The sophomore season of Star Trek: Picard arrives on home video today in the USA.
Star Trek: Picard – Season 2
Just where Picard (and its titular character Jean-Luc Picard) were going to go next after the conclusion of the first season was of keen interest to fans. The first few episodes of season 2 brought a fresh sense of the world, with a lovingly designed new USS Stargazer (there’s more on that in the special features), some compelling dalliances with the darkest versions of our characters, and an interesting spin on a Borg Queen. Sadly, the season got bogged down in 2024 Los Angeles and a pretty painful exploration of Jean-Luc’s boyhood trauma, which included a frustratingly archaic idea of mental health when it came to the handling of Yvette Picard.
TrekMovie covered the individual episodes as they came out in reviews by our site founder Anthony as well as in weekly episode review episodes of the All Access Star Trek podcast. If you haven’t already checked them out, they’re highly recommended for reviews and analysis of each episode.
The Blu-ray set
The episodes and special features are spread out across three Blu-ray discs. As we’ve come to expect for a CBS home video release, each disc has the names of the episodes it contains printed on them, as well as a full listing for the set on the inside back of the case.
Video Quality
Picard has a slick and modern style that follows the general trends of the live action CBS/Paramount+ Trek universe. Season 2 spends quite a bit of time on Earth in 2024, so in some ways this season is both more down-to-Earth (pun intended) stylistically, but it also spends a lot of time in the murkiness of night—at the Château, around the Europa gala, etc. Having the higher bitrate available on disc means the image quality in these darker scenes is a bit better than streaming.
Audio Quality
As we’ve come to expect, the episodes have losslessly compressed DTS-HD MA 5.1 channel soundtracks. This is pretty standard for a TV show release. Picard sounds great; as noted in my other reviews, the producers and sound mixers are on the top of their game with these latest seasons.
Special Features
Documentary features
Most of these are 10-20 minute pieces.
Disc 1
The U.S.S. Stargazer – This feature is worth watching if you like ship design: Executive producer Terry Matalas and production designer Dave Blass discuss the design of the new Stargazer inside and out. We also get a time-lapse video of the bridge being built on the sound stage. The team brought in Trek veterans Michael Okuda, Doug Drexler, and John Eaves to help create the latest U.S.S. Stargazer. We get to see clips from their virtual meetings and early ideas for designs. Also keep an eye out for Thomas Marrone of Star Trek Online, who lends a hand doing concept renders.
The Château – Production designer Dave Blass and prop master Jeff Lombardi show us how they rebuilt and expanded on the Château Picard sets in season 2. The original Château sets were converted into the silvery “Dataverse” version at the end of season 1, so those sets were scrapped and the new production design team got to start over for season 2.
Disc 3
Picard Props – Prop Master Jeff Lombardi showcases new props created for Star Trek: Picard season 2, which included making the Starfleet props into their sinister Confederation versions.
The Trial Is Over – An exploration of Q (and John de Lancie) and his connection to Jean-Luc Picard.
Rebuilding The Borg Queen – Designer Neville Page kicks off this feature, discussing how he approached the new spin on the Borg Queen. Actress Annie Wersching discusses stepping into the role of the Borg Queen. And Prosthetics Master Vincent Van Dyke and Make-Up Department Head James MacKinnon discuss the process of making and applying the Borg makeup and embellishments to Wersching.
Picard Passages – This is the typical talking heads chat about the season, the character of Picard, his journey, and so forth.
Deleted Scenes
For many people, these are likely behind the desire to get a TV show on disc. There are four episodes that have deleted or extended scenes, found on the disc with the corresponding episode.
“Assimilation”
Extended bit of scene of Elnor and Raffi as Elnor is dying in La Sirena’s powerless sickbay.
A longer introduction to Dr. Teresa Ramirez and her son Ricardo. Teresa talks about Ricardo’s love of space and how he wants to be an exo-botanist before the injured Rios is brought in.
“Fly Me To The Moon”
Q is disgusted by having to eat, and asks the waitress at the diner where he’s meeting Soong how she handles knowing she has a finite existence. He almost has an engaging conversation, then shoos her away when Soong enters.
A scene where Talinn uses a gadget with a flash of light to “zap” a line-up of guests at the Europa ball, kind of like the Neuralyzer from Men in Black. A few seconds of this was seen in the Picard season 2 Star Trek Day 2021 trailer.
“Monsters”
Raffi wonders if Jurati-Borg went to the bar to throw back a few. “Never underestimate a good bender.” (You can see this deleted scene as a TrekMovie exclusive clip at the bottom of this review)
“Farewell”
As the characters face the possibility that they’re stuck in 2024, Seven takes command of the mission. Among other heroic things she says are “smoke ’em if you got ’em,” something she picked up from pop culture to fit in.
