ST DVD

Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)

Cover
DVD release
Series:	Star Trek: Short Treks
Season:	One, Two
No. of episodes:	9
No. of discs:	1
Run time:	118 minutes (NTSC)
Region 1 release date:	2 June 2020 (North America)
Region 2 release date:	13 July 2020 (UK)
Region 4 release date:	15 July 2020 (Australia)
Rating(s):
Language:	English
Subtitles:	English (SDH)
Reference:	ASIN B085R72NH5 ASIN B089171CTY (UK) ASIN B087GFY289 (Australia)

Star Trek: Short Treks is a DVD release featuring the complete first and second seasons of Star Trek: Short Treks, except for "Children of Mars". The set was released in North America on 2 June 2020. The single-disc holding standard plastic snapcase came within a slipover carton cover.

Discounting the audio commentaries, the special features total up to a runtime of one hour. [1]

Disc contents

Disc

Episode

1

"Runaway" "Calypso" "The Brightest Star" "The Escape Artist" "Q&A" "The Trouble with Edward" "Ask Not" "Ephraim and Dot" "The Girl Who Made the Stars" Special Features Coming of Age – Tied to the "Runaway" short, the first installment of the new Short Trek format was written by executive producers Jenny Lumet and Alex Kurtzman about Tilly finding a stowaway with whom she can relate. In this behind-the-scenes interview, Kurtzman, Director Maja Vrvilo, and star Mary Wiseman talk about the use of the short to give the audience further insight into Tilly's character. Shall We Dance – Writer Michael Chabon and Director Olatunde Osunsanmi discuss the challenges of creating a compelling story with only one on-screen character in the familiar setting of the USS Discovery for the "Calypso" short. First Contact: Kaminar – A deep dive into "The Brightest Star" short and creating Saru's backstory with the Star Trek actors and writers. Covered in Mudd – Tied to "The Escape Artist" short, an interview with star Rainn Wilson about directing the Harry Mudd short and his experience on both sides of the camera. Ensign Spock's First Day – Writer Michael Chabon talks about writing for Ensign Spock and finding hidden talents in relation to the "Q&A" short. Here Comes Tribble – Fans will dive into "The Trouble with Edward" short as prop master Mario Moreira discusses bringing back the beloved tribble for the shorts. Score! – A behind-the-curtain discussion with Oscar® and Grammy® Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino about taking the reins on "Ephraim and Dot," and directing and composing for Star Trek: Short Treks. Bedtime Stories – Writer Brandon Schultz, director Olatunde Osunsanmi, and actor Kenric Green ("Mike Burnham") discuss the development of "The Girl Who Made the Stars," the animated Short Trek about a bedtime story. The Making of "Short Treks" – An in-depth discussion with executive producer Alex Kurtzman and more about how and why the new concept Short Treks were made. Two Audio Commentaries – Featuring Executive Producers Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet providing commentary for the "Runaway" short, and star Anson Mount providing commentary for the "Ask Not" short.

Background information

• "Runaway" and "The Brightest Star" were previously already included on the 2019 DIS Season 2 DVD release, as these two episodes pertained to events featured in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery.
• Similarly, "Children of Mars" is not included in this set as it is a prelude to Star Trek: Picard and was included as a special feature on the subsequent DVD and Blu-ray home video releases of that series, endowed with an audio commentary.
• Like the prior Discovery Blu-ray releases, this release sports the same number of special features as its Blu-ray counterpart, constituting something of a break in release policies as the franchise had up to that point in time favored the Blu-ray format with the inclusion of more special features. Quite conceivably this had either been an intentional franchise attempt to avoid the 2014 second "VAM controversy" that had followed in the wake of the home video format releases of the first two alternate reality films, a cost-price saving measure by streamlining disc production as much as possible, or both.
• The second season of Short Treks was not picked up for streaming by Netflix, making the region 2 and 4 releases the first opportunity for viewers outside the USA to (officially) watch the second season episodes.
• This particular release is one of the few individual Star Trek releases followed by the professional industry site The Numbers and for which domestic (US & Canada) home video format sales are known; The Numbers has reported that by August 2021 domestic sales had been realized of US$86,500 for both this and its Blu-ray counterpart releases. [2] While these disappointing sales could be explained by the sharply divided fan reception Kurtzman-era Star Trek had engendered, there were by this time also generic societal trend issues in play, which had nothing to do with Star Trek, additionally explaining the diminishing sales of physical home video formats. (see: main article) Nonetheless, the very low domestic sales (less than 4500 units sold in North-America at an average DVD/Blu-ray retail price of US$20.00) can not hide the fact that the Short Treks home video release had become an unmitigated flop one year into its release.

Previous release: DIS Season 2 DVD	Star Trek: Short Treks DVD	Next release: PIC Season 1 DVD
Previous series release: First DVD in series

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