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Sci-Fi Media Television

Star Trek TOS DVD Box Sets Forthcoming 304

Posted by simoniker from the shatner's-bassoon dept.
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.
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Star Trek TOS DVD Box Sets Forthcoming More

Star Trek TOS DVD Box Sets Forthcoming

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  • Why didn't they have Sulu at the helm?

  • Experience... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ArbiterOne ( 715233 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @06:40AM (#9071831) Homepage
    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.

    • You ripped yourself off, bub (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 06, 2004 @07:02AM (#9071902)
      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.

    • Yes, and well... no. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )
      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 y
      • 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.

        In China now you can buy DVD box sets of such things as MASH, 24, Alias, The Sopranos, Babylon 5, Buffie... all at $10-15 per season. They look legit, though you can never be sure. Lacking some extras, but otherwsie they play perfectly. I'll look out for T

        • all at $10-15 per season. They look legit

          Then you're blind. The price alone should be enough to tip you off. Also, don't be fooled by a cheap holofoil sticker. The Chinese bootleggers love to put those on to make their stuff look more official.

          • >all at $10-15 per season. They look legit
            Then you're blind. The price alone should be enough to tip you off. Also, don't be fooled by a cheap holofoil sticker. The Chinese bootleggers love to put those on to make their stuff look more official.

            I live in Hong Kong, I think I have a clue about this. DVDs, real licensed ones, are much cheaper there. So is a lot of other stuff. Basically, the production cost is a few dollars for the disks and a cardboard box. The retail is whatever the market will bear.

  • Go the Animated Series (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JosKarith ( 757063 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @06:43AM (#9071836)
    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.

    • Re:Go the Animated Series (Score:5, Interesting)

      by YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT ( 651184 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:13AM (#9072464) Homepage Journal

      I attended a short talk by George Takei ( Mr Sulu ) a few weeks ago at the Supanova popular culture festival in Sydney, Australia while I was waiting for David Carradines Q&A, and he was a very funny and personable speaker, this from someone who doesn't really know Star Trek from a bar of soap... Some discussion of his feelings on the Animated Series came up.

      He seemed to consider it something of a damp squib: despite being freed of the constraints of period special effects, the writers never let themselves go and explored the possibilities on offer - he said he would have particularly liked to see some non humanoid aliens, or some more inspired Zero-G work. And while I agree with his point, I don't think I've really seen much animation work at all that manages to dramatically explore the potential of the medium like that.

      Also, apparently it wasn't as much fun to work with as the original series because all the voice talent recorded their lines separately to each other, in their own booths, and often not even at the same time. How an actor is supposed to build up any sense of timing or interrelation in a scenario like that I can't even begin to guess.

      • Actually recording lines separately is common practice in the US dubbing industry, at least for anime. I think it's supposed to be cheaper and the technical quality is better.

        In Japan however, it is common practice to have all the voice actors in the scene in the same room at the same time. You can see them sometimes in extra clips in the recording room, cracking jokes with each other. Some of them become pretty good friends (or at least they seem to become good friends).
      • Also, apparently it wasn't as much fun to work with as the original series because all the voice talent recorded their lines separately to each other, in their own booths, and often not even at the same time. How an actor is supposed to build up any sense of timing or interrelation in a scenario like that I can't even begin to guess.

        Did you get this from Mr. Takei's interview or did you hear it somewhere else? I ask because according to the Animated Star Trek FAQ [danhausertrek.com]:

        QUESTION 16:

        I heard that the actors

  • Is anyone else fed up? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by John Seminal ( 698722 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @06:44AM (#9071843) Journal
    How many times will the studio release a DVD, only to come out with a better release, and another one. It is the same thing with all the Special Editions, followed by the Directors Edition. This is ridiculous. How many times do the Studios want us buying the same movie/show?

    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.

    • Re:Is anyone else fed up? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by plumby ( 179557 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @06:50AM (#9071858)
      How many times will the studio release a DVD, only to come out with a better release, and another one. It is the same thing with all the Special Editions, followed by the Directors Edition

      As many times as people will buy it.

      How many times do the Studios want us buying the same movie/show?

      As many as you can.

      Either way, this is a crooked way to conduct buisness.

      If people want to keep buying them, then the studios are right to keep selling them, surely? There's no law that makes people buy these things. If you think they are a rip-off, then don't buy them. If enough people think they are a rip-off, then the studios will stop doing it.

