To the Journey: looking back at Star Trek Voyager (documentary)

[renaissance_man]

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.

They broke their own agreed goal (Stretch Goal 9) by not remastering all the footage, despite the disclaimer being added, I don't know what they then spent the money on.
No sign of Stretch Goal 2 footage in the documentary either.

This is part of what bothers me about the documentary, the mis management and delays.
Giving them the benefit of the doubt maybe some of the footage will be extras on the Blu-ray but to my mind it should be part of the actual documentary. I'm not holding my breath, especially as they haven't even secured a distribution partner for the physical media, which again seems like terrible mismanagement of the project after 3 years.
It doesn't leave me hopeful for a potential Enterprise documentary, which is another series I am a huge fan of but after this experience I'm reticent to contribute to any further projects by 455 Films.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

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.

Yeah—they could have easily brought some visuals up to 4K:

 

[renaissance_man]

Yeah—they could have easily brought some visuals up to 4K:

They did have updated CGI in the documentary, they may have even asked this guy for clips from his recreation but when you put that next to lower quality footage from the episodes the contrast was stark.
I thought they would have at least sourced the original negatives to scan for the very few clips from episodes.
There were one or two clips in the documentary that ooked like upscaled/uprezed footage, similar to what some YouTubers have posted, but you can still tell it isn't a true HD clip from laser scanned original camera negatives.

It just feels like a huge missed opportunity given the level of fan support.

 

[trekker670]

I watched this over the weekend as well. It felt pretty surface level, in my opinion, compared to "What We Left Behind". It seems like WWLB really benefited from having Ira Stephen Behr driving the project (and maybe even some of Avery Brooks' input, based on various interviews). WWLB had a very different feel from your typical documentary looking back at a 25+ year old show. It dug deeper and told a cohesive narrative about the making and legacy of the show.

"To The Journey" felt like an extended version of the value added material you'd find on an official bluray. They touched on the controversies that are public knowledge, but didn't really dig into them or reveal anything new. It took the typical approach of just going through the characters and actors one-by-one, intermixed with the Paramount tour and Zero G stunt. It felt like it suffered from a lack of direction and vision. WWLB was able to uncover the "hypothetical season 8" as a driving force, but TTJ never really found its hook. It's a fine documentary on its own, but I think it's the weakest when put up against "What We Left Behind" and "Chaos on the Bridge". WWLB was a high bar, but I feel like they oversold and underdelivered on the crowdfunding campaign for "To The Journey", especially when you considered they raised twice as much for it.

 

[renaissance_man]

I watched this over the weekend as well. It felt pretty surface level, in my opinion, compared to "What We Left Behind". It seems like WWLB really benefited from having Ira Stephen Behr driving the project (and maybe even some of Avery Brooks' input, based on various interviews). WWLB had a very different feel from your typical documentary looking back at a 25+ year old show. It dug deeper and told a cohesive narrative about the making and legacy of the show.

"To The Journey" felt like an extended version of the value added material you'd find on an official bluray. They touched on the controversies that are public knowledge, but didn't really dig into them or reveal anything new. It took the typical approach of just going through the characters and actors one-by-one, intermixed with the Paramount tour and Zero G stunt. It felt like it suffered from a lack of direction and vision. WWLB was able to uncover the "hypothetical season 8" as a driving force, but TTJ never really found its hook. It's a fine documentary on its own, but I think it's the weakest when put up against "What We Left Behind" and "Chaos on the Bridge". WWLB was a high bar, but I feel like they oversold and underdelivered on the crowdfunding campaign for "To The Journey", especially when you considered they raised twice as much for it.

I was really hoping the "Surprise" for reaching the $1 million 10th Stretch Goal would have been something like the hypothetical season 8 writers room or something really creative and insightful. Looking at the documentary I am just guessing the ZeroG flight is what they spent the money on as I can't see what else it could be. Quite deceptive given the goal's wording is "Exclusive never before seen VOYAGER surprise". If the ZeroG flight is what they are referring to, I don't see how it is in any way Voyager related. It is Garrett related.
Deleted scenes or cast behind the scenes exclusive footage from the set would have been Voyager related.

Don't get me wrong I like the Harry Kim character, I related to him in a way growing up as he was probably the character closest to my age.
It is interesting to learn now though why Garrett wasn't given the opportunity to direct as he wanted. The actor has claimed various reasons in the past related to Rick Berman. It is clear now that his lack of commitment to the professionalism the producers expected of an actor in a regular role was the real reason. Going to Vegas every weekend for 2 years and turning up late 3 times is more likely why they didn't allow him a chance to direct for the show.

Very underwhelming.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

I watched this over the weekend as well. It felt pretty surface level, in my opinion, compared to "What We Left Behind". It seems like WWLB really benefited from having Ira Stephen Behr driving the project (and maybe even some of Avery Brooks' input, based on various interviews).

