The exorbitant cost of being a Star Trek fan

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-03-15 02:27pm

Take a look at these numbers, folks. TOS DVD's are roughly $18 apiece (from Amazon), and there are 40 of them. Movie DVD's average $25 apiece, and there are 10 movies. TNG season DVD's are $119, and there are 7 of them. DS9 season DVD's are $98, and there are 7 of those as well. We may also assume that Voyager season DVD's will be around $100 apiece as well.

This means that if we ignore Enterprise (which many fans do not even consider Star Trek), a completist will shell out:

40 x $18 = $720 (TOS)
7 x $119 = $833 (TNG)
7 x $98 = $686 (DS9)
7 x $100 = $700 (Voyager)
10 x $25 = $250 (movies)

Or a total of more than three thousand dollars US. People ask why Star Trek persists despite its core fan base being disgusted with the recent direction of the franchise; this is why. The sheer proliferation of Trek merchandise and the incredible completist mentality of so many of its fans means that even if the fans hate the shit, Paramount still has a guaranteed huge income stream for years to come.

Accept it, boys. This train wreck will continue for years, and none of the fanbase's complaints will matter worth a damn, because they keep spending all of this fucking money.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-03-15 02:34pm

GA! Anyone actually spends that much money on Star Trek should be sold to Angola as a human wave landmine clearer. It worked very well in Kuwait, though those guys got metal rods to poke with.

I've spent less then 20 dollars on all form f Star Trek and maybe 120-150 on Star Wars.

Darth Garden Gnome · Post by **Darth Garden Gnome** » 2003-03-15 02:41pm

Or you could spend fifty bucks on tapes and record all the epsidoes you like. Why would anyone pay for this stuff?

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-03-15 02:46pm

Darth Garden Gnome wrote:Or you could spend fifty bucks on tapes and record all the epsidoes you like. Why would anyone pay for this stuff?

For the same reason that people pay for non-pirated Windows 2000 copies. They know it's far too expensive, but can't get it in other ways.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-03-15 03:35pm

Hmm, three thousand for complete set (less since I'd never buy Voyager), or a couple hundred for hard drives to store pirated copies and a few select SE DVD releases? Choices...

Or you could spend fifty bucks on tapes and record all the epsidoes you like. Why would anyone pay for this stuff?

First, I don't get cable/satellite, so that means no TOS (thanks to the FUCKING SCIFI CHANNEL GGRRRRRRARARARAR) no TNG (thank you TNN) and no DS9... wherever that went.

Then there's the commercial breaks.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-03-15 03:35pm

Don't forget action figures. I hate to say it, but the Enteprise ones are actually some of the best of the ST franchise.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-03-15 05:12pm

That's the only ST things I have are the toys. I have three Micro Machines (Excelsior, Miranda, and Enterprise-A), and the bridge crew of the original Enterprise. Back when phasers actually looked like guns instead of Palm Pilots on crack.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-03-15 05:20pm

The only things worth paying the asking price for at the DVDs of the movies. They're in widescreen and stuffed full of features. They can eat my ass if they think I'm paying $100 for a TNG season when I'm satisfied with .avi copies of The Best of Both Worlds and Yesterday's Enterprise.

Baron Mordo · Post by **Baron Mordo** » 2003-03-15 07:25pm

RedImperator wrote:The only things worth paying the asking price for at the DVDs of the movies.

So when will they release the 6-movie set?

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-03-16 12:35am

The movies and the DS9 set actually seem reasonable. The TOS DVDs might or might not be a gouge. Other than that it's all a rip job. B5 season is retailing for $90 suggested, $70 actual and they've got every think Trek does and they've got a smaller fan base. Hell, anime (which has very limited sales and hence higher prices) isn't even that expensive usually.

But then again it's not news in the least that Trek has become one big rip off.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-03-16 12:50am

Actually let's look at this.

One movie DVD is about 15 dollars. One movie is about 2 hours long.

TOS: 2 Eps each disc at about 18 is about what you would normally run for a movie DVD. Extras are lackluster, but there are bareboned movie DVDs as well.

TNG: 22 Ep. Season is about average for a show. That works out to be 6 Movie disc types with 4 eps. on one disc. Factor in 15 dollars and you get 90. So 120 is too high.

DS9: 22 Ep. Season.......Works out to be about what it should be.

