New to Blu: TV > May 22-28

Trekkies and True Blood fans will be over the (full) moon about this week’s TV-on-Blu-ray premieres.

To coincide with Star Trek Into Darkness’ box office run — it grossed the third highest opening week of the year here – Paramount is releasing three enterprising collections.

They range from Star Trek Stardate Collection: I – X, a box set of the first-generation movies (from The Motion Picture to Nemesis) to seasons three of Star Trek: The Next Generation and one of Star Trek: Enterprise.

But there’s still no sign of the original Star Trek series coming out on Blu-ray in NZ, even though the third and final season has just been released across the Tasman.

The no-show appears due to the vagaries of Paramount not distributing its own titles here. Universal NZ distributes on Paramount’s behalf but doesn’t seem to have the same access to titles as Paramount Australia.

Meanwhile, True Blood may have lost its bite but “thankfully, HBO’s fifth season Blu-ray release doesn’t buckle under the crippling weight of the series’ worst season to date.

“With an excellent video presentation, a fantastic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, and a solid selection of supplements, The Complete Fifth Season set follows in the footsteps of the four True Blood Blu-ray releases before it.”

“The series looks about as good as it can get, being vastly superior to the 1080i broadcasts …

“The contrast is stronger, noise is gone and blacks are stable. There is strong textural information and a natural layer of grain that makes the image look crisp.”

Season five is being released here the same week as the US whereas another HBO drama, The Newsroom: Complete First Series, goes on sale here three weeks ahead of the States.

Extras include a cast-and-crew discussion about shooting the first season, five commentaries, and “inside perspectives” on each episode.

Also releasing here ahead of the US and UK is Galapagos With David Attenborough.

Although Britain’s Sky TV commissioned the series in 3D, only the 2D version is for sale on disc (as happened with Kingdom of Plants).

In addition to the three episodes, there’s the making-of special that aired last night on TV One.