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Television Media

Star Trek TNG DVDs 416

Posted by CmdrTaco from the well-isn't-that-special dept.
pgudge writes "startrek.com had a post about the paramount release of Star Trek The Next Generation on DVD. Claimed a around $100 for the season pack, including 7 DVD's. And that other season are to be released every other month thereafter. all done in Dolby Digital 5.1. Release date expected 26th march" Good way to watch them without suffering through TNN's ridiculous image squashing technology (Proudly proving that in the future everyone is either a pro wrestler, or shaped like a pear!)
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Star Trek TNG DVDs More

Star Trek TNG DVDs

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  • what about B5, Buffy, Simpsons (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jd142 ( 129673 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:07PM (#2834296) Homepage
    Now if only Babylon 5 could get the same treatment. Buffy is on the way. And Simpsons 1st season is out.

    Anyone have any more info?

    • Re:what about B5, Buffy, Simpsons (Score:4, Informative)

      by gibodean ( 224873 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:45PM (#2834422)
      Well, we've already got Buffy DVDs seasons 1 to 3, and Angel season 1 in Australia.

      Just get yourself a region free player, and order from here (or New Zealand). I think the UK has them too.
    • Yes, at least those three "franchises" have maintained their cachet. Post-TNG Trek has devolved into mediocrity to the point where I don't get upset about missing an entire season.

    • Re:what about B5, Buffy, Simpsons (Score:4, Interesting)

      by rodgerd ( 402 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @11:43PM (#2834744) Homepage
      I've been waiting in eager anticipation of the Babylon 5 DVD sets, but Warners have started releasing everything in Region 4 as cheap, shittily made NTSC DVDs, for chrissake.

      Shitheads.
    • The first B5 disk was released back in November! The two-sided disk contained:

      The Gathering (Pilot)
      In the Beginning (1993)

      No great extras, they are testing out the waters. If this disk sells well (read: buy one), they will release the entire series.
    • Warner has been really shitty about releasing their TV properties on DVD. Which is surprising because they were the leaders in putting shit out on DVD in the beginning.

      Take their releases of Friends for instance (Shut up, I know it sucks. Yes I own them). Instead of releasing full seasons they have put out 2 lame 'best of' collections.

      Perhaps they think that they can make more money off of the syndication rights rather than the DVD releases. They need to take a lesson from Fox. They know how to do DVD right. X-Files, Buffy, & The Simpsons have all been top notch releases.

      Pete

  • I forget.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by DAldredge ( 2353 ) <SlashdotEmail@GMail.Com> on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:08PM (#2834306) Journal
    Do we hate the MPAA this week or not???

  • great! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Syre ( 234917 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:09PM (#2834308)
    Great!

    This means I'll be able to download the shows real soon now on Morpheus [musiccity.com], Gnutella [wego.com] or EDonky2000 [edonkey2000.com]!

    • Legality Issues (Score:2, Interesting)

      by LeiraHoward ( 529716 )
      What in the world are you people thinking? One of the reasons these companies have to make their products cost so much is so they actually make a profit. Every illegal copy takes away from that.

      I know Star Trek is a huge enterprise (pun intended) now, but there are still a lot of people out there who worked really hard on the project, and deserve to get a bit of reward for their work.

      My general rule of thumb for file copying is this: do I take income away from the owners of the copyright? For instance, when you watch TV and videotape an episode, the television company has already paid for the rights for the episode to be shown. So you're not taking anything away from the company. However, if they make a special high-quality DVD edition, and you just copy it, they are losing the money they would have gotten if you rented or *gasp* even bought it.

      $100 for a season isn't that unreasonable. It works out to something like $3.50-$4.50 per episode, which is not that hard for you all to do. If you really want them, save your money and buy it! It works out to less than $2/day if each season comes out every two months. Not that hard to do, folks. I know some people who put more than that in the vending machines at work!

      Besides which, once you figure in the price of your internet connection, and purchasing CDs to burn the data on, you really aren't saving that much money, but you're getting an inferior quality ripped file!

      As for me, I think I'll start saving my money now. That extra footage bit sounds cool!

      • Re:Legality Issues (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Dudio ( 529949 )
        One of the reasons these companies have to make their products cost so much is so they actually make a profit. Every illegal copy takes away from that.

