Star Trek Deep Space 9 available on blu ray?

VisionMan

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Is Star Trek DS9 available to buy on blu ray? I know Voyager isn't, but the situation with DS9 is a little unclear to say the least. I've already had a hunt for it across multiple sites but so far drawn a blank.
 
No, unfortunately not. It still is the greatest Star Trek show.
 
No.

The only way you'll ever see some HD footage is via this documentary:


I've yet to watch it as I'm still working my way through my DVD Box Set, but the reviews are very positive regarding the doc in its own right.

Make sure your player is Multi Region if you're interested in purchasing.
 
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No.

The only way you'll ever see some HD footage is via this documentary:


I've yet to watch it as I'm still working my way through my DVD Box Set, but the reviews are very positive regarding the doc in its own right.

Make sure your player is Multi Region if you're interested in purchasing.
That was a great doc. And it made me sad we'll never see an HD remaster. The interior shots were a huge improvement. I can take or leave the cgi exteriors. That's not what DS9 was about anyway. Best trek series by a long way. And one of the great TV shows of all time.
Definitely check out the doc. Some very candid interviews.
 
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Thanks for the feedback guys. Appreciated. I'll stop looking now but how sad...
For what it's worth - I've been pleasantly surprised at the picture and sound quality of my DVD Box Set, and this is an image blown up on a 65" OLED!

You're always aware you're watching a SD image, but it's not as grainy nor washed out as I'd feared and the 5.1 lossy sound isn't too bad.

You said in your original post that the "situation with DS9 is a little unclear", but all I've ever read online are people's wishes that the show would be HD remastered, there's never been any kind of official announcement.

Do you have any links that suggest otherwise?
 
I can tell you that on those pirate sites there are no near HD masters, trust me I have looked. Unfortunately CBS didn't make back as much as they hoped restoring TNG so decided not to move ahead with DS9 and VOY. It is a real shame they are being short sighted, note they always say it didn't sell as well as they hoped rather then they lost money, they should be doing this to sell these shows into syndication and streaming platforms.

The current DVDs look woeful on my 4K TV, everytime I watch an episode of TNG I am amazed as the shear marvel of the technical achievement of how this show looks today.

I was at the Ira Behr DS9 panel at ST Destination the year they premiered the DS9 doc and he said something very blunt, he said the only people at the studio that care about DS9 were sitting on stage and they were all either ex staff from the show or involved in the doc.

If you want to see how cheap CBS are with regards to Star Trek check out episode "The Re-Making of star Trek with Dave Rossi" on the Inglorious Treksperts from 7th March 2020. He details his experience on working on the TOS remaster and how it was a struggle to get money to do the project properly.

For a franchise that has been a huge money maker for them they sure have been so cheap towards it.
 
No I don't, Derek. Only that some have pirate near HD copies remastered.

There have been a few trek fan who have been using machine learning/ai upscaling on DS9 and Voyager episodes. This could explain the pirate near HD copies you mention.

It's hit and miss, but overall an improvement to my eyes. This is one of the better examples.

 
If you want to see how cheap CBS are with regards to Star Trek check out episode "The Re-Making of star Trek with Dave Rossi" on the Inglorious Treksperts from 7th March 2020. He details his experience on working on the TOS remaster and how it was a struggle to get money to do the project properly.

For a franchise that has been a huge money maker for them they sure have been so cheap towards it.

I must admit I don’t recall that the same as you. The CBS in-house team ended up desperate to do the work, and agreed to it at a ridiculous loss-making price, and then ended up doing extensive work on top of the agreed scope as well.

However, I do agree I can’t understand why they can’t/won’t spend the money on remastering the remaining series, with the Blu-ray TOS, TNG and ENT sets always selling continually, the Animated Series is now out too, and the continual value in streaming, it’s surely worthwhile. There is some hope that if CBS get the rights back from Netflix, they’ll do it as part of maintaining all episodes on CBS/Paramount own streaming platform, especially if technology opens up cheaper ways of doing it.

The same cheapness extends to the 4K movies. However there are signs that the complicated mess of the Viacom companies is gradually starting to sort itself out, and a new Exec has been put in charge it seems, of pausing and re-evaluating Star Trek‘s future strategy.

