Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 2 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 2 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 20, 2023

It's perhaps somewhat ironic that this show is titled Strange New Worlds when it is in fact the least strange of any of the recent Star Trek shows. Between the uneven Discovery, the tonally wayward Lower Decks, the curiosity that is Prodigy, and even Picard, Strange New Worlds is the most fundamentally Star Trek of them all, engaging audiences with a show that really feels like it would be The Original Series if it were made today. Whether it would be exactly to Gene Roddenberry's standards is anyone's guess, but it feels like it would be, and certainly more so than any of the other concurrently running shows. Strange New Worlds delighted with a wonderful first season and here in season two builds on the first season with a number of standalone, yet still interconnected, storylines that cover a lot of familiar Star Trek territory while also pushing forward through original content and new ideas, all bridging the gap between Pike's Enterprise and Kirk's Enterprise, slowly but surely bringing in the players who will eventually become the familiar TOS crew while still building up the core Strange New Worlds and Pike-era players established in The Cage and of this show's own making.

Official synopsis: In season two of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,' the crew of the U.S.S. 'Enterprise,' under the command of Captain Christopher Pike, confronts increasingly dangerous stakes, explores uncharted territories and encounters new life and civilizations. The crew will also embark on personal journeys that will continue to test their resolve and redefine their destinies. Facing friends and enemies both new and familiar, their adventures will unfold in surprising ways never seen before on any 'Star Trek' series.

Season two dives into some very familiar Star Trek territory. A key courtroom drama episode early in the season resolves a cliffhanger from the first season's finale. It ranks as one of the better such episodes in Trek, though of course it faces some lofty competition in what is truly one of the great subgenres in the franchise and cannot approach the finest in the history of Trek, "Measure of a Man." Episode three sees the show return to the not-so-strange worlds of time travel (setting the stage for one of the season's quasi-romantic subplots that eventually allows the season to push towards some of the information revealed in The Wrath of Khan). Another episodes explores the Star Trek staple of the Prime Directive and cultural contamination.

But the season is more than just regurgitations of old standby ideas. The season almost lulls audiences into a sense of security with these early episodes and then hits the afterburners by throwing a lot of new ideas into the fray in the season's second half. In what may be the best episode of the season ("Under the Cloak of War"), a Klingon emissary arrives on the Enterprise to help usher in a new era of peace between the recently warring factions, but several crewmembers who fought in the war resent his arrival. It is particularly difficult for Dr. M'Benga whose PTSD drives him to a dark place that hasn't been visited so intensely and powerfully since some of the darker moments in Deep Space Nine. For as deep as this episode may be, and as dark as the cliffhanger season finale ("Hegemony") plays, there are some wonderfully lighter moments and episodes in the season, including "Charades" in which Spock becomes human and must pretend to be Vulcan (and seems to be setting the narrative background for Spock's more "human" side as seen in "The Cage"). Then there is "Those Old Scientists" in which some of the animated characters from Lower Decks time travel to the Enterprise and appear as real flesh-and-blood. Finally, the unexpected, and unexpectedly fun, musical (yes, musical) episode "Subspace Rhapsody" is both narratively deep and outwardly fun. This season has it all, and it's easily one of the best 10 episode runs in the history of Star Trek.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Paramount's 2160p/Dolby Vision UHD release of Strange New Worlds' second season offers an image that is superior to the companion Blu-ray. The differences may not be astronomical, but the UHD amplifies the image's characteristics to an agreeable and worthwhile level, making for the finest presentation of the show available. While the Blu-ray is well capable of offering an A-grade image for clarity, textural robustness, and color accuracy, the UHD takes things just a little further. Textural improvements are mild but necessary, offering sharper elements and gains to core features like facial definition, pores, and hairs, amplifying raw visibility and clarity by degrees, not by leaps, but still with enough extra definition to matter. The overall clarity is boosted to bring more life to uniforms and futuristic surfaces, too, while the more familiar and densely detailed time travel episode, taking place in Toronto, offers more tangible clarity and sharpness to the familiar urban landscape.

The Dolby Vision color grading offers a slightly more obvious feel for gain, adding depth to the image and leaving it feeling slightly less bright but certainly more vivid. Black levels are deeper, on everything from low light exteriors to dark hair (look at Number One's hair throughout the courtroom episode). White balance is more efficient and brighter (Nurse Chapel's uniform), and skin tones are fuller and healthier. The Dolby Vision grading amplifies tonal nuance and robustness to the core uniform colors while also intensifying readouts on the bridge and offering bolder white accents around the ship. As with the Blu-ray, noise and encode issues are just about nonexistent. This is not a massive upgrade over the Blu-ray, but the UHD does squeeze out just enough added excellence to make this the obvious choice, even at a slightly increased price point.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack delivers a hearty listen throughout the season. Music plays with precision clarity and superb placement, primarily along the front but definitely finding some wonderful back-channel engagement as the situations warrant ("Subspace Rhapsody" really sings here, literally and figuratively alike). Action elements offer superior placement and movement, yield wonderful zip to phaser fire, heft to explosions, and the like. "Under the Cloak of War" delivers consistent surround extension as various explosions surround the stage and phaser fire rips through the listening area, both nearby and oftentimes in the distance. Ambient support is wonderfully integrated, especially on the bridge and around the ship where the slightest support cues deliver rich and "realistic" environmental ambience. Dialogue is clear and centered for the duration.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This release of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season Two contains extras on all three discs, with the bulk appearing on disc four.

Disc One:

• Extended Scenes (1080p): Scenes from "The Broken Circle" (1:52) and "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" (2:15).

Disc Two:

• Deleted/Extended Scenes (1080p): Scenes from "Charades" (0:45), "Lost in Translation" (4:49), "These Old Scientists" (0:55), and "Under the Cloak of War" (3:17).

Disc Three:

• Extended/Alternate Scenes (1080p): Scenes from "Subspace Rhapsody" (2:09).
• Producing Props (1080p, 10:46): Looking at Spock's lute, various Vulcan props from "Charades," and Spock's ears.
• The Costumes Closet (1080p, 13:21): Costume designer Bernadette Croft explores some of the less familiar and some of the more familiar costumes and costume elements seen throughout the season.
• The Gorn (1080p, 15:37): Looking at Gorn in the show, including creature design, costumes, animatronics, digital elements, and more.
• Singing in Space (1080p, 22:14): A deep look inside "Subspace Rhapsody."
• Exploring New Worlds (1080p, 46:30): A lengthy look into each episode, character arcs, new idea, returning characters, developing themes, and much more.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's been a banner year for Star Trek on Blu-ray and UHD, and Strange New Worlds -- both seasons -- has taken point and, now, is closing out the year with one of the year's best releases. This is the stuff of a Star Trek fan's dream. From the whimsical and whacky to the serious and sobering, this is a wonderful season that sees Star Trek at its best certainly in decades and standing as one of the finest seasons, and series, in its decades-long run. Season two's UHD delivers high yield video and audio and a nice assortment of extra content. Very highly recommended.