Paula Hammond - Features EditorForget what you’ve heard. Forget what you’ve read. Star Trek is back, and whether you’re a fan or just sci-fi curious, Star Trek: Discovery is one box set that you won’t regret adding to your collection.
Marking the return of one of the most iconic and influential global television franchises, the second season of Star Trek: Discovery arrives on blu-ray and DVD in time for Christmas. And—alongside all 14 episodes— devotees can expect a wealth of featurettes, commentaries, 2 Trek shorts, gag reel and deleted/extra scenes.
Following Star fleet’s continuing voyages, the series takes a daring new direction, with a new ship and new characters—but all set against an ideology and a history that’s enshrined in pop culture. And yes, [SPOILERS] Captain Pike and Spock do make their much-anticipated show debuts.
Discovery has classic Trek in its DNA and, thankfully, the show runners have been careful to maintain that optimism, even if it is sometimes shrouded in events that shake the world to its core. Whether Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham, Anson Mount’s Pike and Doug Jones’ Saru will find the same place in your heart as Kirk, Picard, and co. depends very much on how you like your sci-fi.
There’s been a darker edge to Discovery. The characters are more complex, and take longer to truly get to know. The plots are sweeping, with story archs that offer much, but also expect much from the audience. That isn’t that a surprise when you consider that many of us have gown up with Trek and, while we will always love our Captain, we’re now old enough to appreciate something with a little more meat on its bones than traditional stand-alone episodes could deliver.
Season One promised great things. Season Two has a lighter tone but still delivers in spades, arguably building to become the successor to TOS and TNG that we’re all hoping for. Will Season Three continue to deliver? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure. Where ever Discovery takes us, it’ll be somewhere that no one has gone before.