      • Re:Is anyone else fed up? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Maestro4k ( 707634 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:16AM (#9072138) Journal
        • If people want to keep buying them, then the studios are right to keep selling them, surely? There's no law that makes people buy these things. If you think they are a rip-off, then don't buy them. If enough people think they are a rip-off, then the studios will stop doing it.
        I agree with you, but what will probably happen is people are going to catch on and stop buying the first releases of movies. I know of several who refused to by The Two Towers since they knew they'd release the box set later. How this will affect studio sales is anyone's guess right now, but I doubt it'll fit into their plan. (Which obviously seems to be to get you to buy the same movie multiple times with a few extra goodies thrown in each time.) I don't agree with the grandparent that it's a crooked way to do business, but it's certainly very irritating and disrespectful of customers. While most people are just sheep when it comes to consumerism, even sheep notice if you keep kicking them over and over again and react eventually.
        • Given the fact that they released an Extended Edition of all three movies, I am expecting that in two to three years, Jackson/New Line will release a combined boxed set. A few years after that, the super-extended editions will be released, one at a time. Then the combined super-extended edition boxed set. After that, we will get the ultra-long director's cut, the 10th anniversary edition, the 25th anniversary edition, and so on.

    • Oh come on.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bludstone ( 103539 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @07:13AM (#9071932)
      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.
    • Don't forget the prime directive of show business: "Always leave them wanting more".

      IOW, you never give away everything, always hold something back for later.

    • I think this phenomenon is temporary. I have recently bought two Hauppauge PVR tuners and am using SageTV to "fair use" archive all my favorite shows on TV. Basically, HDTV is going to obsolete all this anyway.

      What will eventually happen is everything the studio has will be available on demand all the time, and you'll subscribe to a monthly all you can eat service.
    • ...DVD...Special Edition... Directors Edition... How many times do the Studios want us buying the same movie/show?

      Perhaps a clue lies in the overall availability chronology: your local multiplex... video stores... pay-per-view... premium channels... basic cable... network...

      Seems the idea is to "auction" a property downward through as many audience-interest levels as can be differentiated.

      (Personally, there are very few movies I'd watch again when the time could be spent watching nearly any other new

    • How many times will the studio release a DVD, only to come out with a better release, and another one. It is the same thing with all the Special Editions, followed by the Directors Edition. This is ridiculous. How many times do the Studios want us buying the same movie/show?

      It's because they can do it much more cheaply than they could in the Video Tape Era. They would have done it more then if it was cost effective.

      Production, shipping, and storing DVD's costs quite a bit less than trying to do the

  • SOLLY CHOLLY (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 06, 2004 @06:45AM (#9071845)
    Fscking racist.

  • Parallell (sp?) (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ArbiterOne ( 715233 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @06:45AM (#9071847) Homepage
    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 my local music/video/dvd emporium the collectors editions with the free granite statue of gollum and the special edition of two towers cost less than the special edition of two towers.

      why? because the store is sick of carrying a bunch of stock that takes up half of their storeroom and noone buys. I did buy the collectors edition the other day, took the dvd out and threw the rest of the packaging in the bin.
    • You joke, but Peter Jackson actually is on record as saying he wants to re-release the LotR movies in HD-DVD format (in whichever format wins the forthcoming war) once he's done tackling "King Kong".

      Whenever a new format appears, everything has to get moved to it. Whenever consumers demand more than what they have, they're given the option to pay for it. C'est la capitalism.

  • Great I hope Shatner does commentery (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 06, 2004 @06:46AM (#9071849)
    "In this scene ... I ... was ... motivated ... by ... the ... "

  • more money fleeced from TOS fans (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 06, 2004 @06:48AM (#9071853)
    "it's a scam Jim, but not as we know it"

  • TAS DVD (Score:3, Funny)

    by farnerup ( 608326 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @06:58AM (#9071890)
    One also has to wonder why in the world they are still refusing to offer the The Animated Series on DVD,

    Actually, they wanted to, but apparently it violates some treaty [unhchr.ch]

  • Solly Cholly??? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by skermit ( 451840 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @07:06AM (#9071908) Homepage
    What kind of racist crap is this? It shouldn't be in a /. article, for one thing. Bad taste. VERY BAD TASTE.

    • Re:Solly Cholly??? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by skermit ( 451840 )
      I'm waiting for this to be modded down and trampled under the other posts, but you have to admit, if they put "Uhh yessa massa!" It'd be a different story.
      • Geez...lighten up.

        Seems like everyone gets offended at the smallest thing these days. Drop the 'Politcal Correctness' for a bit, and relax, no one means anything by this...just poking humor.

    • Re:Solly Cholly??? (Score:5, Funny)

      by jdcook ( 96434 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @07:23AM (#9071978)
      "What kind of racist crap is this? It shouldn't be in a /. article, for one thing. Bad taste. VERY BAD TASTE."

      How the fuck did this get modded troll? "Solly Cholly" *IS* racist crap. It *SHOULDN'T* be in /. Or if it's now acceptable, can we expect the "Gay Nigger" trolls to get on the front page?

    • Re:Solly Cholly??? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Midnight Thunder ( 17205 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:09AM (#9072433) Homepage Journal
      What kind of racist crap is this? It shouldn't be in a /. article, for one thing. Bad taste. VERY BAD TASTE

      Most people probably didn't comment on this either because they only skimmed over the text of the posting, because they had no idea that it had any racial conotation, or were unphased. I am in he first two groups (didn't fully read the text and didn't know the expression). I had no idea what the expression is about and I have never heard it until now. I take it that is purely USA slang?

