This week my Trek Tuesday gets a little extra boldly go. This week, Paramount Pictures has released to blu-ray a collection of the Short Treks that were made in conjunction with Star Trek: Discovery.

These are short side stories that give us glimpses of the Trek universe with character moments, or situations which we have never really encountered in the long format of the hourly drama, or the cinematic realm. Collected on one disc are nine out of the ten shorts. The tenth short, Children of Mars, actually serves as a pit of a prequel for Star Trek: Picard, and will no doubt be included as an extra on that home video release.

Each of the shorts is different, and some won’t appeal to certain viewers, but there is an essence of Trek to each of them. Whether it’s hinted at what is to come for the Discovery, as hinted at in Calypso, or that we get a few moments with a couple of the Enterprise crew in Q&A, and even an homage to The Original Series and movies while telling its own unique, albeit cartoon-like, tale.

Each of the shorts comes with its own behind the scenes extra and there’s also a short doc about the creation and making of the series.

Much like everything that has been released after The Original Series, Short Treks has its supporters and its detractors. I enjoy them. I may not love them all, but a number of them are a chance for creative ways to tell short stories, which at their heart, are Trek. So I was more than happy to add this blu-ray to my Trek collection.

Of all of them, I think I enjoyed Ephraim & Dot the most, it was directed by composer Micheal Giacchino and is a wonderfully animated piece that feels like a cross between the classic Loony Tunes and Star Trek: The Animated Series. And while the story is a little silly, if you get beyond that and contemplate the context and the actions of the characters, it’s a very human and very Star Trek story.

Should you find yourself in the mood for Star Trek, but don’t have time for a full episode, let alone one of the feature films, then Short Treks may scratch that itch for you. Or you may just sit there and watch the whole disc anyway.

It goes without saying that the picture and sound on this disc is exemplary, and will play wonderfully on your HD television, and it also makes a find addition to the continually growing Star Trek collection on my blu-ray shelf.

The Human Adventure continues. Star Trek: Short Treks is available now on blu-ray from Paramount Canada. Boldly go…