Gag Reel – Found on the third disc. It’s always a good time to see these consummate professional actors break character. We learn that filming in downtown Los Angeles isn’t all it’s cracked up to be—poor Jeri Ryan and Michelle Hurd have every kind of vehicle imaginable come flying by them while trying to film on the street (motorcycles, cement mixers, helicopters, oh my!). And of course being back on the sets of a Starfleet ship made for some déjà vu for Sir Patrick Stewart; we get to see him slip back into his old “walk and talk down the corridor” routine, which leads to him mistakenly calling the Stargazer the Enterprise.
Sir Patrick laughs at his mistake of saying “Enterprise” instead of “Stargazer.”
Final thoughts
Despite the drooping middle of the season, for many people this Blu-ray can be worth watching; it’s the highest quality way to watch Picard. It’s recommended for completists or anyone who wants an offline copy of the show; this includes those who cannot or do not want to stream the show, and folks who have concerns about the fleeting rights to streaming media. After a few seasons now produced in the new CBS/Paramount+ Star Trek Universe, Picard season 2 is part of a growing list of new seasons produced in HDR (Picard seasons 1-2, Discovery seasons 2-4, and Strange New Worlds season 1) and are available to stream in HDR from Paramount+, I would be remiss in not expressing disappointment with the lack of a UHD Blu-ray release to let the typically gorgeous cinematography really shine.
Available Today
Amazon: Blu-ray $42.99 and DVD $29.95.
There is also a limited Steelbook edition available on Amazon
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Coming soon to other countries
The home video release will be available soon in these countries:
- United Kingdom — November 14
- Nordics — November 14
- Spain — November 15
- France — November 16
- Italy — November 17
- Germany — November 17
- Benelux — November 18
- Japan — November 18
- Australia — December 7
Special features video clips
Keep up with all the home video and streaming news, reviews, and analysis at TrekMovie.com.
Great review thanks for posting it. S2 of Picard for me was a good season of Trek but not as enjoyable as S1 imo.
So far the current Trek shows have been fantastic with Picard being my 2nd favorite of the current shows(Discovery is my most favorite with Prodigy being my 3rd, Lower Decks being my 4th and SNW being my 5th favorite).
With that said i love each show differently (just like i do with all the older shows) and they all have been great Trek.
I have my copy of S2 blu-ray pre-ordered and looking forward to watching this season again in better video quality. November 14 can’t come soon enough.
TNGs Voyage Home to s1s Search For Data, and s3s Undiscovered Country?? (and Nemesis is TNGs Wrath of Khan lol)
Is anyone else seeing straight through CBS’s ploy to get us to buy these seasons on Blu-Ray now, only to release a HDR versions later, compelling us to buy them once again? They have the Dolby Vision coding; they should put it on the discs (and even raise the price a little if they feel its warranted). I don’t know if I’m more bothered by the lack of HDR on these discs, or the fact that I’m going to buy the initial releases as well as the HDR updates, too, when they come out.
These are regular 2K editions on regular BD. Not 4K UHD. Why would you expect HD or DV on them? And seeing that there are no ST series releases on 4K, and the movies take so long (there are still 4 to go with no news about them), I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for any series on that format.
Thanks for asking a question dripping with condescension and an insinuation I’m an idiot. Good to know even Star Trek website comments are still breeding grounds for aggression and posturing.
Obviously I don’t expect DV on standard BD. But if they released the series on 4K with DV I would buy it. I’m buying this one now since it’s all there is, but it’s going to annoy me if/when they release a 4K HDR version someday causing me to buy it all over again.
Interesting thought: Maybe I’m subsidizing the future 4K release with my current purchase…
I get what you’re saying. But I think the current reality of physical media becoming a niche means this is likely the only disc format CBS will release the series on.
UHD Blu-ray is considered a premium format.
TV studios are just not spending that kind of money to put their TV shows on physical home video. Alas we are now in a market where studios only put something out on physical media if they think there’s a market for it, and when they do it’s in the lowest common denominator format that they can get away with.
Matt,
You’re probably right, which is a shame because I love physical media for its freedom from internet lag and guaranteed A/V quality. Plus, so long as my player works I’ll always have access.
I have several people I’m bringing through the franchise, and I always use the discs for our viewings.
When it comes to a season like Picard S2, which is actually in 4K and DV on P+, but does not on the disc, which version do you suggest showing them?
It’s a bit of a toss up for me at the moment. (Luckily, I’m still way back in the 90s with these friends so I have some time.) But as an intellectual exercise, which would you choose?