        Let's not forget production costs, which I seem to recall reading were in the range of $1 million/episode for TNG. Also, I think the actual monetary loss to the studios as a result of personal copying is a lot less than the industry would have you believe. The people who d/l ripped copies generally do so for one of three reasons: (1) they can't afford to buy the commercial product; (2) they refuse to buy the commercial product, but wouldn't mind having a copy lying around; (3) they want to check out the product before deciding whether to buy it. Generally, people who want the product and can afford it will buy it. Granted, there are people who will decide not to buy the product if they can get a reasonable copy for free, but with TNN running two episodes of TNG a day, most of those people will just set their VCRs and be done with it.

      • Re:Legality Issues (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Phexro ( 9814 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @11:28PM (#2834714)
        what in the world are you thinking? there are only a few reasons to buy a tv series on dvd:

        • extra features
        • higher quality than tv
        • you're a rampaging collector


        the extra features usually aren't pirated, just the main feature.

        the difference in quality between cable (or digital cable) broadcasts and the dvd probably isn't noticeable after it's been compressed with divx, and if you're a rampaging collector, you'll buy the dvd anyways. and in most cases it would be to replace the collection of vhs tapes that the shows were recorded on, or to pick up that one episode from season n that they're missing.

        they broadcast the episodes for free for chrissakes. i'd feel just as bad about downloading the episodes as i would asking a friend to tape the show for me.
        • You forgot the best two reasons: uncut episodes, and THE OTHER SERIES YOU WANT ON DVD LATER.
          • Word.

            You might classify me as the 'rampaging collector' type, but I love DVD TV collections. Sitting on my shelf I have Sopranos, Simpsons, X-Files, Sex and the City, Friends, Robotech and The Awful Truth (Buffy season 1 comes on Tuesday). I would love to add more to that collection. I want to see '24', the Tick animated series and other such things out there.

            I'm not against 'piracy' per se. I've bought literally 100x more CDs in the past two years because of Napster/Morpheus than I would have bought with out them. TV is different becuse you can see TNG episodes every day if you want to but Trek fans are rabid. Anyway I'm rambling so....

            Pete
            • Sopranos, Simpsons, X-Files

              I bought X-files 2nd season a while ago but was thoroughly disappointed in it. The package was nice and audio and visual quality was good, but the "usability" of the disc set was abyssmal.

              First of all, when you start watching an episode you're forced to watch the equivalents of the "FBI warning" in at least four languages. After the episode ends, you get to see another four warnings before you get back to the main menu.

              The main menu is my second gripe. I like to watch TV DVDs like I listen to music. I play them in the background, mostly listening and occasionally watching. What I don't want to do is to click through menus every time an episode ends. I want the all episodes to play consequently without any interaction from me. Unfortunately the X-files collection doesn't let you do that. After watching the episode (and the damn warnings) you have to travel all the way back to the main menu and click on the next episode (and watch the warnings again).

    • Re:great! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ywwg ( 20925 ) on Monday January 14, 2002 @12:29AM (#2834876) Homepage
      unless of course you want the picture quality, 5.1 sound, and extra features, not to mention no downloads that take all night, crap out, and have some Hax0rs watermark all over them

      and for 100$, it's a bargain

  • DVD Only Special Feature: (Score:5, Funny)

    by Nathdot ( 465087 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:09PM (#2834309)
    DVD Only Special Feature:

    *Skip Holodeck Episodes.

    :)

  • TNN is bad? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by spacefem ( 443435 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:09PM (#2834312) Homepage
    I kinda like watching TNG on TNN, it's weird, I know, but it adds to the atmosphere. So much of Star Trek is like a big party, a community, I don't always feel right watching it myself in the comfort of my own home, I like the feeling that millions of losers are watching it with me. Anybody else catch techTV's little stints at the Star Trek Experience lately? Excellent, nothing like an interview with a real Klingon to remind you that the culture is out there, not on your DVD shelf.
    • That is a gross misuse of the word "culture".

      • Re:TNN is bad? (Score:4, Funny)

        by Phexro ( 9814 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @11:31PM (#2834719)
        "That is a gross misuse of the word "culture"."

        nonsense.

