6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.8 |
Ten years before Kirk, Spock and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien.
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: 2.00:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.00:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
German: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Castillian Spanish
English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (4 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
This review strives to be as spoiler-free as possible but it does cover some basic plot points from the first several episodes. None of the later
season twists are revealed.
Star Trek Discovery feels intimately familiar yet irrefutably different. It's the first small screen Trek since the prequel series Enterprise and while the universal Trek canons and cores are
firmly in place and as it borrows and builds around characters and ideas and places and themes from classic Trek, it also forges a completely
unique identity. Its focus is not on the ship's captain but rather a Starfleet mutineer who finds reprieve in time of war, a war she ignited. The show
introduces a new
ship, a new propulsion system, and is unequivocally unafraid of boldly going beyond the limits that stopped previous Star Trek shows not
from reaching their full potential but rather from approaching their stories with the sort of deeply intimate and very raw humanity -- and beyond --
that Discovery embraces. The show is exceedingly dark, brutally violent, thematically gritty, and there's no language filter. Most of the
characters hold firm to
traditional Federation principles but embrace who they are, which does not always jive with the more family friendly iterations of Star Trek
past. But it's outstanding, a breath of fresh air that does the impossible, reinventing a 50-year-old-franchise while maintaining a fairly strict
adherence to everything that has made Star Trek one of the preeminent franchises in entertainment history.
Star Trek: Discovery - Season One's 1080p Blu-ray presentation can be both rewarding and frustrating. In a broad overview, the picture is quite good, with high end textural intimacy and impressively saturated colors leading the charge. On the downside, macroblocking and banding are fairly regular visual components, the former in particular seeping into darker corners and backgrounds. One of the most pronounced examples comes in episode five, an episode taking place largely in low light within a dank, dreary Klingon holding cell. While such issues are frequent throughout the run, that flip side high end detail and color often save the presentation from its less desirable qualities. Facial features are particularly striking, with impressive intimacy across a wide range of characters, skin types, makeup, and prosthetics. Fine line, pore, freckle, mole, and hair detailing are exemplary in tight, as are the complex and seamless prosthetics seen throughout the season, notably Klingon foreheads (and L'Rell's scar) and Saru's headpiece, which is one of the most visually engaging alien headpieces in Star Trek history. Locations enjoy robust textural firmness and clarity, even if Discovery takes its cues from the spartan NX-01, lacking the brighter colors on the original Enterprise or the more plush and homely accents on TNG's Enterprise D. Colors are quite good, albeit without much in the way of prominently loud, intensive hues. Federation blue uniforms are a standout, offering good color depth and detail. Digital and holographic readouts bear the fruits of high yield color pop and saturation, standing out particularly well against Discovery's unassuming dark grays and blacks. Black levels sometimes struggle to hold depth but skin tones appear fairly accurate within the show's generally lower light constraints.
Star Trek: Discovery - Season One beams onto Blu-ray with a generally good, though not perfect, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This is not a huge, intense track. Space battles, phaser firefights, and other sounds of raucous conflict are a little more timid than one might expect of the most technology advanced Star Trek show ever made. The track does take full advantage of the width and depth the 5.1 configuration affords the material. Sound elements are appropriately immersive, including those battle scenes, even if they lack the raw power and depth one might expect of them. Discovery environmental effects are very nicely integrated, including coms chatter, beeping machinery in sick bay, and sweeping doors heard as they open and close. Music over the opening titles is clear and well pronounced with full stage coverage. Score throughout the season follows suit, and a dance party in one early episode blasts out popular beats with impressive engagement into the stage and a quality low end accompaniment. Dialogue can be a little shallow, particularly Klingon dialogue, but clarity, positioning, and prioritization are usually fine.
Star Trek: Discovery - Season One contains extras across all four discs. Each episode save for the pilot also includes a Promo (1080p,
various runtimes) that previews the season and individual episodes. Deleted and extended scenes can be found with each episode's selection tab while
most other extras can be located under the "Special Features" tab. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase.
Disc One:
Would Gene Roddenberry be pleased with Discovery? Hard to say. The show has more in common with Deep Space Nine than it does any other series, even if it's set a decade prior to the original series' timeline. In Discovery, the "strange new worlds" are often found inside the characters, not throughout the universe in which they operate. It's the most human, raw, real, violent, and unafraid of the franchise and arguably the most dramatically engaging. It manages to take Star Trek in a new direction while holding firm to the series' essential roots. It's a spectacular show and this reviewer cannot wait for season two. Paramount/CBS' release of Star Trek: Discovery - Season One features good 1080p video that is not without flaw, a fair lossless soundtrack, and a healthy allotment of extra content. Very highly recommended, and collectors should be sure to check out the attractive SteelBook alternative.
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