The problem is that the whole history of Trek is plagued with executive and studio mismanagement. I kind of wish someone would make them an offer they can’t refuse, e.g. Amazon or Disney, or even Netflix, and take it off their hands, and then that company put money where their mouth is, that bought it with a plan and ambition and credibility in appointing the right people to run it. The problem with Viacom is they inherited it and therefore just see it as an heirloom that surely holds value if they hang onto it.
 
I can tell you that on those pirate sites there are no near HD masters, trust me I have looked. Unfortunately CBS didn't make back as much as they hoped restoring TNG so decided not to move ahead with DS9 and VOY. It is a real shame they are being short sighted, note they always say it didn't sell as well as they hoped rather then they lost money, they should be doing this to sell these shows into syndication and streaming platforms.

The current DVDs look woeful on my 4K TV, everytime I watch an episode of TNG I am amazed as the shear marvel of the technical achievement of how this show looks today.

I don't think either Voyager or DS9 are anywhere near as popular as TNG. So if they didn't make as much as they expected on TNG they're probably not prepared to take the risk with less popular shows. I certainly have no interest in DS9. Not too long ago I picked up most of Voyager on DVD quite cheaply. I've watched all of season one and I'm now part way through season two. I'm watching on a 55 inch 4k screen. There has been the odd really bad looking moment but it's reasonably ok for the most part. I wouldn't consider an upgrade unless I could pick it up very cheaply.

Bri
 
I must admit I don’t recall that the same as you. The CBS in-house team ended up desperate to do the work, and agreed to it at a ridiculous loss-making price, and then ended up doing extensive work on top of the agreed scope as well.

I think even the guy who was doing the interview laboured on how cheap they were, in the end they did get the money but it wasn't CBS it was Toshiba that injected the cash to keep TOS HD a HD-DVD exclusive.

As for the remaster itself even if they don't want to pay for it they could do several things, crowd fund it, or do a we need to sell x amount and we need you to preorder and pay up front. The Producers of What We Left behind managed to raise something like $6m. If you look at Robert Myer Burnett's tweet about the cost of the TNG restore he estimates that it cost $70,000 per episode x that by 178 episodes you are looking $12,460,000. You would have to add a bit more for the later seasons as more and more of the effects went CGI after Season 4 and more heavily after S6.

That is ever so much more then the cost of a DISCO episode (about $10m per episode). I think that is totally doable from a crowd funding type endeavour.

Or farm out the work to the fan community many of them are already restoring old movie prints, making fan movies that look incredible. Dare I say we may even get a better product then what CBS would do.

I don't think either Voyager or DS9 are anywhere near as popular as TNG. So if they didn't make as much as they expected on TNG they're probably not prepared to take the risk with less popular shows. I certainly have no interest in DS9. Not too long ago I picked up most of Voyager on DVD quite cheaply. I've watched all of season one and I'm now part way through season two. I'm watching on a 55 inch 4k screen. There has been the odd really bad looking moment but it's reasonably ok for the most part. I wouldn't consider an upgrade unless I could pick it up very cheaply.

Bri

If you go by the original ratings, absolutely TNG is the clear success story of the Berman era. DS9 was really mucked around the schedules, I have seen folks on Reddir recount how thier local affiliate would schedule the show in the middle of the night, drop it randomly or not carry it all and with its serial like nature I can see how it put people off. Branon Braga has also stated the decline in ratings did begin with DS9 and carried through to VOY and ENT.

Having said that, and a lot of this is anecdotal, but those shows have now seeing a reassurance in popularity, Reddit is full of people who originally dismissed the show but now have given it another chance and really enjoy it. The only real hard data there is, is from Netflix who a few years ago released some data on Star Trek and VOY seemed to be the show that people watched the most again probably people who didn't watch the original run now catching it.

As for how they look, the ability to tolerate is with the individual. I have a similar set up 55" 4K OLED and while they are watchable, they do look low res, blury and not great. Especially if you watch TNG and see just how night and day the difference is.
 
The only real hard data there is, is from Netflix who a few years ago released some data on Star Trek and VOY seemed to be the show that people watched the most again probably people who didn't watch the original run now catching it.
Yes I saw those stats and read the interviews with Netflex Execs. But I recall they both stated DS9 was the most popularly watched Star Trek show.
 