        From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:

        Culture \Cul"ture\, n.
        1. (Biol.)
        (a) The cultivation of bacteria or other organisms in
        artificial media or under artificial conditions.

        for example, not showering for eight full days because you're too busy watching star trek.
    • Can you explain this "image squashing technology" for us non-Americans? Do they change the aspect ratio? Why would they need to do that? thanks.

      • Advantages of TNN image squashing (Score:5, Informative)

        by yerricde ( 125198 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:44PM (#2834419) Homepage Journal

        Can you explain this "image squashing technology" for us non-Americans? Do they change the aspect ratio?

        TNN [tnnonline.com] (The National Network, formerly The Nashville Network before Viacom bought it, moved all its programming to CMT, and turned TNN into a TBS/USA clone [tnnonline.com]) vertically scales the image on many of its shows into the top 6/7 or so of US TV's 240 visible scanlines. In the bottom 1/7, TNN displays its logo and unobtrusive textual advertisements. Good points: It lets TNN go longer without a commercial interruption, it moves the captions out of the way of the picture, and it's easily switched off for broadcasting letterboxed feature films. Bad point: It modifies the image.

        • If you use something like dscaler to watch TV and combine that with a window resizing program that can stretch windows off-screen like YxY, then it would be trivial to stretch the image back to the right proportion and then put the "ad-bar" off the bottom of the screen. If you don't watch TV on your computer you are probably SOL, but lots of people have got them hooked up to their projection systems and HDTV sets. This is an MS-Windows based solution though....

          dscaler [dscaler.org]
          YxY [keohi.com]

          (you might not even need YxY with the more recent versions of dscaler).
  • All seven discs are encoded with the Macrovision? AntiCopy process.

    Yeah, right! All this really means is that there will now be DIVX copies of Next Gen online.

  • Will they play on your machines? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by -douggy ( 316782 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:11PM (#2834317)
    All seven discs are encoded with the Macrovision(TM) AntiCopy process. The above information pertains to the North American release only.

    When are we getting them in region 2? Will ours be macrovision free? As we know only you US guys copy them to VHS for leet pirate salez :o)

    This post is not serious
    • Seem's like region 2 will [theflagship.net] be coming out.

      • Re:Will they play on your machines? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by AntiNorm ( 155641 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @10:05PM (#2834484)
        Why the heck would they want to region-protect STTNG DVDs anyway? The industry claims that region coding is there so that they can control the release of movies, etc. -- but STTNG is no movie. If they use region coding on something like this, the MPAA's argument for having region coding gets flushed down the drain. It becomes quite apparent (as if it wasn't already) that region coding is there for more than what they claim it is.
        • I would suspect that ST:TNG falls under the category you describe as etc.. Seriously, though, I don't think using region incoding on a television series invalidates the MPAA's argument - it doesn't stop people from still using the encoding to "protect" movies.
          This should not be viewed as an endorsement of idiotic abuses of media rights.
          *n

    • Re:Will they play on your machines? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Dumping to video is pretty easy - get an nVidia geForce based card with TV out, enable TwinView mode, and send the video and audio out to your VCR. Voila. Macrovision gone; and your tape is ready.

  • This is better... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by wo1verin3 ( 473094 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:12PM (#2834319) Homepage
    then the way they packaged the original series, by putting 2 episodes per DVD and charging $20-$30 per 2 episodes.

    I'll be collecting these, and hoping the original series, as well as Voyager is released in this fashion.

    I can't imagine DS:9 would sell quite as well... :)

    • Re:This is better... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Masem ( 1171 )
      I've read they've committeed to doing the full TNG run as series packaging, and will decide if the same is merited for DS9 and VOY depending on sales (and compare with TOS). If this method works, then they'll rerelease TOS in series format as well.

      I hope more TV series are released in this fashion. For example, Farscape is still 2eps a disk, making it unweldly to get. If you consider that you can cut the cost of production by having one large inset booklet and combined packaging, it's much more reasonable on both end of the sale.

    • In TN, at least at Best Buy, they were only $14.00 per DVD set.. still steep. They could have at -least- fit a 3rd episode onto each DVD. Or a fourth. Better than the $12.99 for a video tape with one episode on it they did in the early 90's, though.
    • Shrug, I actually preferred DS9 episodes (mid to end series run, the first one or two seasons weren't that great) to Voyager episodes and was sad to see it go. Voyager only had a handful of episodes I *truely* loved, and once the met the Borg it went uphill from there. =)

  • YES ! Now just a few more shows ... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by UnknownSoldier ( 67820 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:13PM (#2834325)
    It's about time bloody time Paramoun! Who would pay $20 for 2 episodes on a VHS/DVD ?? X-Files on DVD did it right from the beginning. Each season for ~ $120.

