By John Corrado

With the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds having just premiered on Paramount+, Paramount recently released Season One of the original series on 4K Ultra HD, including in a limited edition SteelBook set.

Led by a diverse cast that includes a mix of new and pre-established characters (including cast members that were first introduced in season two of Star Trek: Discovery), Strange New Worlds is fashioned as a modern prequel of sorts to Star Trek: The Original Series, and it functions as surprisingly excellent television.

The series follows the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike (stoically played by Anson Mount), Science Officer Spock (a very good Ethan Peck) and Number One (Rebecca Romijn), aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, in the years prior to Captain James T. Kirk’s tenure aboard the ship.

With its well balanced mix of sci-fi action, character-driven storylines, moral dilemmas, and even a dash of romance, Strange New Worlds has enough of that classic Star Trek feel to it to satisfy diehard fans, while also offering compelling viewing for new audiences. At ten episodes, Season One plays almost like a miniseries. There is enough in terms of character development and narrative through-lines to connect the (consistently good) episodes, but they also function somewhat as a series of standalone adventures, taking us to different parts of the galaxy and introducing different alien species.

It’s a somewhat daring gambit to try to recreate the feel of the original series, but Strange New Worlds mostly pulls it off, while also offering something fresh that doesn’t just feel like fan service. The show’s production design, visual effects and performances are all quite solid, building to something that surely serves as one of the best new additions to the Star Trek canon in recent memory

The 4K presentation is excellent across all ten of the episodes, providing a rich and satisfying viewing experience. The SteelBook features a striking gold and brown colour scheme, with pleasing illustrative artwork on the front, a stylized drawing of the main characters in silhouette on the back, and a planet landscape on the inside panels. All in all, it’s an excellent set for fans of the show.

Bonus Features (4K Ultra HD):

The 3-disc set boasts over a hundred minutes of bonus features, including deleted scenes on five of the episodes, lengthy “behind the scenes” featurettes, and a classic episode of the original series.

Disc One:

• Audio Commentary By Anson Mount & Akiva Goldsman – “Strange New Worlds”

• Deleted Scene – “Children of the Comet” (22 seconds)

• Deleted Scenes – “Ghosts of Illyria” (2 minutes, 11 seconds)

Disc Two:

• Deleted Scenes – “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” (5 minutes)

• Deleted Scene – “The Elysian Kingdom” (20 seconds)

Disc Three:

• Deleted Scenes – “All Those Who Wander” (10 minutes, 55 seconds)

• Star Trek: The Original Series Episode, “Balance of Terror” (50 minutes, 24 seconds)

• Pike’s Peak (17 minutes, 26 seconds): Anson Mount takes us behind the scenes of the production in this collection of clips from his on-set video diary.

• World Building (11 minutes, 56 seconds): A closer look at the production design of the series, including the use of practical sets against the backdrop of massive AR walls.

• Exploring New Worlds (53 minutes, 58 seconds): Executive producers Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and Henry Alonso Myers lead this in-depth look at how Strange New Worlds serves as both a prequel to The Original Series and a spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery, getting help from cast members to explore the different character arcs over the course of the ten episodes. A very good companion piece.

• Gag Reel (2 minutes, 47 seconds): A pretty standard gag reel, featuring a selection of bloopers and flubbed takes.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season One is a Paramount Home Entertainment release. It’s 524 minutes and rated PG.

Street Date: June 13th, 2023