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Star Trek TOS DVD Box Sets Forthcoming
bluethundr writes "According to Trek Today: the diabolical Trek 'powers that be' have come up with yet another way to separate the hapless trekkie from his hard earned cash. The Original Series is being re-released as a Box Set. Reportedly, the sets should feature enough extras to make (they hope) the die-hard pony-up against their better judgement. They have an image of the box set on the R2 Project. One interesting aspect of this release is that the Region 2 release will package all original season eps in order of original air-date! One also has to wonder why in the world they are still refusing to offer the The Animated Series on DVD, forcing one to buy the bootlegs if you want to get your hands on a copy. VHS only, as far as official release goes. TAS featured most of the original cast, many of the original writers. What's more, is that one episode was penned by another author you may have heard of in which he mingled concepts of his own distinct mythology with that of trek-lore." Update: 05/06 14:54 GMT by S : Phrase by original submitter removed - apologies, I was completely unaware of etymology.
Why didn't they have Sulu at the helm?
I have been pwned because my
Bought the Original Series on DVDs.... wasn't a very good value because you only got 2 episodes per $20 DVD. Maybe this'll be a better value, so... not as much ripping off of trekkies.
I love it - it's great for using to confunse and annoy supposedly "hardcore" trekkies who get all their info out of magazines.
And no, I'm not a trekkie, I'm just an animation fan who shared a house with one a few years back.
'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
I know what I will do. I will wait until the boxed set is released, and then two weeks later I will call Paramount and tell them the disk with the special featurettes is not working, and ask for them to send me a replacement. I will then add that with my current TOS collection.
Or maybe I will put my old DVD's on sale on Ebay. Either way, this is a crooked way to conduct buisness.
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
Fscking racist.
The boxed sets of LOTR are probably making tons of money... perhaps that's why these people decided to recapitalize on a decades-old series.
Not that it's bad or anything!
Wait until this (and LOTR) goes gold, platinum, super-platinum collector's edition with Enterprise scale model, etc.
Then they release The Hobbit/TAS, and the cycle begins again.
"In this scene ... I ... was ... motivated ... by ... the ... "
Regions are not the problem, the problem is the differance between the PAL and NTSC formats. You could have a region free DVD player, but all those DVD's from eurpoe are PAL formatted, which means you need a PAL tv or a way to convert the PAL signal to NTSC. I heard the only way to play them is on a laptop because most laptops can display PAL.
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
"it's a scam Jim, but not as we know it"
Or, alternatively, one can just buy a multi-system TV. One that plays PAL and NTSC. I live overseas but have American tapes, etc. so I need multi-system all the time.
I've had absolutely no trouble playing Region 2/PAL DVDs on my American TV. Perhaps some televisions cannot display PAL properly...
LOAD "SIG",8,1
I simply don't see how a laptop would be unable to play such a DVD but a desktop would not..
I don't read or respond to AC posts
Actually, they wanted to, but apparently it violates some treaty
1. Your TV is multisystem and correctly handles the PAL signal. AFAIK, you are in the minority
2. Your DVD handles the conversion from PAL to NTSC and what you see on your TV is a converted signal.
From conversations with American friends, I believe you have succeeded with a fluke where others have spent lots to have acceptable results.
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
YOU chose to buy 2 episodes for $20 (and you bought the ENTIRE series?), so don't complain to the supplier if you are willing to buy.
I was planning to mod it as -1 Flamebait, but your closing argument convinced me otherwise!
Making the moon less necessary since 1998.
Usually DVD players that can play multiple regions of DVD can also output in either PAL or NTSC and convert on the fly between the two formats. My current player (Sampo 611) does this, as did the previous player (Raite 750).
Check out the explanation of multi-region DVD players from amazon.co.uk
+++ ATH0 +++
You can be forgiven for being too young to know what it is, it was shown in the early-mid '70s after all.
Here is the imdb entry
What kind of racist crap is this? It shouldn't be in a /. article, for one thing. Bad taste. VERY BAD TASTE.