Thanks,
Jason
I agree it’s a shame about not getting this on physical media at the highest possible quality.
For the disc vs. streaming question, I think it’s probably a matter of what’s convenient when you get up to the newer shows. The shows look good on Blu-ray, so say you’re at a friend’s house it’s probably easier to just bring the disc rather than login on someone’s streaming device. But if you’re already logged in, it might be just as easy to just fire up the P+ app.
Fair points.
What if both are equally convenient? You’re at home. You have the Blu-ray and P+. Do you go with the streaming version for the higher quality potential? Or the disc for the absence of streaming rate variability?
Enquiring minds want to know…
(Sorry for belaboring the point. But these are the sorts of things I think about.)
Jason
I’d probably lean towards the streaming option since I have a supported device for 4K/HDR from P+ But it’s a toss up. I don’t really like P+ image quality, you can tell they’re just not the best at the whole streaming thing, but I’d like to think the potential for HDR edges it out.
I appreciate your feedback.
Which series/seasons are truly at a quality above 2K Blu-ray?
Discovery (but is Season 1? It plays in DV if I recall, but, is it correctly coded for it?)
Picard (all seasons I think)
Strange New Worlds
And the cartoons are not in 4K I believe.
Have I got that right?
Thanks,
Jason
So it’s been a while since I’ve investigated the available versions of all the new shows and seasons. Here’s what I remember from a while ago:
DSC S1 – Netflix did show in 1080p HDR, however there were lots of complaints about it not looking right at the time. If I recall correctly P+ doesn’t offer S1 in HDR.
PIC S1/S2 and DSC S2/S3 are 1080p HDR
DSC S4 and SNW S1 are 4K HDR
And you’re correct both PRO and LDS are 1080p SDR. Which is shame since PRO could look amazing in HDR.
This is great info. Thanks, Matt!
It is unbelievable indeed that current Trek shows are not available in UHD! Every new Star Wars and Marvel series are out there in glorious UHD and we’re stuck with HD. That alone makes this set uninteresting for purchase.
I’m really wondering why that is. I’m just hoping it’s not the fact they cheaped-out on VFX and had everything rendered only in HD.
Literally none of the Star Wars shows since Mandalorian are on disc at all. Most of the Marvel ones aren’t either. Be glad Trek is still coming out at all; that’s why I bought this season of Picard even though I thought it was by far the worst Star Trek ever made.
Thanks for covering this topic, I was thinking about making a similar reply.
I’ll just add on to say, UHD Blu-ray is considered a premium format.
TV studios are just not spending that kind of money to put their TV shows on physical home video. Alas we are now in a market where studios only put something out on physical media if they think there’s a market for it, and when they do it’s in the lowest common denominator format that they can get away with.
Another industry example is that most Fox shows are only put out on DVD. That even includes their perennial cash cow The Simpsons, which had a few seasons released on Blu-ray before they gave up on it. CBS/Paramount+ also follows this trend for shows that aren’t called Star Trek, their critically acclaimed show The Good Fight is only available on DVD.
Can’t say I blame Fox for giving up on Simpsons Blu-rays. How much detail do you want in a show like that? “The hairs on Homer’s head look so crisp!”
I didn’t know that regarding The Good Fight. My feeling is that it’s only going to get more common for shows to just not be on disc at all; heck, the final two seasons of “The Expanse” aren’t, which is a crime against sci-fi.
Trekkies, put your money where your mouth is or we’ll be in the same position eventually.
I think he may be referring to how the show is presented on Paramount+ vs Disney+ and how this disc release doesn’t offer an upgrade for a lot of people.
Every Marvel and Star Wars series on Disney+ offers DolbyVision and Dolby Atmos (or HDR for those without DolbyVision sets) while Paramount+ only offers 4K on select devices and only if you subscribe to the premium plan.
According to Paramount+, only the following devices offer 4K:
That excludes a lot of TV’s and devices which likely means most viewers are not watching this series and others in 4K on Paramount+.
Thank you, that’s exactly what I’m referring to. I didn’t mention Blu-ray discs at all.
You’re commenting on a physical media release review, so I think most us assumed you were talking about release on disc.
A lot of the reasoning behind how studios decide which home media format to use for their properties will no doubt come from examinations of the demographics who watch. There wouldn’t be any point in putting The Good Fight (for example) on UHD when the audience evidently only have DVD players.
Wasn’t talking about UHD Blu-ray. I was talking about the availability of the shows in UHD, like at all. Streaming in UHD is nog longer a premium, for most streaming platforms it’s the standard for their new shows.
Who said anything about discs? I was talking about the fact that the current Trek shows aren’t available in UHD, like at all!
