At midnight on March 31st, the one-month-long campaign for the Star Trek: Voyager documentary wrapped up its crowdfunding campaign with a whopping total of $1,260,245. This sets a new record for documentary crowdfunding.
Breaking the record… with a little help from some friends
The campaign for the Voyager documentary almost doubled the one for What We Left Behind, the Deep Space Nine doc from the same team, which brought in around $630,000 in 2017. Over the month of March, To the Journey was supported by a total of 11,728 backers, with the last 1,700 coming in the final two days of the campaign. They were spurred on with a little help from Star Trek celebrities: Voyager star Kate Mulgrew tag-teamed with DS9 star Nana Visitor to get the word out.
Thank you so much, Nana! You heard the Major, only one day left! https://t.co/Tjhwh53yvy
— Kate Mulgrew (@TheKateMulgrew) March 30, 2021
The previous record for a crowdfunding documentary was $1,126,036 for the Frank Zappa doc Who the F*@% is Frank Zappa (Save the Vault, Tell the Story), produced and directed by Alex Winter (of Bill and Ted fame). And as the Voyager doc approached the number one spot, Winter actually joined in to push it over, offering his support on Twitter.
I'm in!
Help make it happen for The Star Trek Voyager Documentary https://t.co/ohuDGkpPaU #indiegogo via @indiegogo
— Alex Winter (@Winter) March 28, 2021
Producer thanks the fans… and TrekMovie readers
TrekMovie has given To the Journey and its campaign extensive coverage, including our revealing interview with producer and co-director David Zappone last week. And this morning Zappone sent over a message for the fans expressing his appreciation for all the support:
“The entire “To The Journey” Voyager Documentary Team wishes to thank the amazing fans of Star Trek. When we first went into planning for this documentary we were hampered by Covid and the pandemic shut us down just as we started filming in what was supposed to be the 25th Anniversary of Voyager’s Premiere. In bringing forward this crowdfunding to 2021 our expectations were all over the place as to how well we would do in a world still recovering from shutdowns and work stoppage. We knew we could probably get a documentary made that would make the fans happy but never did we even dare to dream we would end up as the number one crowdfunded documentary in history. We promise that we will create the absolute best documentary for Voyager. I also want to thank TrekMovie.com for all of the wonderful support they have given to us during the crowdfunding and to continuing to work with them going forward.”
Now comes the hard part
As noted in that TrekMovie interview, To the Journey has a lot of work to do. The campaign expanded the scope of the documentary with ten stretch goals that include increasing the runtime to 90 minutes and remastering footage from Voyager in HD. They are now focused on continuing production with more interviews, including follow-ups. The team is also planning on filming the Voyager reunion at October’s Destination Star Trek convention in London.
How to keep in touch and support the doc
The 455 Films team will continue to send updates through their supporters’ newsletter and provide updates on the Indiegogo campaign page and via social media. They plan to share videos and photos during the production process to give fans a taste of what’s to come.
There are also still some perks available on the Indigogo page, including the opportunity to reserve a copy of the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack or digital release.
Visit the official site at voyagerdocumentary.com, or follow VOY Documentary on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Congrats to the producers and the VOY-Team. This is very nice, although, I wish the DS9-Doc would have gotten this attention and more covert advertising by the new-Trek-producers. Are they afraid everyone could see that DS9 is actually better than everything they have produced so far?… Just thinking.
What a sad comment.
begone troll
Does everything has to be a contest?? My god, it’s just a documentary, it doesn’t mean one show is ‘better’ than the other and DS9 is my favorite show. I think we should just be happy that Star Trek proves yet again how loyal and dedicated the fanbase can be when they truly want something to happen. Stop making every little thing into a nerd fight. DS9 got a great documentary, hopefully so will Voyager.
But ds9 was a better show.
That’s a valid opinion, but there’s no need to slam another Star Trek show using the comparison.
Sorry but Voy will always come up short next to ds9.
Again, what does ANY of that have to do with this documentary??? Second time I’ve asked this. I find it interesting you skipped my post.
So are you suggesting DS9 is the only one that deserves a documentary in your view because you think it’s the best? Some people have too much time on their hands.