-Christopher Wu
http://www.christopherwu.net/
Of the Star Trek animated series, here is the IMBD entry
If you dont like it, THEN DONT BUY IT.
Noone is holding a gun to your head, telling you to buy the new super-shiny version of the dvd. All that the studios are doing here is responding to CONSUMER DEMAND.
There are plenty of other evil things that these companies do. Harping on SE dvds simply isnt worthwhile.
This problem is solved very, very easily. Just. Dont. Buy. It.
no
Regions are not the problem, the problem is the differance between the PAL and NTSC formats. You could have a region free DVD player, but all those DVD's from eurpoe are PAL formatted, which means you need a PAL tv or a way to convert the PAL signal to NTSC. I heard the only way to play them is on a laptop because most laptops can display PAL.
I live in Finland, which is a PAL country. These days I have a new multinorm widescreen TV.
However, before that, all I had was an old 21" 4:3 tube that had never heard of NTSC. Yet I could easily play R1/NTSC DVDs - without conversions.
How? Component signal format. The TV also accepted RGB (In the US, YPbPr is more common). PAL and NTSC color codings are both ways to transmit color information. If I use RGB, the information is in "raw" format that the TV understands anyway.
Only requirement is that the TV can sync to both 50 and 60 Hz signals. This is very common and not advertised too often - even old tubes from the 60's could do it.
Use component format whenever you can. The picture quality increases tremendously compared to composite (S-Video is a compromise, and you still need to worry about PAL/NTSC). this does not only apply to DVD players, but also game consoles and whatever else you are connecting to TV.
From conversations with American friends, I believe you have succeeded with a fluke where others have spent lots to have acceptable results.
Both my U.S.-purchased DVD players can be region-modded and can play PAL DVDs with NTSC output, and I paid $170 and $80 for them a year or more ago. It's not a fluke, it's smart shopping, although the DVD-CCA nazis may be making it harder these days.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
On the contrary, regions are a big problem, and they do NOT prevent piracy they BOOST piracy. Most TVs, DVD players, and Computers have the option to switch between NTSC and PAL (I'm writing to u from Asia, and we have that option, I'm sure American TVs/Computers do too. However, with this fucked up region system, here's what happens. LOTR fans in Asia would like to own the LOTR DVD. However, these LOTR fans are bracketed in Region 5 (I'm talking about the Indian Sub-Continent here).
Question: How many Hollywood movies were released in Region 5 this yr? The answer is FIVE, and LOTR was not one of them. So people in Asia have the choice of paying $20 for the DVD + $20 Shipping to Asia from America, to get a Region 1 DVD which their hacked DVD player will play...OR.... they could go down to the local bootlegger and get a pirated DVD/VideoCD.
Let's see what would happen in a non-region encoding situation:
LOTR DVD is released, simultaneously worldwide. Person in god-forsaken 3rd-world country has easy access to the legal, region-free DVD at local prices...
My Favourite Meme
Don't click the above link. Oh to have mod points right now. Typical AC behaviour.
He took "The Soft Weapon" and rewrote it with Trek characters. But he couldn't even be bothered to change the Kzinti to Klingons, which would've been the logical mapping from Known Space to Trek. Frankly, I think it's disgraceful that he took money for this hack job (and I say that as a big Niven fan).
I actually argued about this with someone online once. He brought up Kzinti in a Trek context, based on that episode. I said they had no place in the Trek universe. But he insisted that since it was in TAS, it was canon.
OK, call me a fanboy, but this isn't a troll. I'm glad to see somebody else remembers this, anyway.
Share and Enjoy: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Finally, an affordable release of TOS. The original release was paired episodes on DVD for about $30. That is a very high price point. Coming from a monthly by-mail subscription, it was a good deal, but these box sets should bring it down even further.
I have the $700 tied up in the TNG sets ($100 * 7 years) and I never regret it. It's a complete collection, that no one can ever take away. Paired up with the "Companion" CD containing all of the TV commercial spots, it is the complete TNG series.
-Patrick
"They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
Interestingly, I understand that an increasing number of DVDs of older shows are being released in a "region zero" (region-free) format.
