There were screenings over the last few days, did anyone go?
Was it worth the incredibly long wait?
Was it padded out with interviews with people from the NuTrek shows or was this kept to the Voyager cast and crew?
Early backers can now access the online copy of the film
Weirdly in the same email they said they are looking for a distribution partner for the Blu-ray/DVD. Given how long it has taken for this doc and how much money fans gave them they are really disorganised and slow.
I'm going to watch the digital copy this week.
Keeping all fingers crossed that there are none of the NuTrek actors taking up time in the documentary.
Funny, after finally being able to see it after so long, I'm actually going to wait until I finish rewatching the series in synch with the Mission Log podcast. So it'll be toward the end of the year for me!
Early backers can now access the online copy of the film
Weirdly in the same email they said they are looking for a distribution partner for the Blu-ray/DVD. Given how long it has taken for this doc and how much money fans gave them they are really disorganised and slow.
I'm going to watch the digital copy this week.
Keeping all fingers crossed that there are none of the NuTrek actors taking up time in the documentary.
Strange….I received my metal “Janeway Mug” replica for supporting the kickstarter campaign but didn’t receive this invite to view the online version of the documentary.
Strange….I received my metal “Janeway Mug” replica for supporting the kickstarter campaign but didn’t receive this invite to view the online version of the documentary.
I watched it today and it was ok. I don't think it was hugely grounded breaking. No big revelations beyond what has already been talked about especially if you are a big Voyager fan and have followed a lot of behind the scenes stories and podcasts over the years.
I think the massive delay and poor communication from the team working on this dampened my interest somewhat too.
A lot of footage wasn't HD as promised and they used CGI to redo a lot of shop shots.
Could have done without Garrett's ZeroG flight taking up a portion of the documentary.
I feel that should be an optional extra on the Blu-ray.
If you backed it at the right price you got a digital copy and then the Blu-ray and Dvd combo.
I doubt it will get a commercial physical release outside of the original Kickstarter but will likely release a paid streaming release the same as they did with the DS9 doc.
Oh, I hate when they do that. Interesting and good for him, but if it isn't about the production of the show it shouldn't be in there. I'm afraid to ask, did they also waste time on "fans go to conventions! Here are some things they had to say there", or "here's a guy with 1701 Neelix action figures"?
Oh, I hate when they do that. Interesting and good for him, but if it isn't about the production of the show it shouldn't be in there. I'm afraid to ask, did they also waste time on "fans go to conventions! Here are some things they had to say there", or "here's a guy with 1701 Neelix action figures"?
I hate that stuff too. For reasons that will likely baffle future generations, the news does this constantly. It’s one of those idiotic things they do because they’ve always done it and no one ever stopped to ask “wait, does this suck?”
So now every night the reporters are like something monumental and life changing just happened! Let’s find the dumbest people in the city and ask for their opinions about it!!!”
Also, I know this is not a spoiler, but I’m responding to a non spoiler that was responding to a spoiler, so it won’t make any sense if you avoided reading the original spoiler.
Oh, I hate when they do that. Interesting and good for him, but if it isn't about the production of the show it shouldn't be in there. I'm afraid to ask, did they also waste time on "fans go to conventions! Here are some things they had to say there", or "here's a guy with 1701 Neelix action figures"?
They have one of the Disco people very briefly giver her view on Janeway which was totally pointless.
Thankfully no fan opinions.
Thankfully Michael Westmore gets about 30 seconds to talk about doing makeup for the show and Dan Curry gets about 30 seconds.
No acknowledgement for Jay Chattaway and Dennis McCarthy in the music or sound effects teams.
Quite a bit of time was spent at the start talking about Genevieve Bujold.
I have a horrible feeling the "big surprise" for reaching the $1 million target the fans were promised and speculated quite heavily about was sending Garrett on the ZeroG flight, which is a huge let down.
I was hoping for a full cast sit down and interview, a la the TNG HD Remaster cast panel moderated by Robert Meyer Burnett.
I would even have taken the full panel talk they did on the 2020 cruise that has clips interspersed in the documentary.
Jennifer Lien gets the briefest of mentions regarding her struggles.
But the documentary felt very piecemeal, never a clip longer than about 1 or 2 minutes of each actor.
Jeri and Kate's rift is acknowledged but the two actors are never sat together discussing it. Although Jeri does say at one point that Kate apologised to her face.
There are a few low res clips from YouTube Trek panels, which if you're a Voyager fan you will have seen before.
The lack of HD remastered clips is one of the biggest let downs for me, I was looking forward to seeing Voyager in true visual and audio glory.
One clip of a Voyager space battle (recreated in new CGI) had Star Wars blaster sound effects which almost made me vomit.
They have one of the Disco people very briefly giver her view on Janeway which was totally pointless.
Thankfully no fan opinions.
