Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season One Blu-ray SteelBook review

Mar 12, 2023- Permalink

The Paramount+ series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a spin-off of Star Trek: Discovery that follows Captain Christopher Pike and the crew starship Enterprise in the decade before the original series. Anson Mount plays Pike, while Ethan Peck and Rebecca Romijn portray Spock and Number One. The cast is rounded out by Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun and Bruce Horak. Paramount has just released the ten episode first season and I had the opportunity to check out the Blu-ray SteelBook.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It’s a great looking video presentation with excellent sharpness and detail in textiles, scenery and facial features. The colour palette looks good and ranges from popping primaries to more muted tones. The black levels are deep and with many scenes in darker conditions, there’s no real loss of detail or crushing.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack and a French Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Subtitles are available for English SDH and French. The surrounds are put to good use with directional effects and ambient sounds while the subwoofer provides a subtle boost to the low end. Dialogue is clear and centred.

The first season’s ten episodes are spread over three discs, with the third disc also holding the bonus materials. In one extra, Anson Mount takes us through his portrayal of Captain Pike. There’s a look at the production design, an exploration of the storylines and characters, commentary by Anson Mount and Akiva Goldsman, deleted scenes and a gag reel. The SteelBook case in this version is golden-hued. On the front, there’s Pike on a hilltop with a large moon and the Enterprise behind him. A silhouette of the cast is on the back. The interior, which has one disc on the left and two staggered discs on the right, depicts a planetary landscape.

The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — Season One Blu-ray SteelBook combines excellent audio and video with stories that echo the style of the original series that it’s a prequel to. Add in an attractive SteelBook case and this earns a recommendation from me.