For a few years, it seemed like DVD box sets were so popular that every TV show that ever aired would get some kind of unnecessarily expensive collection. Then, when Blu-rays became more and more successful, fancy HD versions of things started to come out, giving people a chance to spend more money on something they probably owned—but this time with the added benefit of that thing looking really nice. Unfortunately, the inexorable march of technology managed to outpace Blu-rays before they could become as ubiquitous as DVDs, with streaming services quickly replacing them as the go-to movie delivery option for a lot of people.
Two TV shows that have never gotten the Blu-ray treatment because of that are Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, and according to a Trek News interview, we’ll probably never get to see them in HD at all. The interview was with Robert Meyer Burnett, the man who wrote, directed, and produced the special features on the Star Trek: The Next Generation Blu-ray sets, and he breaks down why HD remasters of the original Star Trek series were possible and why HD remasters of subsequent series are so difficult.
It basically comes down to the different ways TV shows have been filmed over the years, going from high-quality (and expensive) film to low-quality (and inexpensive) tapes. The Next Generation was filmed onto tapes, so bringing it to HD for the Blu-ray sets required—essentially—recreating the entire show from the ground up. It was time-consuming and pricey, and though most people believe it was worth the effort, the sets themselves didn’t sell well enough to justify other Star Trek shows getting the same treatment.
So, Voyager and Deep Space Nine will not only never get Blu-ray releases, but they also probably won’t get remastered into higher-definition for streaming services.