As it enters the final week of fundraising, the incredibly-successful crowdfunding campaign behind To The Journey — Looking Back at Star Trek: Voyager spent this weekend blasting past its ultimate stretch target of $1 Million raised from fans around the world.
The campaign set a stretch goal of $900,000 to be able to remaster included Voyager episodic footage into high-definition — which, despite the funds raised, is still being negotiated with ViacomCBS — which was a major victory and selling point for this film’s older cousin, What We Left Behind — Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
455 Films, the production company behind this Voyager documentary project, has stated that if there’s not an agreement reached with ViacomCBS regarding Voyager remastering work, they’ll simply put that money raised into other parts of production — but there’s no reason to give up hope yet.
In recent months, fans have lent their own time and computing power to take the existing DVD release of the series and create a home-brewed upscale to a quality that’s somewhat approximate of a high-definition experience; while the earlier seasons of Voyager don’t see much of an improvement due to the poor picture quality, the latter years have been remarkably clarified through these fan efforts.
TrekCore reader Billy Reichard shared these captures from a home-upscaled edition of “Bride of Chaotica!,” which hints at just how much improvement a true remastering could bring to Voyager.
In addition, now that this major $1 Million milestone has been reached, the campaign’s final stretch goal — “an exclusive, never-before-seen Voyager surprise” — has been unlocked, but for now, there’s only fan speculation as to what that top-secret reveal is going to be. (Share your guesses in the comments below!)
As the last few days of the fundraiser wind down, three premiere events tentatively scheduled for late 2022 have also been planned — in London, Los Angeles, and New York City — with the campaign soliciting ticket sales to the screenings as part of the open fundraiser perk packages.
Tickets for each premiere are selling for $200 USD each, with a discounted option for a plus-one to join you.
There are still three days left to donate to the Indiegogo fundraiser for To The Journey — Looking Back at Star Trek: Voyager, and if you still want to get your hands on a Captain Janeway mug replica, exclusive T-shirt, tickets to a premiere event or more, you’ve got through March 31.