Voyager: Well it's crap. Let's not talk about it. It's not worth it at 100 dollars.

Movies: 25 dollars for 2 disc special editions is decent. Note: You can get them cheaper at other places online.

So in sum, the prices are fairly reasonable when taken into consideration the price per disc per hours on each disc.

However, I would like to mention that the B5 disc set which is about the same in terms of hours, is only about 65 bucks.

To sum up, Paramount sucks. X-Files seasons are also well above what they should be.

It isn't so much that it is ST so it's expensive, it's just that Paramount DVDs are usually really really expensive.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2003-03-16 01:16am

Get a TiVO. Rip the MPEG-2 stream to your HD. Encode in MPEG-4. Burn. You could fit 4 episodes on a CD at 320x240 resolution.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-03-16 02:21am

The Dark wrote:That's the only ST things I have are the toys. I have three Micro Machines (Excelsior, Miranda, and Enterprise-A), and the bridge crew of the original Enterprise. Back when phasers actually looked like guns instead of Palm Pilots on crack.

I have a ton of those Micro Machine dealies. I also have several of the bigger toys that make sounds.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2003-03-16 10:07am

Uraniun235 wrote:
The Dark wrote:That's the only ST things I have are the toys. I have three Micro Machines (Excelsior, Miranda, and Enterprise-A), and the bridge crew of the original Enterprise. Back when phasers actually looked like guns instead of Palm Pilots on crack.
I have a ton of those Micro Machine dealies. I also have several of the bigger toys that make sounds.

Those Star Trek Micromachines rock. I have like all but two of them and I got many doubles, tripples, quads, and even 6 of one.

Dark Primus · Post by **Dark Primus** » 2003-03-17 03:24am

How the current ratings are going down, there wont be anyone watching B&B crap anyway. Star Trek is a non quality show.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2003-03-17 04:21am

Dark Primus wrote:How the current ratings are going down, there wont be anyone watching B&B crap anyway. Star Trek is a non quality show.

Yeah, Stargate SG-1 and Farscape and much, much better. Whos gonna be watching that Trek shit?

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2003-03-18 12:55am

In twenty-five years, I don't think I've spent $1000 for my entire Star Trek collection. I've got some of the toys, some model kits, a music CD, two commercial videos, and the last book I bought was fan-based. I pretty much stopped buying the novels back in 1987.

Completist I'm not.

Dark Primus · Post by **Dark Primus** » 2003-03-18 04:34am

I have Star Trek Micro Machines, I bought First Contact on video and DVD, Insurrection on DVD, Undiscovered Country on DVD.

No wonder why Paramount gets alot of money from Trek. At least they don't have anything out there worth buying currently. And I don't think they are going to release all the footages they removed from Nemesis so I am not going to waste money on it. Since it is just a ripp off from ST2 with mix with other false dangers. But ST computer games can be worth the money. I am looking forward to buy Elite Force 2, the first one was [Cartman's voice] SWEET! [/Cartman's voice]

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-03-18 07:09am

'Elite Forces' was the only Star Trek item I've ever bought, and it cost me just $15 dollars.

desertjedi · Post by **desertjedi** » 2003-03-18 07:50am

Well in all truth I'm not a rabid Trek fan, BUT I did love DS9 after the 2nd season. So think I will spend the money for the DVDs season 3 through the end... 7 I think. It's still expensive, but what the hell.

Lord Edam · Post by **Lord Edam** » 2003-03-19 07:38am

In the UK, spread over 3 years, it comes out to about £60 a month.

That isn't even 20 fags a day.

Stop smoking - be a trekkie.

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-03-19 07:58am

B5 DVDs are cheaper.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-03-19 03:06pm

Vympel wrote:B5 DVDs are cheaper.

In that case I don't think it's because it's ST. It's Paramount.

Baron Mordo · Post by **Baron Mordo** » 2003-03-19 03:54pm

Vympel wrote:B5 DVDs are cheaper.

Probably because nobody buys them.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-03-19 04:19pm

Baron Mordo wrote:
Vympel wrote:B5 DVDs are cheaper.
Probably because nobody buys them.

No, if the demand wasn't there they wouldn't have been made in the first place.

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The exorbitant cost of being a Star Trek fan

The exorbitant cost of being a Star Trek fan

Re: The exorbitant cost of being a Star Trek fan