Star Trek: Picard – The Final Season Blu-ray SteelBook review

Aug 31, 2023- Permalink

The third and final season of the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Picard is in the books and most fans agree that it was a fitting and satisfying ending for the adventures of the beloved captain and his Star Trek: TNG crew. The cast of this season includes Patrick Stewart, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Ed Speleers, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Todd Stashwick, Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut, Michael Dorn, Amanda Plummer, Marina Sirtis, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, and Mica Burton. Paramount has released a Star Trek: Picard – The Final Season Blu-ray SteelBook and I had a chance to take a look.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Sharpness and detail is present in all the usual places: facial features, clothing, sets and locations. The black levels are nice and deep and details remain in the shadows and darker scenes. Sharp-eyed viewers who have already watched the season on Paramount+ will notice that, for some reason, an Enterprise flyby in one scene uses a different VFX shot from the streaming version.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack as well as French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. (So you can read Picard saying “Gör det så.”) The surrounds are put to good use whether it’s for the ambient sounds on the vessels or to enhance the action. The dialogue is clear and centred.

The three-disc Blu-ray set does not come with a digital code for the season. Extras include multiple commentaries with cast and crew, deleted scenes, some featurettes, a Q&A, and a gag reel. The SteelBook case features Picard and the crew on the front, a rendering of the Enterprise on the back, and the interior features an image of the crew playing poker.

Star Trek: Picard – The Final Season Blu-ray SteelBook has very good audio and video and a nice collection of extras. If you’re a SteelBook collector, you’ll probably want this version. If you haven’t bought the previous two seasons, you may be interested in the Complete Series Blu-ray being released at the same time or you may want to wait a little while to see if Paramount gives fans a 4K version.