Paramount Home Entertainment is using the excitement surrounding the May 8th release of J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek movie to issue the first season of the original Star Trek TV series and previous Star Trek feature films starring the original cast in the new Blu-ray format. 

The Blu-ray edition of Star Trek: The Original Series-Season 1 (MSRP $118) is due out on April 28th.  The seven-disc set comes with an exclusive Sulu action figure from Diamond Select Toys and contains 29 episodes, including “Menagerie,” the original pilot for the series that stars Jeffrey Hunter as “Captain Pike.”  In addition to enjoying a wealth of extras, viewers of the Blu-ray edition will be able to toggle back and forth between the original broadcast edition of the series and the newly re-mastered versions with enhanced special effects that were created for the series’ debut in the now defunct HD format (see “Star Trek TOS Makeover” for a detailed discussion of the enhancements).

Paramount will follow up on May 12th with the release of two collections of Star Trek movies in the Blu-ray format.  Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture Collection will include all six films that starred the cast of the original TV series, while The Star Trek Motion Picture Trilogy set features The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, and The Voyage Home—films that many fans have considered a sort of unofficial trilogy anyway (and the best of the films featuring the original cast) since the plotlines flow from one film to the next.