CBS and Paramount Home Entertainment have confirmed the by now obvious by formally announcing the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series is coming to Blu-ray Disc on April 28.
This 7-disc set will be nearly identical to the previously released HD DVD version with a few notable exceptions. First, instead of only offering the remastered versions with select new special effects as the HD DVD did, the Blu-ray version will offer a choice between remastered and original cuts via seamless branching. Audio options will allow you to select between a newly mixed 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track or the original 2.0 mono track.
Missing from the Blu-ray edition but present on the HD DVD “hybrid” edition is a DVD version of each episode and a couple extras on the DVD side of those discs: the History channel special Beyond the Final Frontier and a Trek Connections featurette.
The HD DVD version used a slick looking but hard to access custom plastic casing with each disc stuck on pegs inside. The Blu-ray set will utilize a more functional amaray case with an outer O-Sleeve.
Best of all, Paramount and CBS have seen the error in their HD DVD pricing packages and have set a retail price for this Blu-ray set at $104.99. While that may seem steep, it is less than half the $220 the studios originally wanted for the HD DVD hybrid version. The actual price on store shelves will likely be in the $75 range.
Paramount and CBS have listed the full contents for all 7 discs as follows.
- Disc One:
- The Man Trap
- Charlie X
- Where No Man Has Gone Before
- The Naked Time
- Preview trailers for each episode
- Spacelift: Transporting Trek Into The 21st Century
- Starfleet Access episode – Where No Man Has Gone Before
- The Enemy Within
- Mudd’s Women
- What Are Little Girls Made Of?
- Miri
- Dagger of the Mind
- Preview trailers for each episode
- The Corbomite Maneuver
- The Menagerie, Part 1
- The Menagerie, Part 2
- The Conscience of the King
- Preview trailers for each episode
- Reflections on Spock
- Starfleet Access episode – The Menagerie, Parts 1 & 2
- Balance of Terror
- Shore Leave
- The Galileo Seven
- The Squire of Gothos
- Preview trailers for each episode
- Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner
- Starfleet Access episode – Balance of Terror
- Arena
- Tomorrow is Yesterday
- Court Martial
- The Return of the Archons
- Preview trailers for each episode
- To Boldly Go… Season One
- The Birth of a Timeless Legacy
- Space Seed
- A Taste of Armageddon
- This Side of Paradise
- The Devil in the Dark
- Preview trailers for each episode
- Interactive Enterprise Inspection
- Sci-Fi Visionaries
- Starfleet Access episode – Space Seed
- Errand of Mercy
- The Alternative Factor
- The City on the Edge of Forever
- Operation: Annihilate!
- Preview trailers for each episode
- Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories
- Kiss ‘N’ Tell: Romance in the 23rd Century
- Starfleet Access episode – Errand of Mercy
Disc Two:
Disc Three:
Disc Four:
Disc Five:
Disc Six:
Disc Seven:
Trek website TrekMovie.com, where this news originally broke, is additionally reporting the season two and three Blu-ray box sets will be released in conjunction with the J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot’s release on Blu-ray Disc this fall. They’re backing up this claim with a peek at preliminary cover art.
Click through the disc details below to view angled high-res cover art for Star Trek: The Original Series: Season One on Blu-ray Disc. Amazon.com pre-order information will be added as soon as the listing appears.