IRA BEHR says that DS9 DOCUMENTARY is DONE…well, “BASICALLY” done!

I’m not afraid to say it: I LOVE IRA STEVEN BEHR!  The former show-runner of STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE (my hands-down favorite of the numerous Star Trek TV series) never fails to delight when he releases updates on the progress of the crowd-funded DS9 documentary WHAT WE LEFT BEHIND.  Fans donated nearly $650,000 in an Indiegogo campaign in early 2017, blasting through the initial $150K goal and allowing for an amazing amount of extra content and features that Ira and director ADAM NIMOY never thought would be possible.

Ira’s last major update came back in April, explaining that editing was still going on because they had “…100 hours of new interviews with cast and crew to go through, plus fan submissions, archival materials, animations, audition tapes, convention footage and over 170 broadcast episodes…  Then, factor in the technical elements of licensing all our official footage, finding new archival elements and creating animations, working with CBS to scan film negative for presentation for the first time in HD…” and you can see why it’s taking so long.

In his latest update video from last week (see below), Ira announced that they have finally LOCKED PICTURE.  In the video, Ira doesn’t go into details of what this actually means, saying only that they’re now “BASICALLY done.”  (Locked picture means editing is completed, and now it’s time for post production.)  Of course, then the update video shows a series of clips of the production team listing all the elements of post production that still have to happen: sound design and mixing, music, HD remastering, animations and graphics, color correction, clip licenses, titles and credits…and the list goes on!  Take a look…

But Ira assures us that the documentary WILL be finished during this year, the 25th anniversary of Deep Space Nine!  There will also be clips to show attendees at this year’s Creation Las Vegas Star Trek Convention.  One of those clips was released last year as a sneak peek…

By the way, crowd-funding is still happening…albeit in a more direct way that cuts out the Indiegogo “middle-man.”  On their website, you can now pre-order the Blu-ray/DVD combo, pre-order tickets for premieres in New York, London, and Los Angeles, purchase a dinner with “Vic Fontaine and friends,” or for just $50, you can have your name appear in the credits.  (Yep, I did that.)

It won’t be much longer, folks!

13 thoughts on “IRA BEHR says that DS9 DOCUMENTARY is DONE…well, “BASICALLY” done!”

  1. This is a site that frequently talks about Axanar! Don’t say “locked picture”! 🙂

          1. Well, I can confirm that I’m a GUY… The “wise” part is open for debate. 🙂

  2. “Locked picture means editing is completed, and now it’s time for post production.”

    Major facepalm moment here. Editing *is* “post production,” Jonathan — the most important part of post-production (though a sound designer or colorist might disagree with me).

    “Pre-Production” is what happens before the cameras roll, “Production” is what’s happening when the cameras are rolling, and “Post-Production” is everything *after* the cameras stop rolling. So editing is a large part of that. Many of the post production steps can’t really be addressed until picture is locked, (like final sound mix, color, final VFX… etc). But it’s all still just “Post Production.”

    But here’s something else… don’t be surprised if picture doesn’t stay locked. It’s *very* common for something to unravel that causes a show/film to recut a segment that had previously been locked. Happens all the time. Usually it’s due to being unable to get a clearance for something, or the rights for some element turn out to be too expensive and it has to be taken out, and now a part of the film has to be re-edited to patch over the missing element.

    And sometimes people just change their minds. It can be expensive to recut picture once the show is in final mix or color but it does happen, and probably more often that you’d think.

    1. Quite correct, Dennis. I should have said, “the rest of post production.” I’ll leave it as is, though, as a mark of shame for myself. 🙂

  3. As a backer for this project, I cannot wait for it to be completed and shipped.

  5. Thanks for the reminder post. I had donated but had forgotten about checking in to see what is new from time-to-time. Now I know.

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