My understanding of the rationale behind this is to cut the production costs on something which will sell, but not sell enough in some areas to make region coding worthwhile. When they're around 20 or so years old, there's not much to lose to piracy.
On the other hand, stopping the region-coding of movies might be bad for the cinema industry. Why? Well, take the movie Galaxy Quest. The UK theatrical release date was the same as the US DVD release date. Given the prevalence of international sales via, say, eBay and Amazon, I can imagine people being tempted to buy a DVD and sell it if they don't like it, or buy a secondhand one.
That said, IMHO movies like LotR wouldn't be hurt due to simultaneous releases, unless they take more than a year to get out to the most remote cinemas in some parts of the world.
So, the long and short? My 2c is that region encoding is good for the industry in some cases (and also means they don't have to squeeze every language soundtrack or subtitle onto the same disc), but is also detrimental to the industry - if, for example, ST:TOS had been released in region-free format originally, Paramount would have easily at least doubled, if not tripled, their sales. (I don't intend to buy it now. The profile says recovering ex-Trekkie, and not only do I not want to waste the money on that stuff, but that packaging is hideous.)
"It is dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue." -- Zork
The animated Star Trek series was published as a boxed set of six laserdiscs. "The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek", LV 60754-6, from Paramount Home Video.
Yes, I have the discs. No, I don't have a working LD player at the moment. Is anybody even making new ones anymore?
The distinction of the animated series that amuses me most is the appearance in six episodes of Lieutenant M'Ress serving as the communications officer.
Animated STAR TREK - Lt. M'Ress
A Google search will show that M'Ress is remembered surprisingly well among fans, for such an obscure character after such a long time passed without ever being seen again.
It's not too surprising you don't remember it, I was a kid when it was airing, and I never saw it. From what I've gathered over the years it didn't see really wide-spread distribution viewing-area-wise. I found out about it first in the 90's myself. You can find it online in newsgroups, on torrent sites and P2P. If you like Star Trek I'd recommend you hunt down an episode or two to watch to see what you think about it.
Chekov:
"In sis seen I vas mota-waited by the large wessel looming..."
Scotty:
"..but we could'na finnish the seen, as we just did'na have the film!"
I think it's not because they want to get more money (well, not as the ultimate motive) but that with the success of TNG, DS9, and currently Voyager box sets, as well as practically every other TV series out there, that their first release of the TOS series as several 2-episde DVD titles was basically a failure. The very very casual fan may want one episode, so that makes sense, but realistically, any trekkie is going to want to buy at worst their favorite season, much less the entire package. Additionally, I'd think that having boxed season sets is more appealing to the electronics store (less shelf space) than the individual DVD versions This is also what happened with Farscape - came out in originally 2-episode DVDs, but ADV films is getting wise and working towards season box sets. And if that's not enough, the X-Files (probably the other big series to be on DVD when DVD first started) is going to be reprinted in DVD in a new special edition series sets, as most of the original sets are long sold out.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Maybe this'll be a better value, so... not as much ripping off of trekkies.
Actually, it's maximization of profit. First you take out the über-trekkies that'll pay almost anything, then the "normal" trekkies in box sets, then slowly slide price down. If you look at a normal price-demand curve, they're trying to grab it all.
The only thing they have to do is to draw it out enough that you can't "afford" to wait for the cheaper version or price cut - that "Star Trek now > Star Trek later + X$", for your personal utility function.
Companies can afford to be "time-indifferent". If they can sell you Star Trek exactly once - they don't care if it's today or in 5 years, as long as you pay the same in realdollars (compensated for inflation).
So yes... this is better value, because they've already sold it to all those willing to pay more. If by "rip you off" you mean "maximize profit", well they're still doing that.
This isn't just DVDs. CDs, computers, cars, cell phones, everything probably including the kitchen sink, if you want it the moment it becomes available, you're going to pay a premium.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Shouldn't that be from his parents' hard earned cash?
For fun, calculate how much DDT would be lethal for you!
