6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
After following Commander Michael Burnham into a wormhole, the U.S.S. Discovery lands in an unrecognizable world 1,000 years in the future. With Starfleet and the Federation on the brink of collapse due to a catastrophic event known as The Burn, the Discovery crew, with the help of new and mysterious allies Book (David Ajala) and Adira (Blu del Barrio), must uncover what caused The Burn and restore hope to the galaxy.
Starring: Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Shazad Latif, Anthony Rapp, Mary WisemanSci-Fi | 100% |
Adventure | 73% |
Action | 50% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.00:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
German: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (4 BDs)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Star Trek: Discovery has certainly charted some narrative mileage since its debut season. While most of the core characters remain in place, the show has significantly evolved, and narratively to be sure, since the first season, which feels almost nothing like where the show is now. For those who are not up to speed, be aware that talking season four necessarily gives away some of the direction from previous seasons (two and three as well, and the latter in particular). Indeed, Discovery has forged far into the future as the ship, now captained by Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), and her crew explore strange new worlds flung far into the Federation's future. Season four introduces a new antagonist in the form of a mysterious anomaly that is, of course, threatening everything in its path and which sets the crew, and Starfleet, at odds over how to take care of it. It's not exactly novel or compelling, but it works well enough as casual Star Trek entertainment.
Discovery is certainly not the best-looking show on Blu-ray. It's abundantly noisy, especially in low light, with some of that push-pull effect where the noise moves in globs when characters nod or move their head. To make matters worse, banding is fairly commonplace, and shimmering and aliasing are prominent along some of the VFX shots. The picture is fairly flat as well, but the ship's interior is very spartan and very blue and gray, so there's not much room for dynamic emphasis. Colors are somewhat muted. Bold hologram projections and computer readouts are fine, and some of the uniforms enjoy good depth, but there's very little in terms of raw vividness on display. Textural clarity is fine, with close-ups adequately revealing skin details and hairs. Uniforms details are suitably crisp as well. This is not a very visually arresting show. It looks good enough outside of the source and encode problems, but a showstopper or reference quality presentation this is not, even in the absence of the various issues.
Discovery warps onto Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Musical score is big and prominent and well defined, with solid low-end response and immersive spread across the front and back channels; music is a full-track exercise. Action is well defined, too. Quality phaser blast effects emanate from all over the stage in the opening episode and various explosions on the ships deliver good wallop and engagement. Whether high energy elements or subtle atmosphere, the surround content is effectively balanced and realistic, sounding more expansive and expressive than the 5.1 confines suggest. Light support elements -- various beeps and such on the bridge -- draw the listener into the environments. Dialogue is clear and center positioned for the duration.
Supplements ae included on all four discs. No DVD or digital copies are included.
Disc One:
Discovery gets off to a shaky start in its fourth season, dragging through a few omnidirectional episodes but finally settling on a satisfying, if not routine and rote and definitely derivative, Star Trek-worthy plot. There are some good additions here, a few questionable ones, and some valuable subtractions. The season does just enough to keep itself interesting and on the radar for future installments. The season four Blu-ray set delivers decent video, quality audio, and a nice assortment of supplemental content. Recommended.
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