Which has literally nothing to do with this documentary or fans of this show. I swear even though I been a Star Trek fan most of my life, I don’t understand how most of them think. It’s not a competition or race. DS9 already had it’s documentary, so why does it even matter?? Can other shows not have things because they simply aren’t perceived as good as that show? What is even the argument? Good grief.
No, DS9 is not ‘better’ then Star Trek today, and Voyager is not in a competition with DS9 in any way; everyone behind the scenes and in front of the camera celebrates both, so should you.
Oh yell yes, DS9 was a far better show than the current crop. In terms of storytelling for certain. New shows may look nicer (to an extent), but *nothing* in Discovery can hold a candle to some of Trek’s best episodes of TNG or DS9.
It’s not about competition. It’s about the overall fact, that DS9 was simply a better show. Not just for it’s time, but still. Only negative with it today, is not being remastered in HD.
He’s not wrong.
No, your opinions are still not facts. Discovery, Picard, and Voyager are amazing shows and not in any way lesser to DS9.
Wow that is something. Although it’s a little sus that 1700 came in the last two days. Is that number more like 1701?
Just kidding. I hope this is not an April Fool’s joke. This looks really cool.
Voyager, while not perfect, is a great show. Looking forward to the doc.
I forgot to check back late. My bad….. :-(
It’s almost embarrassing how much Trekkies love Star Trek!
;-)
Congrats to those involved in the fundraising for such an accomplishment. Even though Voyager is probably my least favorite series, I’m still looking forward to the documentary.
I have to love Alex Winter for this. Cant wait for him to support the Enterprise doc -> “Volle Kanne, Hoschi!”
Well, we all know “Bunt ist das Leben und granatenstark“ XD
lol. Excellent. I want this as the title for the Enterprise doc.
Halt… Was ist für ein Mist, den ich da sehe?
I wonder how much of the the KM vs. JR controversy it’ll cover, if any.
I wonder if they’ve rounded up The Rock. And Joel Grey.
I am lifelong Trek fan, and I watch everything Trek, but Voyager is my least favorite one. It had such promise, but they just played it save and never let the show breath and find it’s own way. Time and time again they let opportunities for great storytelling just fade away. They establishes Seska as a formidable opponent and built up a great rivalry between her and Janeway and then they abruptly killed her off. They introduced Neelix and Kes as this alien couple and then always made them seem more like brother and sister. They built up a big deal over the Doctor’s name only to whiff. They never let the show embrace the changes of time being away on the ship and their lives. I can go on and on. But probably the biggest blunder of all was sticking to the old series finale trope. If there ever was a show that needed to show something about what happened after, it was Voyager. Producers with confidence in their audience ( Battlestar Galactica/DS9) would have had Voyager get home a couple episodes Before the finale and shown us what we all wanted to know such as; how was a reclaimed borg received? and what about the Maquis members? Did they have to stand trial? So many missed opportunities.
Agreed.
So happy to see this! Voyager was never my favorite show, but I honestly always loved it, even with its flaws. It actually went from my number 5 show for probably the least decade to my number 3 show in the last few years. I’ve gotten to appreciate it more over the last few years as I started rewatching a lot of it. Yes, it still had major problems, but every show did (or does) at some point. I just always loved Janeway herself and just love the total exploration vibe the show had. It truly felt like Star Trek on every level even if the execution could’ve been stronger.
I’m so happy for the voyager doc team. Voyager was my first contact with star trek. I watched the pilot on UPN when it first aired. It was a childhood favorite.
Happy they are getting the documentary treatment, but man I don’t get all the love, it really wasn’t that good of a show. What a horrendous ending.
Obviously most people disagree with you, hence it being the most re0-watched ‘Trek on Netflix. It was lightyears ahead of Picard and Disco.
Didn’t love the ending either but loved the show as a whole. And I finally decided to just see how the show is rated on some of the various review sites and Voyager is actually pretty good.
Rotten Tomatoes: 77%/ 76% audience score
IMDB: 7.8/10
Metacritic: 66. That is on the low side but that’s based on only 10 critic reviews. TNG is rated at 51 with just 8 critic reviews. But the Voyager audience score is 8.2/10.
These are all above average scores. NOT amazing, but clearly respectful reviews. Voyager is a very popular show. Not as high as TNG or TOS, but a pretty solid show and much higher than all the new shows so far, certainly the audience scores.
I can’t wait to see this, finally some proper Star Trek.