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Are buying the TNG/TOS DVD sets worth it?

nonbelligerency

Lieutenant
Red Shirt
Hi All-

I'm still a new member but am a lifelong trek fan.

I've never bought any Trek shows or movies on DVD. We get all of our TV through Hulu, Amazon Prime and Netflix. I own a regular DVD player and VHS though.

Is buying any of the series on DVD worth it? I do like the outtakes/extras/bloopers etc. Seeing them crack up and chat on the stage etc is great. Is it worth buying them? Is there enough cool stuff to make up for the cost?
 
Hi All-

I'm still a new member but am a lifelong trek fan.

I've never bought any Trek shows or movies on DVD. We get all of our TV through Hulu, Amazon Prime and Netflix. I own a regular DVD player and VHS though.

Is buying any of the series on DVD worth it? I do like the outtakes/extras/bloopers etc. Seeing them crack up and chat on the stage etc is great. Is it worth buying them? Is there enough cool stuff to make up for the cost?

You will only be able to see bloopers and deleted scenes on the Blu-rays, and the picture quality blows the DVDs out of the water. In my opinion, buying the DVDs now would be a waste of money. They look terrible and the special features are only so-so. My suggestion would be to wait for a deal and get the Blu-rays when they are $25-$30 each in the U.S. You can actually get the region free UK "Full Journey" set for about $200 right now. Head on over to TrekCore to take a look at the packaging to see if it's something you'd be okay with.

And, of course, a Blu-ray player will set you back about $50, but it's a good investment. :)
 
I only use DVD, and bought used copies of TOS. I have the first two seasons remastered with the CGI effects, the third season with original effects. There are no outtakes.

But it depends whether you're more interested in watching episodes whenever you want day and night, as I am, or are more interested in special features than the episodes themselves.
 
The DVD's of TOS and TNG are worth it, if one has no interest in Hi-def media. But the Blu-ray's are vastly superior when it comes to picture, color and sound.
 
Another reason I went DVD is I only have heavy, ancient, obsolete television sets that use something called a picture tube.
 
I guess at this point it depends on what kind of "video owner" you are. I, personally, am "old-school" in my advanced year of 35 where I like to have a physical copy of movies/tv-shows that I own. There's just something satisfying and refreshing about opening a box, handling a piece of physical media, placing it in a device, waiting for it load, and getting frustrated when, apparently, your device "remembered" where you left off with the disc the last time you watched it months ago. (Or the days of tape where it wasn't rewound after its last use or in the case of several movies/episodes being on one tape having to rewind/fast-forward to the right place on the tape.)

But, for more and more people (particularly you young 'uns) it's okay to simply have access to something through some-type of service. (Netflix, streaming from Amazon, Google or whatever) I have Netflix which works for things I want to see that I don't necessarily want to own but Netflix's library isn't consistent so I wouldn't use it in the case of wanting to "own" a TV series and, for me, it's easier to put in a disc and select an episode than it is to load-up Netflix, select the show, select the season, select the episode. Or type in a search string.

Owning a streaming series has similar problems when it comes to getting to it anytime you want and potential problems down the road with it. Really, how do we know things like Google Play or Amazon's streaming service will be there forever? So why buy things on it that you may not always have? I have my TNG Discs. They're mine. They exist. I can touch them. I will ALWAYS have them. (Though maybe not always a means to watch them depending on how things go down the road.)

What am I getting at?

What kind of video-owner are you?

How strong of a fan are you?

How much do you want to get into the series?

How much do special features mean to you?

I can honestly say I rarely watch special features on discs anymore, rarely do I get anything from them that I didn't already know or couldn't figure out myself. (Really?! Rocket and Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy were created with advanced CGI and intricate mo-cap techniques along with having some guy in a green suit providing a physical reference point for the actors and animators? Wow! Remarkable... Only that that's pretty much how CGI has been done for 25 years and pretty much how special effects have been done for the entire history of cinema.)

The TNG BDs do have some interesting stuff in the way of interviews and looks at the series from the actors where they are today and I do enjoy the occasional commentary track and deleted scene.

So, do you want deleted scenes, cast interviews and seeing how terrible trailers were for a syndicate TV series in the 1990s? Then get the discs.

Otherwise, all of Trek is available for streaming on Netflix (though I'm not sure if it's in the Remastered/Updated versions.) Unless you're a real, serious, fan there's little reason to get the discs, unless the BD versions aren't available on Netflix or other streaming service, in which case the discs are well worth it for the vastly better picture over the DVD versions.

I say this only because the discs are rather expensive. I love them. I loved buying them (not necessarily parting with the money) but they're kind of hefty an investment.

TNG's a great series so well worth watching.

Discs verses streaming? Again, what kind of media "owner"/watcher are you and how much do special features really mean to you?
 
Well, DVDs are cheaper. Here in Germany you get all seasons of TNG on DVD for the price of one season TNG on Bluray.
 
If you're already using Netflix, all of the Trek shows are available on Instant Streaming.

Seems like a waste to spend money just for some extra features.
 
Not sure I am a youngin, compared to you, at 34. :techman:

I'd say that I *want* to be one of those guys that likes owning the physical copy. For instance, the whole Amazon AutoRip thing. I thought- this is awesome. Streaming copy now, and a disc in the mail. But I never use the physical copy. It just sits and collects dust. All of my music is in the cloud, either on Amazon or on my cloud drive here at the house.

Video could be considered differently though. I do agree on the whole "Will Amazon's streaming service still be around". Good thinking there.

Not sure if I'd want to spend the money- even if I saw a lot of the behind the scenes stuff- I probably am not going to recall most of it after a few years anyway.

Although I do remember a TNG behind the scenes from when I was a kid- I think it was on Reading Rainbow. I remember a clip of Dorn coming out of a makeup trailer, busting out with the door slamming open. It was neat seeing what I call 'production footage'.
 
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