Voyager Company

American pioneer in LaserDiscs and CD-ROMs (1984–1997) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Voyager Company was a pioneer in CD-ROM production in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was founded in 1984 by four partners: Jon Turell, Bill Becker, Aleen Stein, and Robert Stein in Santa Monica, California, and later moved to New York City. The firm took its name from the Voyager space craft. In partnership with Janus Films, the company published The Criterion Collection, a pioneering home video collection of classic and important contemporary films on LaserDisc. Voyager introduced the release of special editions on LaserDisc.[1]

IndustrySoftware
Founded1984; 42 years ago (1984)
FounderRobert Stein Edit this on Wikidata
Defunct1997 (1997)
Quick facts Industry, Founded ...
The Voyager Company
IndustrySoftware
Founded1984; 42 years ago (1984)
FounderRobert Stein Edit this on Wikidata
Defunct1997 (1997)
FateLiquidation
SuccessorThe Criterion Collection
Headquarters
United States
ProductsLaserDiscs, Interactive CD-ROM, The Criterion Collection
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In 1986 it decided to make it company policy to only release widescreen films on LaserDisc in their original aspect ratio rather than pan and scan formats that was common for home media releases at the time. Many other labels followed suit.[2]

In 1994, the partnership was diluted by selling 20% of it to the von Holzbrinck Publishing Group, a German holding company. In 1997, the Holzbrinck Group withdrew with its 20%, the name "Voyager", and half of the CD-ROM rights. Robert Stein took the other half of the CD-ROM rights and the Toolkit rights. This left the Criterion Collection in the possession of three of the original partners, each with a third: Aleen Stein, the Becker family, and the Turell family.

Releases

LaserDiscs

  • De Italia
  • The Great Quake of '89 (in partnership with ABC News Interactive)
  • The National Gallery of Art
  • Devo: The Complete Truth About De-Evolution
  • The Residents: Twenty Twisted Questions (Part 1/2)
  • Louvre
  • Theatre of the Imagination: Radio Stories by Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre (1988, ISBN 0-931393-90-6)
  • To New Horizons: Ephemeral Films 1931–1945
  • The Vancouver Disc
  • Vienna
  • You Can't Get There From Here: Ephemeral Films 1945–1960
  • The Voyager Videostack
  • Boyz n the Hood[3]
  • Bram Stoker's Dracula[4]
  • Cries and Whispers[1]
  • Damage[1]
  • The Killer[1]
  • The Man Who Fell to Earth[1]
  • The Player[1]
  • The Inland Sea[5]
  • Call It Home: The House That Private Enterprise Built
  • François Truffaut: 25 Years, 25 Films[5]
  • Polyester[5]
  • Ugetsu[5]

CD-ROMs

CD-ROM (Distribution only)

Floppy disks

Expanded Books series

References

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