When the calendar flipped to 2024, the first 10 Star Trek movies (starting with 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture through 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis) crossed the neutral zone. In other words, the Star Trek movies switched streaming services, leaving Paramount Plus and landing on Max.
This is not an uncommon practice, as licensing agreements that allow movies to be shared among all the different streaming services are another way for these platforms to make money. But their profit is coming at a cost to some subscribers. Add in the sting of Paramount Plus being billed as the home of Star Trek — its original series like Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the Chris Pine Star Trek's are still on the service — the loss of these movies is causing many fans to miss DVDs and the security they got from physical media.
Exhibit A: a good portion of the Trekkie community shared that this exact instance is why they were happy they already had the movies on DVD/Blu-ray or was a reminder/strong case for the allegedly sunsetting technology to stick around. Among those sharing their minds was Star Trek: The Next Generation consultant Michael Okuda.
I love the convenience of streaming, but for any movie or TV show that's really important to me, I want to own a physical copy. The quality is often noticeably better, and it is much less likely to disappear suddenly if a license expires or someone changes their mind. https://t.co/oBffUty3m7January 3, 2024
*NEW* All 10 TOS And TNG Star Trek Movies Exit Paramount+ For Max And HBO (Again)#startrek https://t.co/FAi0nb5UQFJanuary 3, 2024
#StarTrek films getting dropped from their own studio service makes a great case for #PhysicalMedia pic.twitter.com/rldN7q0kohJanuary 3, 2024
Now, for many, this move may not be that big of a deal. Perhaps they already subscribe to Max. Others may not see an issue with simply dropping Paramount Plus in favor of Max in order to be able to watch the Star Trek movies (streaming service churning like this has become a popular trend among consumers). But for others, it may not only be a slight annoyance having to keep track of where your favorite movie is streaming at a given time, but the cost can sometimes be prohibitive.
A subscription to Paramount Plus in the US ranges from $5.99 per month for its ad-supported base subscription to $11.99 per month for its premium, ad-free plan. Max, meanwhile, offers three plans that start at $9.99 per month (with ads) and go to $15.99 per month and $19.99 per month for no ads and additional features. Add that with the potential cost of other streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, Peacock and Apple TV Plus, having it so you can easily access whatever whenever is becoming more and more expensive.
Beyond just movies and TV shows switching services, there is also the risk that they could be removed entirely from streaming services, much like what Max and Paramount Plus did with a number of its own shows. Some of these eventually made their way to other streaming services, like Star Trek: Prodigy to Netflix, but other shows are now only available via digital on-demand, which is another cost.
Then there are DVDs. While the initial sticker price for getting all of these Star Trek movies either individually or as a box set — not to mention a DVD/Blu-ray player if you don’t have one — is more expensive than a month, even multiple months, of a streaming service, it's actually more of an investment; a one-time cost that to ensure that you never have to worry about if you have the streaming service where you can watch the movie you feel like watching.
Are DVDs always the perfect solution? No. They take up space in your home, require a few more steps (literally and figuratively) than just typing in what you want to watch on in a search bar and sometimes have their own issues with movies not being easily available (personally, I've been dying to get a Criterion Collection of The Third Man, but it has been out of print for years from the distributor). But I also have DVDs that I bought more than 20 years ago or ones for older movies harder to find on streaming services that I could plug in right now and watch without any issue.
What many Star Trek fans, and movie fans in general, are reminded of when situations like this Star Trek switch takes place is that DVDs are the movie equivalent of vinyl albums and good old-fashioned books: perhaps they're not the most convenient way to consume the medium nowadays, but they still rank among the best and most reliable. Therefore, they will likely always live long and prosper.
