Dear readers,
I am back with Paramount+. They know they have Star Trek shows to offer me, they know I’ll take them back if they put new content out. It’s a dysfunctional relationship. But I think both sides know it.
But, since they know it, you have to wonder why they would then do something just plain designed to annoy me.
A 45-year-old movie f’goshsakes
A few months ago, Paramount+ debuted a remaster of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In addition to being 4K, Dolby Vision, Atmos, and all the current buzzwords for quality, it also had some very nice new CGI to augment — not replace — some of the effect shots that didn’t quite work. For example, there’s a scene where you see the exterior of the space office building, then Kirk gets into a shuttle and goes off. The initial shot didn’t have a shuttle in it. The remaster has it now. That’s the level of detail that we’re talking about here, and old-school Trek fans like me appreciate it.
There’s only one problem. Now that I’m back with Paramount+, that 4K remaster is gone! They took it off the service. You can still see the HD master of the film, but the nice new one is gone. Also gone, inexplicably, is the 2009 Star Trek and the most recent film, Star Trek Beyond. Um, so what gives?
ST:TMP is a 45-year-old movie for gosh sakes! Where are they shopping it to that they have to take it off Paramount+? I mean, maybe the newer ones might get a little money, but what are they thinking here? I suppose they could be under the impression that they’ll make a little cash with a 4K Blu-ray release, but at that point they may as well put it out on VHS if we’re talking about formats most people don’t use.
Forgive me, dear readers, but this really torques me.
You would think they would know better
Paramount+, back when it was known as CBS All Access, started out with one new program: Star Trek Discovery. They’ve debuted a fair amount of exclusive content since then, but there’s no question. They should know by now that people come for the Trek. So why play this game of pulling old films and shows off the service? It’s just bad faith. (one might be tempted to say, bad faith of the heart.) I can’t imagine there’s a real benefit to making people wonder if your streaming app is worth the money. And I certainly can’t imagine there’s a profit case to be made for making a 50-year-plus fan angry enough to blog about it.
And HBO Max
HBO Max continues to confound me. Apparently last month they took away not only old episodes of Sesame Street but also old Warner Bros. Cartoons. HBO’s then parent, Ted Turner, specifically created Cartoon Network to preserve access to older cartoons. It makes no sense that this content, owned by HBO’s current parent Discovery, would disappear from HBO Max. When you think about it even further, copyright on some of this stuff has to be close to up anyway, because the best cartoons are from the 1940s and 1950s. Why not keep it exclusive while you can? Hiding it away just creates more opportunities for piracy.
How did streaming get so sad and twisted anyway?
Like so many technological inventions, streaming started with a kind and noble notion. Put content out there for a fair price, or for free, and it will make people happy. Sure, the “fair price” thing was gonna win out, we all knew that most of the content wouldn’t be forever. And folks, I’m fine with that. But why take content that you own, content that’s close to 50 years old or even older, and keep it out of sight? Could there really be such steep royalties on such old stuff? I don’t believe it. But I don’t know what to believe. I don’t know why these company executives are dead set on annoying me. All I know is, well done… you succeeded. Now give me back my V’ger.