That was the three-armed, three-legged Lt. Arex. He came up in the ST comics a lot, too, where he filled the Navigator position (since Chekov was Tactical chief).
One also has to wonder why in the world they are still refusing to offer the The Animated Series on DVD, forcing one to buy the bootlegs if you want to get your hands on a copy. Solly cholly. VHS only
"I've done more than not release you. I've released you on VHS only. And I wish to go on...releasing you on VHS...." -- Khannnnnnn!!!
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
There is an answer to this, which certain high-profile and high-revenue projects have recently used and made popular (Cf. Peter Jackson's LOTR project): release the damn theatrical cuts on the same day world-wide. The old communications barrier is non-existant, the only reasons not to do this are psychological, and as LOTR etc. proved you can make a great deal of money and generate a great deal of good-will very quickly by doing this.
Oh yeah, and it also completely eradicates the 'international piracy risk' argument.
~cHrisBabylon 5 is running $70 to $80 a season. That's a bit iffy. I already have the complete Bab5 on tape, recorded from broadcast TV. I'm not sure I want to go the extra mile for DVD, especially since I haven't watched much of it since I taped it.
I did end up buying all of the Stargate-SG1 seasons. They were only about $49 per season, and worth it at the time.
Star Trek is too proud of their stuff for me.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
The star trek box sets are SO overpriced its not even funny anymore. Look at other popular tv box sets for comparisons and they are much cheaper. CSI $60, Friends $55 for season 1, $35 for other seasons, Angel $45, Buffy $45, West Wing $45. But DS9 $97, TNG $97-$111. For the same number of episodes as other tv shows.
I would love to get all the TNG and DS9 box sets but not at $100 or higher a box. Paramount is gouging star trek fans because they know they can get away with it. Its a big slap in the face to star trek fans but they are to stupid to realize it.
No, region coding is the problem. PAL/NTSC/SECAM are all ANALOG video standards which mainly have to do with chrominance encoding, number of lines and frame rate. Once the analog to digital conversion occurs, the chroma encoding difference goes away, since MPEG-2 is MPEG-2. This means that the only differences between a PAL and NTSC DVD are: the number of active lines (480 vs 576) and the frame rate (29.97 vs. 25) - the line difference is handled automatically in the decoding process by most DACs - they output whatever your display can accept - while the frame rate difference results, at worst, in a little skip every so often. And for a practical demonstration of the above theory, ask anyone who's taken an off-the-shelf DVD player with hackable firmware (though lord knows I'm not advocating any such thing. That would be illegal) and upgraded to a R0 player. IT WORKS FINE. I suspect most hardware manufacturers use an MPEG-2 implementation that supports multi-format playback in the secret hope that one day region coding will go away.
To answer my own question...
l
The Digital Bits reported last October:
"Okay, folks... this was going around the Net yesterday as something in the works for Region 2, so I thought we'd get the skinny for you about Region 1. I've officially confirmed with Paramount that complete season box sets of Star Trek: The Original Series are in the planning stages for DVD release here in the States. However, you probably shouldn't expect them until after most of the work on the Star Trek: Voyager complete season DVDs is finished. Voyager is expected to be released, a season at a time, throughout 2004. I'm told that late 2004 is a possibility for TOS, but they might not be released until 2005. This is definitely going to happen, but it's early in the planning and plenty is still up in the air. So don't start warming up those phasers just yet."
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa79.htm
Easier said than done. One of the things that happens when a movie is released nation wide is that the movie company has to make several thousand copies of the movie on film. That is an expensive and time consuming process. It is also one of the reasons that movies releases are often staggered. The actual film copy is reused from one region to another for later releases.
Small or independant films don't even release nationwide. They make fewer copies of film and move them around to show them.
This is one of the reasons Lucas is pushing so hard to make digital releases: Low reproduction cost, and easier distribution. As richer cinema companies upgrade their projection systems, more movies can be distributed digitally. But its slow and expensive to replace thousands of projectors around the world. Many (most) can't afford it now or anytime soon. We'll be dealing with the expense and logistics of film stock for a while yet.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.