Avery…great actor but a strange cat:

 

[trekker670]

"To the Journey" has some Facebook messenger groups. There's been chatter recently about not rescanning the film in HD, like they did for DS9. Summarizing a bit, for WWLB, the film was scanned in-house by Paramount (CBS Digital at the time, the same division that did the TNG remaster), and they gave a documentary a discounted price. Since then, it sounds like Paramount sold their film scanner and shuttered CBS Digital, so the documentary would have had to had it scanned by a third party and would have to pay market price. David Zappone said: "Almost half of the money raised immediately [went] out the door to fulfill physical perks, it just wasn't possible [to fund the film scanning]."

That doesn't sound like Paramount didn't give them permission/support. It sounds like just didn't budget enough for the HD film transfers.

 

[DonCarlos]

They did have updated CGI in the documentary, they may have even asked this guy for clips from his recreation but when you put that next to lower quality footage from the episodes the contrast was stark.
I thought they would have at least sourced the original negatives to scan for the very few clips from episodes.
There were one or two clips in the documentary that ooked like upscaled/uprezed footage, similar to what some YouTubers have posted, but you can still tell it isn't a true HD clip from laser scanned original camera negatives.

It just feels like a huge missed opportunity given the level of fan support.

Funny how the once impossible 90s CGI is now DIY-friendly with Blender, but getting a proper scan of film negatives still feels like breaking into Fort Knox.

 

[trekker670]

I'm also curious about the changes made from the premiere to the cruise and now, to the backer's release. It sounds like the earlier versions had an even stronger focus on the zero-g stuff and Kate Mulgrew requested an opportunity for another interview. So it sounds like it was pretty rough, but I haven't seen it, so that's just reading between the lines.

 

[renaissance_man]

"To the Journey" has some Facebook messenger groups. There's been chatter recently about not rescanning the film in HD, like they did for DS9. Summarizing a bit, for WWLB, the film was scanned in-house by Paramount (CBS Digital at the time, the same division that did the TNG remaster), and they gave a documentary a discounted price. Since then, it sounds like Paramount sold their film scanner and shuttered CBS Digital, so the documentary would have had to had it scanned by a third party and would have to pay market price. David Zappone said: "Almost half of the money raised immediately [went] out the door to fulfill physical perks, it just wasn't possible [to fund the film scanning]."

That doesn't sound like Paramount didn't give them permission/support. It sounds like just didn't budget enough for the HD film transfers.

I'm not on Facebook, but please feel free to convey my disappointment and copy my comments over to let David Zappone know they really missed the mark with this documentary and how frustrating it was to not have the HD footage from episodes of Voyager featured as promised.
Who actually cared about the Leola Root flimsy magnet that looked like it was 99p on Etsy, yeah it's a fun little thing but if they wasted money on those little things instead of making the effort to get Voyager in HD then I am doubly disappointed.
Sure the Janeway mug likely.took a chunk of the budget to get made from scratch but surely a chance to have Voyager in true HD is better than a mug. Especially since many fans have tracked down the original Nissan JMJ mug.
Add to that the replica mug isn't a 100% match to the original.
I'm sure I've posted my side by side comparison photos somewhere on the board previously.

 

[DonCarlos]

Original on the left VOYDOC on the right.

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Yes you have.

 

[The Terminator]

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.

Sounds like the goals they were talking about YEARS ago have not been met, at all.

Hardly worth the wait, indeed. The DS9 doc was great. So I wanted to support this. Next they are supposed to do Enterprise, which I don't think I will back.

The best thing to come out of this debacle is the replica mug. I want a real one!

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.

Easy to answer: impossible.

 

[renaissance_man]

Sounds like the goals they were talking about YEARS ago have not been met, at all.

Hardly worth the wait, indeed. The DS9 doc was great. So I wanted to support this. Next they are supposed to do Enterprise, which I don't think I will back.

The best thing to come out of this debacle is the replica mug. I want a real one!



Easy to answer: impossible.

I just feel it was all a bit of an anticlimax, especially after the long wait and poor communication. Many times all you would get in the "updates" would be "we're working on it".
I imagine they shot a lot of footage, they could have released some of the cut portions of the interviews as bonus clips to the backers.

Enterprise deserves a documentary so long as the whole cast along is involved but given how badly managed the Voyager documentary has been I am not inclined to contribute, unless there is a really unique bonus backer item as an incentive.
Such a shame as there was a lot of potential with this Voyager documentary.
I will see what the Blu-ray extras are like when they eventually get that out to me, most likely in 2029.

 

[The Terminator]

Yes you have.

That's a lot of difference!

 

[renaissance_man]

That's a lot of difference!

Yep, sadly another thing they missed the mark on. Made even more frustrating since the producer said they spent half the Kickstarter money on getting the bonus items made, from t-shirts, stickers, pin badges to the mugs.

 

[The Terminator]

Yep, sadly another thing they missed the mark on. Made even more frustrating since the producer said they spent half the Kickstarter money on getting the bonus items made, from t-shirts, stickers, pin badges to the mugs.

Crazy.

Someone with an original one should go ahead and do an RPF run! *friendly hint*