Thankfully Michael Westmore gets about 30 seconds to talk about doing makeup for the show and Dan Curry gets about 30 seconds.
No acknowledgement for Jay Chattaway and Dennis McCarthy in the music or sound effects teams.
Quite a bit of time was spent at the start talking about Genevieve Bujold.
I have a horrible feeling the "big surprise" for reaching the $1 million target the fans were promised and speculated quite heavily about was sending Garrett on the ZeroG flight, which is a huge let down.
I was hoping for a full cast sit down and interview, a la the TNG HD Remaster cast panel moderated by Robert Meyer Burnett.
I would even have taken the full panel talk they did on the 2020 cruise that has clips interspersed in the documentary.
Jennifer Lien gets the briefest of mentions regarding her struggles.
But the documentary felt very piecemeal, never a clip longer than about 1 or 2 minutes of each actor.
Jeri and Kate's rift is acknowledged but the two actors are never sat together discussing it. Although Jeri does say at one point that Kate apologised to her face.
There are a few low res clips from YouTube Trek panels, which if you're a Voyager fan you will have seen before.
The lack of HD remastered clips is one of the biggest let downs for me, I was looking forward to seeing Voyager in true visual and audio glory.
One clip of a Voyager space battle (recreated in new CGI) had Star Wars blaster sound effects which almost made me vomit.
The huge delays and poor communication from the team definitely tempered my enthusiasm and gave me an objective view of the documentary.
Even as a huge Voyager fan I would say the documentary was just ok.
There were some positives. Having Jeri Taylor talk about creating and influencing the development of Janeway was nice.
Kate talking about the struggles of a 26 episode season of TV on her ability to be there for her young sons was interesting.
Only Ethan Phillips and Robert Picardo were ever in the same room to talk and even then there was no lengthy back and forth discussion which seemed like a missed opportunity or just heavy editing.
The cast panels on the blurays for TNG and ENT were more satisfying as the cast were there to discuss things together.
People may say, they couldn't do that here because of COVID, which is true to a degree, but given the extensive time they drew out the whole process the documentary team could have got them together in 2023/2024. I think overall it took about 3 years to get a talking heads documentary together which to me seemed very protracted given the $1 million of fan money that was put in.
Again this is all just my opinion, there are gushing reviews out there.
If it becomes available I would love to hear others views.
This is why I initially put my review in spoiler tags as I didn't want to give a bias, but it seems most here aren't too bothered.
I hope you get to see it and and enjoy it.
Thank you for your review. While I wasn’t involved in the Kickstarter campaign, I was really looking forward to this documentary. Voyager is my favorite show, and I’m currently in the middle of a rewatch (just entered Season 6).
However, I’ve had a few opportunities to shoot interviews with actors, and the main issue was always their schedules. Oh my! Just trying to find a free 10-minute window in a given week was nearly impossible.
That could be another reason why they didn’t all appear together. They live all over the country, they have jobs and personal lives—and getting the entire crew in one place, at one time, might’ve been an unrealistic goal for a fan-led production.
But yes, with separate talking heads, you do lose the on-screen chemistry between the characters.
Maybe even a simple Zoom conference call would’ve had a stronger emotional impact on fans—it’s not the same as being in the same room, but at least we’d get to see them interact a bit more naturally.
Thank you for your review. While I wasn’t involved in the Kickstarter campaign, I was really looking forward to this documentary. Voyager is my favorite show, and I’m currently in the middle of a rewatch (just entered Season 6).
I agree with your opinion.
However, I’ve had a few opportunities to shoot interviews with actors, and the main issue was always their schedules. Oh my! Just trying to find a free 10-minute window in a given week was nearly impossible.
That could be another reason why they didn’t all appear together. They live all over the country, they have jobs and personal lives—and getting the entire crew in one place, at one time, might’ve been an unrealistic goal for a fan-led production.
But yes, with separate talking heads, you do lose the on-screen chemistry between the characters.
Maybe even a simple Zoom conference call would’ve had a stronger emotional impact on fans—it’s not the same as being in the same room, but at least we’d get to see them interact a bit more naturally.
I totally agree.
The actors were all there together for the 2020 cruise though and that was a perfect opportunity to interview them together and get that rapport that was really missing from the documentary.
It’s a pity they didn’t even try to restore some of the footage in HD. The only real obstacle is getting access to the original film reels from the archive. I’m not sure how difficult that is for an “ordinary” person.
But cost-wise, it shouldn’t be the main issue—digitizing one minute of raw 35mm film to 4K costs around $30 (according to one company I found). So with $30,000, you could scan about 1,000 minutes of material.
Then it’s just a matter of putting in the hard work in DaVinci Resolve—maybe adding some new CGI if needed. Honestly, I believe you could fully remaster at least one episode for under $50,000. That’s just 5% of their total budget.
Hell, even if it cost $100,000, it would still be worth it.