    Now we just need Babylon 5, Futurama, Deep Space 9, and Red Drawf on DVD and I'd be a happy sci-fi geek! Oh yeah, and the complete Lord of the Rings. ;-)

  • I'll wait for now... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by supernova87a ( 532540 ) <kepler1@@@hotmail...com> on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:28PM (#2834360)
    Although I enjoy watching Star Trek TNG (and none of the other series for some reason), I won't be rushing out to buy this set. I just watched one of the first series episodes on TNN last week, and it was awful -- just like I remember.

    If you want to see bad dialog, melodramatic music, poor lighting, etc. then buy this set. Honestly, I feel a little embarassed for the cast and producers when these first episodes are shown on tv...

    Whenever I watch one of these first episodes, I feel like they were trying so hard, yet it just didn't come out right. There were cheesy props, outlandish plot lines, and the thoughtful issues that made later episodes a success weren't yet developed. I enjoy it more when the stories and cast were subtle and nuanced. These episodes stand out like an ugly sore in TNG's generally good later work.

    I'll wait till the uniforms change -- that's one of the turning points!
    • As you corny as you say the first episodes were (I disagree, but I digress), they are still better than half of the damn crap on tv today.

    • Isn't that a big part of the appeal of the various treks - if they weren't so bad, it just wouldn't be as much fun.

      That btw, does in no way apply to the new one - that's just bad. (Though I've seen all of 20 minutes, so I guess this is a fairly uninformed judgement) I don't know, maybe the difference is the blatant, "relevant" propaganda - the bit I did see had to do with some Vulcan, pacifist temple being overrun by (absolutly ridiculous looking) blue aliens - for some reason it reminded me of a very Huxleyish book I read in highschool, forget the name ("The Giver"? maybe - don't quote me on that) - anyway, the whole thing just reeked of a new low.

  • Has anyone else really thought about these DVD tv episode deals?

    Seems to be a little too much. And when do we get Seinfeld, News Radio, or Night Court?

  • Complete Seasons on DVD (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Champaign ( 307086 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:30PM (#2834366) Homepage Journal
    I was really excited initially when I saw they started releasing complete seasons of shows on DVD. Since getting a couple, truth be told, I hardly watch them at all... There's some things that I'm willing to invest the energy to put on and watch, and other things that I'm only willing to pick up when channel surfing.

    The only thing I've found them really valuable for is when someone hasn't seen a series, and I want to show them a few episodes (e.g. The Sopranos). I was delighted to get the first season of "The Simpsons" and tore through the special features, but haven't watched a single episode from it. Something like TNG everyone's seen and I really can't see myself getting a craving to see "Data's Day" and throwing it on...

    Am I a freak or do other people buy these things and not watch them?
    • I figure that, at some point, I'll have the urge to just watch one episode from the series set, and this makes it easier to find it than VHS and much easier to store. Sure, I might only watch some episodes once ever, but, there will be others that I will watch over and over again.

    • No, you're not a freak. I'm the same way. There is something about knowing you can watch it whenever you feel like that makes you never feel like watching it. Part of it is that I feel like I spent money on so I should watch more carefully than I would "regular" TV (e.g. surfing Slashdot over 802.11b while watching).

      • Or worse, owning it (er, licensing it) and then one day flipping channels and finding you're watching it on a broadcast or cable channel anyway.

        Now that's really stupid...

    • This is where you need one of Pioneer's 301 DVD changers [pioneer-america.com], so you can plop in all of the discs and just watch them as the mood strikes (the only inconvenience might be trying to find a specific episode amidst all of the discs). Plus, if this is like their 301 CD changers, you can link them together for a total of 602 DVD's. I agree though, normally when I buy TV shows on DVD, I usually might watch one or two episodes + all the extras, but I figured I'd provide the other option above for those who want to make their investment worthwhile. =)

      (Oh and BTW, the MSRP on that 301 changer is $1100 right now, but I'm sure you can a) find it cheaper on StreetPrices.com or b) wait for them to realize that the technology is the same as they used in their 301 CD changer, and lower the price accordingly.)