  • For those of you unware (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 06, 2004 @07:07AM (#9071913)
    Of the Star Trek animated series, here is the IMBD entry [imdb.com]
  • OK, this is a must have.
    All the episodes, nicely packaged and if current trends hold, should be reasonably priced.

    Reading some of the other posters comments, it looks like there's some agony about re-releases of DVD's.
    I've only been buying DVD's for three years now, but from day 1, I always held off for the SE/Box set. If you're big into a given movie or series you'll have less frustration, plus you usually get more bang for the buck. Sure, you have to wait, but when you pick up things like the Alien Quadr

  • "Mingled concepts"? Worse than that (Score:5, Informative)

    by The Wicked Priest ( 632846 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @07:49AM (#9072052)
    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.
    • 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, i
  • Once the last dollar has been sucked out of the ST enterprise (HAR!) and they decide to stop making new shoes....make the uberboxset of ST. The original series, the movies, TNG, DS9, Voyager, the whold schmeer, kit and caboodle. If it's been filmed, drawn, animated, videoed, if it's been part of the ST universe, slap that sucker onto a whole stack of DVD's, put it all in one gimungous box and sell that sucka as the whole frickin' Star Trek experience...all in one giant shot.

    Call Carl in Marketing.....we
    • Er...I mean shows...not shoes...damn fat fingers!
      • Er...I mean shows...not shoes...damn fat fingers!

        Aw, I just thought you were being clever by using the word shoes in a "no new characters whose shoes must be filled" context. I guess that seems like a silly interpretation now, but it never ceases to amaze me how the mind manages to weave sense into things.

      • Er...I mean shows...not shoes...damn fat fingers!

        I just thought you were channelling Ed Sullivan.

  • It's about time (Score:2, Interesting)

    by thpdg ( 519053 )
    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.

  • TAS was published on LD (Score:2, Informative)

    by Zobeid ( 314469 )
    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 [danhausertrek.com]

    A Google search will show that
  • I'm surprised no one else has commented on it so far, overlooking the color it appears to be quite rounded and I have to wonder if it'll stay sitting up nicely on a shelf without other DVDs/Boxsets around it to keep it upright. I'm glad they're giving us a boxset release finally, but I wish the studios would think about things like this as well.
  • 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. ...and which is generally regarded by fans of both series as a horrible idea.

    I suppose a few gamers in Austin [starfleetgames.com] think it was a pretty good idea, but that's about it.
  • One day, in a book store, I found a multi-volume set of TOS scripts. "YAY!", I thought. My favorite Episode is "I, Mudd", and I wanted to read the script. Just my luck, the two episodes they left out were "I, Mudd" and "Mudd's Women". Some sort of copyright problem.

    I hope this doesn't suffer from the same problem.

  • Not just for the money... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Masem ( 1171 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @08:58AM (#9072369)
    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.
  • I remember seeing buried deep a Star Trek compendium that there was an episode called 'Twilight Zone' that was yanked from syndication due to anti-Japanese sentiments expressed in the episode. However, I've never been able to find confirmation of this anywhere else. Is it true?

    • I remember seeing buried deep a Star Trek compendium that there was an episode called 'Twilight Zone' that was yanked from syndication due to anti-Japanese sentiments expressed in the episode. However, I've never been able to find confirmation of this anywhere else. Is it true?

      I used to be quite a knowledgeable Trek fan, and I've never heard of such an episode. Perhaps such an episode made it as far as a script, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't filmed. (But IANLAKTF, so I could be wrong.)

  • Mistake in article description (Score:5, Funny)

    by You Been Rob-ed! ( 686615 ) on Thursday May 06, 2004 @09:30AM (#9072610)
    ...separate the hapless trekkie from his hard earned cash.

    Shouldn't that be from his parents' hard earned cash?

  • The money is squirreled away for just such an opportunity...

    Everyone knows the best Star Trek was the original. All the touchy-feely PC Star Trek shows that followed were a mere shadow of the original.
  • 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!!!

  • My wife and I just bought a Pioneer Tivo/DVD Recorder combo box. We are going to be using this to collect all four of the Trek series and making DVD sets. We'll probably be giving family members season sets of shows they love for Christmas and birthday presents in another year or so.

    Actually, when we got married, my wife brought her complete set of TOS on VHS tape; we may simply run that through the recorder to make DVDs instead of waiting to catch them all off of satellite.

    True, recordings off of tel

  • I can gloat because I have the animated series on laserdisc. Of course this is a typical Paramount laserdisc release, and Paramount considered little things like a CD-Audio TOC and chapter stops to be unnecessary extra features. So to see the second episode on a side, I have to seek to 22:30 and fast forward from there.

    I'm glad they finally came out with the all SE TOS movies box. I can't imagine what people who bought the halfway boxes (with only 1-5 SE verisons) were thinking. I'm also glad I never w

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