As we predicted last year with the announcement of the Blu-ray release of Star Trek The Next Generation, CBS has announced that the next series in the franchise to be released on the high-definition format would be Star Trek: Enterprise. If you don’t recall, we said this was a no-brainer simply due to the fact the series was produced entirely in full-HD resolution from beginning to end so the process to produce the series in Blu-ray would seem to require a minimal amount of work compared to its other counterparts which would require a recompositing of their standard definition elements in HD. The only complication to the process would be producing the DTS-HD MA track that will no doubt be a part of the offering, but then again, there’s only four seasons of ENT as opposed to seven of TNG. So, this being said, never doubt our awesome powers.
For those inevitibly butt-hurt Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans who are going to whine about how their show should be the priority, you have to think outside the box a bit on this one. The TNG Blu-ray release has done very well so far and is expected to keep growing but the release of all seven seasons has been spaced out over the course of almost two years. There has been no announcement as to when the remastered series will find its way to weekly syndication or on digital platforms so for right now, the cashflow and capital required to keep these Trek HD projects projects going is at a bit of a trickle. It simply makes sense to kickstart the revenue flow with an easier and far less expensive product to produce like ENT to keep the projects funded without deficits (or with significantly lower deficits) and to keep the ball rolling on them.
Do we have any proof that this is the thought-process of the big cheeses over at CBS Television Distribution? Nope, it’s purely speculative, but we know how businesses and cashflow works.
To celebrate the Blu-ray release of ENT, StarTrek. com is giving fans the opportunity to choose their favorite cover for the new sets on Facebook. Go here to cast your vote!
Here are the options:
The SuperGeeks Super Blog 