  • Months TNG DVDs will be released (Score:3, Informative)

    by bigdreamer ( 465083 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:30PM (#2834370) Journal
    A new season will be released every other month

    March 2002: Season 1
    May 2002: Season 2
    July 2002: Season 3
    Septemeber 2002: Season 4
    November 2002: Season 5
    January 2003: Season 6
    March 2003: Season 7

    I can only afford 1 season. Which one should I get for my Dad? He likes them all.

    • Re:Months TNG DVDs will be released (Score:5, Informative)

      by bytor4232 ( 304582 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @10:14PM (#2834515) Homepage Journal
      I would say season 5 has to be one of the best:
      1. "Unification" with Leonard Nemoy was great. I love Picard calling Spock a "Cowboy Diplomat.".
      2. "Cause and Effect" is great as well, wonderful concept of "causality" loop made for a great story.
      3. "First Duty" was another good one, if for nothing but seeing Wes in the hot seat.
      4. "I Borg" with the borg "Hugh" becoming an individual was a great episode
      5. "The Next Phase" is another good episode, as much of a weenie Geordi was, this was a good one with Geordi as one of the primary stars.
      6. "The Inner Light" is my all time favorite episode. This is the one where a probe imprints Picard with all the experiences and trials of an entire society by making Picard live a life of one of the peoples.
      There are other episodes as well. I felt this was the pinnacle of their acting and story development. Don't get me wrong thou, seasons six and seven are awesome as well.
      • "Disaster" was one of my favorite episodes. Any event where EVERYTHING breaks down, massive confustion, and the simple issues of rank vs. experience, brings out more development in the characters and shows how people really hold up in a crisis.

        Dianna taking command of the ship because she was the senior officer present, although she had no idea what to do.

        Worf having to deliver a baby because he was the only one present with the necessary basic medical training.

        Data having to sacrifice himself (potentially) in order to achieve their goal.

        And Picard being stuck in a turboshaft, wounded with three crying children. Ultimately his worst nightmare come true.

        -Restil
      • Season 5 *was* definitely one of the best seasons, (though I think you missed Darmok on that list :) )...

        .. But my all-time favorite episode had to have been "Frame of Mind [caltech.edu]." (When Riker is convinced he's going insane.) I loved the surreal ones - and that one definitely takes the cake for that label!
    • Which one should I get for my Dad? He likes them all.


      Well, I'm not exactly objective here, but I think the 4th season was the best one. I can't quote you titles and guest stars (and I'm sure I'll catch hell for that), but I thought we had more winners than losers that year.

      And, of course, in a flash of brilliance, I chose to celebrate that streak of great shows by quitting.
  • But somehow, watching them years later, especially after going through the entire run of B5 and being a bit older, I find that many of the episodes really, really suck badly.

    They simply don't hold up well at all.

    And while the first season of most shows usually pretty weak, I find it took a long time for TNG to really get anywhere. The early episodes of the first season are especially painful and I find them completely unwatchable.

    I'll just pass on the DVDs and remember TNG for how I saw it then and avoid any reruns. Let the pleasent memories remain.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:I was such a TNG addict back in the day (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Restil ( 31903 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @11:02PM (#2834658) Homepage
      I think the problem, primarily with the next generation, is it's just too..... campy. There's no internal conflict. Concepts of a 14 year old boy at the helm seem to go over perfectly with the rest of the crew, many who have spent years and years in training for just such a privalage. People that spend 7 years doing the exact same job and never getting promoted.

      At least DS9 had elements to it which made it more realistic (as realistic as sci-fi can get anyways) and had more interesting story arcs around several common themes. It allowed them to have more character development, and people actually went somewhere.

      We see Nog start the series as a juvinile delinquent and over the years become a respected officer in startfleet. The most growth that any characters show in TNG is Data, and thats for little more than very poorly done comic relief.

      The battles are more intense. Civilians actually get scared when things start blowing up around them. Children of captains somehow don't always aspire to join Starfleet. And sometimes, your most powerful allies are dishonest assassins who used to work for the other side, and if not for exile would gladly join up with them again.

