Is Discovery Star Trek? That argument is going to be carrying on for awhile. I just know that I will continue to watch it, and I also know that the second season was a huge step up from the sometimes shakey first season. And now, Paramount Pictures is boldly going by releasing the second season to blu-ray which features a beautiful transfer, and a slew of extras.

There are still those who don’t feel that Discovery is Star Trek, but with it’s second season, and the introduction of Anson Mount’s portryal of Captain Christopher Pike, the series definitely has a much stronger story than its first season.

While there are standalone episodes in the series, most of them tie in, somehow with the season arc which has something to do with a missing Spock (Ethan Peck), who we learned last season is Micheal Burnham’s (Sonequa Martin-Green) adopted brother, and strange temporal signals and a strange being referred to as the Red Angel.

All fourteen episodes of the second season are packaged in this beautiful set. My real trouble with the season is that there is so much build up to introducing Ethan Peck’s incarnation of Spock, that when it finally happens (no matter how it was scripted this would have happened) it just feels a little weak. I think they should have brought him in earlier and just get it out of the way.

That being said, those who were anxious about the appearance of the Enterprise at the end of the first season it was nice to be wrong, as Mount’s Pike, and Rebecca Romijn’s Number One bring classic cannon characters to a new and interesting life.

The extras include the season two promo, a featurette on the designing of the series as it enters it’s second season – which sees the expansion of the sets, and the repurposing of standing sets as needed. Sadly only two of the Short Treks are included, as they serve as a direct tie-in to the events of the second season – which suggests a release of the Short Treks sometime in the future.

There is a look at the props created for the series, and how the actors, and sets help lend life to them, as well as a look at all the amazing cotume designs that help fill out this new version of the Federation. There’s creature design that impact Starfleet crews, Klingons and aliens (including the reappearance of a familiar species from The Original Series).

We get looks at the visual effects design and the things they bring to life to augment and expand the universe that Discovery takes place in.  The behind the scenes material also includes a gag reel, and an hour long doc that looks at the production of season two, (re)creating and reimaging the Enterprise in the Discovery universe, that has to pay homage to The Original Series, while the aesthetic matches the look of the new series.

I love the wealth and breadth of the extras!

Each disc in the set has something on it, whether it’s commentaries or featurettes, and I cannot wait to revisit all of the episodes as I continue the human adventure and boldy go through all of the Star Trek series.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 is available today from Paramount Canada!