Why does DIsney hate "Earth Star Voyager"?

[JD]

Tron got a Blu-ray release in 2011 at the same time Tron: Legacy was released on BR.

That does appear to be the only Blu-Ray that comes up on Amazon, but I still swear I saw it on the new release page a lot more recently then that. Although it can be screwy at times, so I guessTron could have somehow ended up on the page even though it's been out for years.

 

[11Alive]

Disney has always been about tightly controlling their brand and limiting availability whenever possible so they can make a big event of every release. Whereas other companies might turn out anything that might make them some small margin, Disney's not going to because it wouldn't be a 'Release event' or anything like that.

I don't think that's true. Disney and its companies have issued quite a few movies with little to no fanfare. In my own collection, Flight of the Navigator, Pretty Woman, Splash, The Love Bug and the Rocketeer Blu-rays all came out without much publicity, understandable since they're older movies. Hard to see how they could make the Rocketeer an event since it was a major box office disappointment. Likewise, My Science Project languished through several lackluster DVD releases (letterboxed, for crying out loud) before finally a low-key Blu-ray release last year that I never would have known about if I hadn't read it in a forum.

 

[JD]

They don't do the whole temporary release thing with their live action movies as much as they do with their animated movies.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

My Science Project languished through several lackluster DVD releases (letterboxed, for crying out loud) before finally a low-key Blu-ray release last year that I never would have known about if I hadn't read it in a forum.

My Science Project. Now that's a great little sci-fi adventure comedy! At least that's what I remember. It must be at least 25 years since I last watched it.

 

[tomswift2002]

Yeah, I'd guess there's some sort of messy rights issues gumming up the works. And it's probably not worth unleashing an army of lawyers to sort it out.

That's just wild speculation on my part, though.

Well, apparently Earth Star Voyager did get an official VHS release back in the late-80's/early-90's. Ebay currently has a Hebrew PAL version (the seller claims that the subtitles are in Hebrew---whether these are burnt in subtitles or not, they don't say, I'm going to assume that they are, but the audio is the original English) on VHS for $80 USD. But I've also seen other sites that have pictures of VHS sleeves from Germany and France. So it seems that the movie was officially released in PAL and SECAM regions.

But Disney is notorious for not releasing it's 1980's and 1990's TV programs on DVD, or for only doing partial releases. As far as I'm aware the 1980-1994 era has largely been forgotten by Disney, and even in the VHS era there were only a few releases from that time period.

 

[Mudd]

They don't do the whole temporary release thing with their live action movies as much as they do with their animated movies.

They still doing that with the animateds?

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

Well, apparently Earth Star Voyager did get an official VHS release back in the late-80's/early-90's. Ebay currently has a Hebrew PAL version (the seller claims that the subtitles are in Hebrew---whether these are burnt in subtitles or not, they don't say, I'm going to assume that they are, but the audio is the original English) on VHS for $80 USD.

The subtitles are "burnt in" and can't be removed. It's VHS. Video cassettes don't have menus and language and subtitles options.

 

[JD]

They still doing that with the animateds?

I'm not sure. They do still seem to be releasing new editions quite a bit, but I'm don't know if they're pulling them as fast as they used to.
They did apparently do this with some of the live action movies too. I'm doing a Pirates of the Caribbean rewatch in preparation for Dead Men Tell No Tales, and the two disc DVD edition of At World's End I own has a booklet that says it was only available until Sept. 30, 2008. I'm not sure when it originally came out, so I don't know how long it was available.

 

[tomswift2002]

The subtitles are "burnt in" and can't be removed. It's VHS. Video cassettes don't have menus and language and subtitles options.

They could've been referring the close-capitioning

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

They could've been referring the close-capitioning

Same thing. The subtitles or closed captions are part of the video image in VHS cassettes. They can't be removed if the VHS has them.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^^ aka Deepwater Black.

Why did they change the name?

 

[11Alive]

To resurrect this zombie topic:

If anyone is still interested, a complete version of this movie was uploaded to YouTube in two parts two months ago. Complete broadcast with all of the original commercials. Only VHS quality, but in some ways perhaps the holy grail version of this, letting you relive the atmosphere of 37 years ago – ads, bad reception, Michael Eisner intros and all. Watch it before it becomes a victim of a DMCA takedown order.

 

[Morpheus 02]

To resurrect this zombie topic:

If anyone is still interested, a complete version of this movie was uploaded to YouTube in two parts two months ago. Complete broadcast with all of the original commercials. Only VHS quality, but in some ways perhaps the holy grail version of this, letting you relive the atmosphere of 37 years ago – ads, bad reception, Michael Eisner intros and all. Watch it before it becomes a victim of a DMCA takedown order.

Thanks...though by the time I get a chance ot will be gone...we'll see

 

[TheFlutteringHorde]

Interesting. Reminds me more of the old Soviet duo of movies Moscow-Cassiopeia and Teens in the Universe from the 70s than it does anything like Star Trek.

 

[11Alive]

Thanks...though by the time I get a chance ot will be gone...we'll see

You can download it using 4kvideodownloader to watch later if you really want to.

 

[WarpTenLizard]

Never heard of this show. But seeing as I'm a fan of Disney, scifi, B-movies and obscure media, this is now on my to-watch list. Thanks!

As for the DVD release, I agree with others that the cost of releasing something so obscure may not be worth it for Disney. But, I wonder if releasing a compilation DVD containing a handful of obscure cult films and short-lived shows would sell better. I'd be interested even if I'd never heard of any of the shows on it.