      MUCH more realistic in my opinion.

      -Restil
      • "We see Nog start the series as a juvinile delinquent and over the years become a respected officer in startfleet. The most growth that any characters show in TNG is Data, and thats for little more than very poorly done comic relief. "

        And what about Data's cat Spot? That cat had more changes than any other character since it seemed to change gender more than once! In the episode "Genesis" it gave birth, but then again in "Generations" they refer to Spot as "he" several times.

  • Damn. (Score:2, Offtopic)

    by lnxslak ( 524709 )
    We are the MPAA, We will add your money and individuality to our own. Resistance is futile.

    damn.

    lnxslak.

  • Can we can an official comment... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 13, 2002 @09:59PM (#2834463)
    from Will Wheaton?

    How does he feel about bringing back those childhood nightmares of being Mr Crusher?

  • Uh huh. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 13, 2002 @10:08PM (#2834492)


    Slashdot (to MPAA): You fucking fascists. We hate you.
    MPAA: But look at these shiny colors!
    Slashdot: Oooh! How much?

    • Re:Uh huh. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by HydroCarbon10 ( 40784 ) on Monday January 14, 2002 @12:31AM (#2834882) Journal
      and then there's the ever popular:

      Slashdot (to Microsoft): We hate you, go away!
      Microsoft: But we've got DOA3 with realistic bouncing women
      *slashdot hands over it's collective soul

      Go ahead, mod this down. You know, deep down, that you are spineless and have sold out your beliefs for entertainment.

    • We are not Borg (Score:3, Insightful)

      by ajs ( 35943 )
      I hate to be topical, here, but we are not Borg. The "Slashdot Community" is no more a single hive-mind with but a single thought than any other broad-based subculture (I remember someone explaining to me that this is why the gay community has such a hard time getting anything done).

      When you see one article with folks flaming the MPAA and saying that they (MPAA) needs to be stopped, and another which raves about some new DVD, why would you assume that the same people are interested? Slashdot is correctly reporting on "News for Nerds", it's not censoring "cool MPAA stuff" because it would hurt some particular cause any more than its censoring anti-MPAA stuff; nor should they!

      Now, I very much see the value in pointing out to the "ooh, shiny thing" audience that these brand new nifty DVDs are brought to you by the folks who want to stamp out fair use as if it were a plague, but let's not expect that EVERYONE will listen. Many folks who are geeky enough to care about what Slashdot says have no interest in fair use and what it means to them. I consider this their loss, but it's a valid point of view.
  • DVDs of the 2nd season of Sex In The City (from HBO), 18 episodes, is $37.48 at Amazon.com (and fits on 3 DVDs). Sorry, but 26 episodes should under no circumstances cost this much. I would love to own some of the later seasons, but $100 is ridiculous. Making the licensee even more greedy is the fact that HBO is selling at that price without any additional income coming in on the show's balance sheets from syndication rights. Paramount, on the other hand... Sigh.
    • Ok, comment withdrawn. I thought Sex In The City was an hour show. It's not. I still think they could knock $25-30 off the price by not putting it in "collector" packaging, but it's not as much of a rip-off as I thought. :-)
  • It would probably be cheaper to put together a cheap computer and a month of broadband internet to download them all in divx...

    Tim

  • Can't they count? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 13, 2002 @10:12PM (#2834507)
    Why can't they manage to get the shows in order on the DVD's?

    Disc 1: Encounter at Farpoint Parts 1 & 2 (episodes 101, 102), The Naked Now (103), Code of Honor (104)

    Disc 2: The Last Outpost (107), Where No One Has Gone Before (106), Lonely Among Us (108), Justice (109)

    Disc 3: The Battle (110), Hide and Q (111), Haven (105), The Big Goodbye (113)

    Disc 4: DataLore (114), Angel One (115), 11001001 (116), Too Short a Season (112)

    Disc 5: When the Bough Breaks (118), Home Soil (117), Coming of Age (119), Heart of Glory (120)

    Disc 6: The Arsenal of Freedom (121), Symbiosis (123), Skin of Evil (122), We'll Always Have Paris (124)

    Disc 7: Conspiracy (125), The Neutral Zone (126), Special Features

    • Re:Can't they count? (Score:5, Informative)

      by glwtta ( 532858 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @10:45PM (#2834608) Homepage

      Actually, syndicated shows are often not show in order (various issues with production schedules and the individual stations broadcasting them) and that order is often corrected when they come out on video.

