwise we wouldn't be writing our posts here. In a good way sometimes you remind me of Hari Seldon from Asimov's Foundation series with your predictions, but I just don't see the crystal ball as being quite as clear as you see it. I really do hope you're right. And I'll be happy to admit I'm wrong if and when it comes to that.

The original Star Trek, as we know, was a syndicated smash with 79 episodes, which altered the idea of a 100-episode minimum back in the early 1970s. Perhaps that's closer to the minimum, and maybe even smaller numbers would work. And that might be less than half of what the whole series would cost to rebuild. For streaming perhaps they'd have all the episodes there, but some would be in HD. Again, I'm all in favor of rebuilding this whole show, along with DS9, and for streaming probably that makes more sense. But if and only if CBS can't see their way to doing that, I think a generous selection of the best episodes would be better than nothing. For the less hard core fan, for whom shelling out $60+ a set for 7 seasons seems a stretch, 2-3 sets might seem more doable.

We're on the same side, obviously, but we just see this a bit differently, which is fine. Infinite diversity and all that....++

[redwing69]

I may be alone, but I liked Voyager the most out of any of the series. I would LOVE for it to come out on blu. Day 1 buy.

[tacomaprime]

Was just thinking about this today. I wasn't a fan of ds9, but LOVED TNG and Voyager. Now that TNG is almost completely out on blu, I really want Voyager on blu!

[AmishParadise]

Originally Posted by redwing69

I may be alone, but I liked Voyager the most out of any of the series. I would LOVE for it to come out on blu. Day 1 buy.

You're not the only one. I liked Voyager more so than TNG.

[Geoff D]

I watched Voyager back in the day out of a sense of duty (and also Jeri Ryan in a silver jumpsuit) but I never really got into it, the characters are so damnably bland and the constant re-use of the Borg was mightily annoying. I loved Bob Picardo in it though, we haven't had a doctor with that much attitude since Bones. He had some great episodes too, like the one where they erase his memory 'cause he went bananas after a patient went and died on him.

LOVE that title sequence, it really is the best of the lot (Jerry Goldsmith WINS! Perfect!) although I did get a chill down my spine when revisiting DS9 on DVD and I saw/heard the titles for the first time in forever. I've always liked that one too.

I'd buy Voyager in HD if it meant that DS9 were to be rebuilt (like I said, it's about duty) but seeing as we'll surely get DS9 first I'll leave the Voyager Blu-rays to the true fans.

[AmishParadise]

Originally Posted by AmishParadise

You're not the only one. I liked Voyager more so than TNG.

Need to retract my previous reply shown above. :-P I was thinking DS9, not Voyager. I liked DS9 more than TNG, followed by TNG, then Voyager.