As Denny C pointed out, while the device list is (pathetically) small, P+ actually does support 4K and HDR. Both SNW S1 and DSC S4 were available in 4K and in HDR.
“Every new Star Wars and Marvel series are out there in glorious UHD”
Huh? No they’re not. Many of the Marvel and Star Wars shows aren’t even available except for on streaming.
Also, most people don’t even have UHD players. Sales on them have been modest at best. So studios are not in a rush to release things in that format, since there’s a good chance not enough people will buy them. As such, your rant seems rather bizarre.
Up until recently most of those shows were rendered and finished in 2k. The Star Wars prequels are 2k res or less. Every shot in the originals that is a special edition shot and not an original effect is 2k. Only the scanned 35mm film is real 4k. But the scenes with optical effects, some that went through an optical printer aren’t of the same quality as those live action scenes without effects. Only the Imax scenes in Force Awakens are at 4k or higher res. The rest of the film was rendered and edited at 2k res. But no one has noticed.
Yes the are, on streaming. Not once did I mention those shows are put on disc in UHD, that’s what you read into it. So my ‘rant’, Lorna, was not bizarre at all. Maybe not jump to conclusions without asking me first what I meant, if that wasn’t clear to you, “as such”.
Literally only one of the shows has a 4K DI. and was shot in 4K Picard. Everything else is going to be upscaled. Up until now the DI for all the shows has been 2k. So yeah there were HDR 2k streams but they weren’t real 4K. Tv treks sweet spot was 2k and they were upgrading the movies only to 4k, with the exception of Enterprise which is HDCAM 1080P, and Deep Space Nine and Voyager which are 480P.
Sorry i meant Strange New Worlds is the first trek show with a 4K DI and shot in native 4K. Disney was doing 4K right out of the gate with Mando. Star Trek literally only now has started using 4K cameras.
The whole season was a gag reel.
but terribly unfunny…
Picard season two already made me gag and reel.
I am firmly in the minority in thatI thoroughly enjoyed Season 2. I found it to be the single best season of Trek since DS9’s penultimate outing. While I didn’t mind that the extended trip to 2024- I do wish it had not come at the expense of getting a better look at the Federation in the early 25th century. But I’m guessing that what Season 3 is for!
I am also in the minority of those who enjoyed it. I have a couple minor nitpicks, and yeah spending more time in the 25th Century (even an alternate one) would have been preferable. Those middle six episodes could have been condensed to three, and then we could have been treated to more of the Borgati Collective helping with the anomaly at the end. But yeah overall Season 2 is enjoyable. It doesn’t rank as high as Season 1 for me, but still worth owning.
I found this season so abysmal, especially the last half, I didn’t even watch the last two episodes. So disappointing. I wouldn’t even use these discs as coasters.
The first and last episodes were good. The seven or eight in between were tedious.
I found the first two pretty fantastic, but for me it went downhill pretty quick. I had such high hopes, too, it’s a shame.
I’ll say you might want to watch the last episode because you can basically watch Episodes 1,2 and 10 and you have the best of the entire season.
The ending of season 2 with jurati and the Borg was probably the biggest jump the shark moment since Riker &Troi on Enterprise …
Q and Picard scenes were excellent but needed a bit more of Q than just a glorified cameo.
It made no sense at all. The Borg are now the good guys who saved the Universe. And inclusive as well thanks to Jurati. It was canon destroying, it was fanfiction.
Quote, “The sophomore season of Star Trek: Picard arrives on home video today in the USA.”
Will there be a senior or 4th season?
That there’s no UHD 4K Blu Ray with HDR indeed REALLY is disappointing me and I will not buy the normal blu ray without HDR.
This season had some really good moments, which leads one to think there was so much potential there. That being said, once we got to 2024 and all we want to do was get out of 2024 and we didn’t until the last possible moment it was so deflating. So far the 2020’s have sucked in real life so I guess it’s kind of fitting that most of the show’s time there was like being in purgatory. I wonder how much of the show’s time there had to do with budget and COVID. I kept thinking and saying do they remember Star Trek is a show set in space. Also, Picard was a captain who elected to have a mental health professional on the bridge of his star ship every day for years and he needs Q (of all people) to help him through his childhood issues and trauma, really? Also disappointing.
I really think if you’re going to do these highly serialized shows, especially when they aren’t based on books, where you have a pre-thought out structure you need to write the whole damn session from start to finish. Because they seem to get so lost in the middle so often and ST: Picard isn’t alone here. I just hope Season 3 is the redemption season we all hope it is. It’s going to take a few episodes before we can just sit back, enjoy the ride and trust that the writers know what exactly they are doing, even if it’s going good and that’s pretty sad because we all want to love the show and we have from the start.