[Blu-ray Review] — "STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS: SEASON TWO"

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Season Two beamed down on physical media (*DVD, *Blu-ray, and *4K UHD) from Paramount Home Entertainment on December 5th, just in time for the holiday season. Join the crew of the "beyond impressive" (Rolling Stone) USS Enterprise as they go where no season of "Star Trek" has gone before! In addition to a crossover episode with Star Trek: Lower Decks, the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds includes the first-ever "Star Trek" musical episode and over two hours of extra content. (*Paid Link)

Limited edition *4K UHD and *Blu-ray Steelbooks are also available. A "Subspace Rhapsody" poster comes with both, and included with the 4K UHD version is a 4-character magnet set that allows fans to personalize the key art with their favorite character! (*Paid Link)

The series—created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet—takes place six years before the original series' second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. CBS Studios produced the show with Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, H M R X Productions, and Roddenberry Entertainment. The cast includes Anson Mount (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Safe) as Captain Christopher Pike, Ethan Peck (In Time, The Sorcerer's Apprentice) as Science Officer Spock, Rebecca Romijn (X-Men, Femme Fatale) as Una Chin-Riley, Celia Rose Gooding (Breakwater, "Foul Play") as Nyota Uhura, Jess Bush ("Halifax Retribution") as Nurse Christine Chapel, and featuring Academy Award® Nominee for Best Actress, **Carol Kane (Hester Street) as Pelia. (**Academy Award® Nominee Carol Kane – Hester Street Best Actress in a Leading Role – 1976)

Await your exploration of Strange New Worlds with almost two hours of exclusive content, encompassing featurettes that offer an inside look at this exceptional television series' production process. Get even more Strange New Worlds with deleted, extended, and alternative scenes—including a different take of "Subspace Rhapsody's" Klingon song.

The Special Features include:

Producing Props
The Costumes Closet
The Gorn
Singing in Space
Exploring New Worlds
Deleted, Extended, and Alternate Scenes (Exclusive)

Let me begin by declaring, "No, I'm not a paid shrill," because there are fanatical Trekkies who will call anyone who likes Strange New Worlds just that. While Picard: Season Three is almost as good, Strange New Worlds is my favorite series from the new Star Trek era. Although there are several glaring continuity problems, I am okay with them because I view Strange New Worlds as a redesigned prequel to the original series.

The second season mostly abandons the serious tone from season one in favor of lightheartedness, featuring a tie-in with the animated series Lower Decks and a musical episode. Both seemed terrible to me on paper, yet they were pretty enjoyable. Together—with the controversial Under the Cloak of War and the courtroom drama Ad Astra Per Aspera, which both felt more like TNG episodes—the crossover episode "Those Old Scientists" is the best-written episode of the entire series. Just because these episodes have the best scripts doesn't imply they're my favorite episodes of the season. Out of all of them, my two favorites are the musical "Space Rhapsody" and the time-traveling "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow."

I reviewed the Blu-ray, and the picture quality is fantastic—especially the vibrant colors—and I can't imagine what the 4K UHD looks like. Each of the first three disks has three episodes; the season cliffhanger finale, Hegemony, and the special features—Producing Props, The Costumes Closet, The Gorn, Singing in Space, and Exploring New Worlds—are all on the fourth disc.

Overall, whether you're a Trekkie or, more specifically, a Strange New Worlds fan, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Season Two is a terrific Blu-ray set to add to your collection. ╌★★★★★