      I certainly don't know if that's the case here, but it's not unheard of.

      What I am wondering is why they only put 4 episodes per disc - minus the commercials an episode is what, 40 minutes or so? They gotta be able to fit more on a DVD, or did they leave the commercial in? ;)

      • Re:Can't they count? (Score:4, Informative)

        by DarkEdgeX ( 212110 ) on Sunday January 13, 2002 @11:41PM (#2834739) Journal
        A dual layer DVD can (according to DVD Demystified [dvddemystified.com]) hold over 4 hours of high quality video-- each episode was 45 minutes (commercial free). 240 minutes / 45 minutes = 5.333. They could have fit 5 episodes per disc, with room to spare for the teaser commercials as a per-disc extra. And actually, the author says "over 4 hours" but not by how much.. if it was 4.5 hours, they could have fit 6 episodes possibly per disc. =)

        The only problem is that dual layer discs have that 'layer transition' effect on certain older or low-cost DVD players (the images freezes for a split second while it switches layers).

    • The order the shows are listed in is the order in which they originally aired. The numbers attached to each refer to the order in which they were filmed. For example, Symbiosis (123) was filmed after Skin of Evil (122) and Denise Crosby appears in both, despite Yar's death in Skin of Evil. If the shows were in order of production there would be many more continuity problems to whine about. The first season is generally the worst about this sort of thing; later seasons were filmed more or less in order.

  • Cliffhangers. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by bytor4232 ( 304582 )
    This is a great concept, if for nothing else but the marketing involved. At the end of every season after the second one, there was a season finale cliffhanger. You will get to the last DVD in the series and go, "well dang, I gotta have the next season!" Then you run out and pop down another C-note!

  • that every episode will be divxified and all over gnutella (and the like) within days after each season's release, right?

    Hey, I am all for supporting stuff I like, but close to $1K (how many seasons were there, anyway?) is a bit much to rewatch TNG again... Now, DS9 I'll pay for, if/when they put that out on DVD.

    Incidentally, this would be perfect for digital distribution though - I doubt many people will buy even several seasons at this price, and $100 is probably as low as they can get, all things considered (most shows are about $160-$180/season if I recall correctly; but that's all from VHS days - 7 DVDs gotta be less expensive than 12 tapes), but I am sure a lot more people would pay, let's say, $30ish per season to download (that's download, not stream) high quality mpegs (let's say VCD compliant, to make that road to the DVD player from the PC that much easier) of one season, from a reasonably fast server. Hell, I would, and I am willing to wager that in fact they'd end up making a lot more money off of it that way.

    If only there was a way to sort out this digital distribution/rights management debacle without making it feel like the consumer is taking it up the ass.

  • Funny this topic should come up. After making the TNN Star Trek think a regular habit, I hunted down an old resource: http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/st-tng [caltech.edu]

    This episode guide has been a great thing, at least while I'm online.

    But I can't find the old Vidiot Postscript version that killed so many trees while I was in college. I mean, printing that puppy up on a nice color laser would be a great companion to this DVD set!

  • I don't see them on the feature list, dang... that would have made this one really worth having. Perhaps we might get lucky and see some on the upcoming sets.

    I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I kinda remember reading that there are a host of licensing issues surrounding outtakes and bloopers hence the lack of any released tapes. I have a short mpeg of a few from Voyager, DS9, and TNG and they are great! You can find them on Kazaa (gotta love spyware...) since I doubt my host would be too impressed if I were to host them off my site.
    • I don't know about TNG, but apparantly with each season of Voyager's bloopers, these were compiled onto a tape, played at the season wrap party, and then destroyed. They decided that the bloopers would be reserved for the cast & crew's (one time) enjoyment only.

      A shame too. I read an interview with Jeri Ryan (7 of 9) once, and she gave an anecdote of an amusing blooper where Garret Wang (Ensign Kim) was supposed to grab her elbow to get her attention. She miscued and turned to face him too early, and Garret wound up accidentally grabbing her boob! Apparantly there were many "That's not an elbow" jokes on the set from that point on...
  • I wonder if they'll return my calls on this one?
    *grin*

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