I think this is perhaps because DS9 is harder to dip in and out of given the broad story arcs around the Dominion and Odo. Certainly when I watch DS9 I will watch all seven series in order. By contrast it is easy to just watch your TNG favourites when you want a quick Star Trek hit.
I would suspect you are correct, and that was my thought too for DS9. I know from posting lots of people do as as you suggested for TNG and VOY. For me though when I watch one of those I like to watch from beginning to end, I may skip the odd episode, especially now I am keeping a rating loo log. Anything 2/5 or below will be skipped on future viewings.

Poor ENT didn’t even get a look in and that actually has improved with age.
 
I tried watching TNG and VOY a while ago.

I ended up dipping in and out of TNG and finding episodes I liked, there are some classics but there's a lot of dross as well and it's dated badly.
VOY was never great to start off with. I binned that idea after a few episodes. I don't know what I was thinking.

Needing a sci-fi fix during lockdown I thought I'd have a rewatch of B5 but instead started DS9, I've seen it before and knew I enjoyed it, but would I still enjoy it? It's been a long time and I've never binged it.

Overall, absolutely fantastic, with some of the best characters created in Star Trek. Armin Shimmerman as Quark and Andrew Robinson as Garak were outstanding, Sisko was a great Captain with a real human element to him both as a flawed person and loving father. It was fun seeing Nog grow up and develop into a Star Fleet Officer (RIP Aron Eisenberg). Gul Dukat was a great, charming and compellingly evil villain. So many great characters played so well.
I really enjoyed seeing the Klingons fleshed out and the Ferengi-centric episodes were always fun. Religion was handled well in the show, something I remember not being so keen on when watching it originally.

Think I might start on B5 next week, low-quality special effects and dodgy acting ahead for me. Despite all that though, it's still great.
 
I will agree that with TNG you can see that it has aged. Some episodes are still superb, lots are still entertaining, but lots are bad and I think those bad ones were bad to begin with.

VOY on the other hand, and it has been a while since I have seen it, has aged a lot better. It does have a lot of really poor and bad episodes, its whole premise was never fully realised but it is definitely worth a watch. As with most Trek shows it gets better as it goes on but I find this easier to watch then TNG now. Except for episodes that revolve around Neelix/Kes/Children/Fairhaven. And lastly no future Trek show should ever do an episode where people devolve into reptiles, it didn't work on TNG, VOY or ENT.

DS9 is by far the best of the Berman era Trek and is as watchable today as it was on BBC 2 all those years ago, it has everything that makes Trek intriguing and interesting with the best supporting cast ever assembled for Trek. The only episodes I don't like are the ones that focus on Dax's symbiot, or rather the past lives of the host. It made all the races like the Klingon's, Cardasian's and Ferengi seem so real. Funnily I just listened to the Inglorious Treksperts episode with Brian Fuller and he said the reason DS9 worked and VOY didn't was that Ira just didn't care what Berman had to say and fought him all the way and would often say you will have to fire me to stop me, where as the Branon Braga toed the company line.

Now B5 on the other hand is a masterpiece in a league of its own. It must be about 12 years since I last did a watch through and while early parts are some what dated (S1 was never great to begin with) it is hands down one of the best stories ever told on TV and a true example of serialised story telling that has yet to be bettered. JMS set a standard that no one will ever be able to come close. I should plan a rewatch sometime soon too.
 
I always avoid the early seasons of TNG and Voyager if I do a rewatch. Usually I start at season 4 for both.
 
There have been a few trek fan who have been using machine learning/ai upscaling on DS9 and Voyager episodes. This could explain the pirate near HD copies you mention.

It's hit and miss, but overall an improvement to my eyes. This is one of the better examples.


good episode as well.
 
Overall, absolutely fantastic, with some of the best characters created in Star Trek. Armin Shimmerman as Quark and Andrew Robinson as Garak were outstanding, Sisko was a great Captain with a real human element to him both as a flawed person and loving father.

Aww... I liked Morn.
 
No.

The only way you'll ever see some HD footage is via this documentary:


I've yet to watch it as I'm still working my way through my DVD Box Set, but the reviews are very positive regarding the doc in its own right.

Make sure your player is Multi Region if you're interested in purchasing.

I'm currently looking at what it would take to do some AI upscaling of existing DVDs, but will admit to it being a shame. It blows my mind that CBS doesn't think it'd be worth the cost of remastering. Did TOS and TNG really make that little an amount on return?
 
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I've just re-watched DS9 episode 1. Not only did I enjoy it, I thought it was bloody fantastic.
It really sets the tone and events of the rest nicely.
 

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