This past Wednesday we
had the news that CBS DVD and Paramount Home Entertainment are planning a new "collective" of episodes from all five series with their
September 16th release of
Star Trek: Alternate Realities. It will have 20 episodes on 5 discs, plus each disc contains exclusive bonus features as well.
Now the studio has sent to retailers an early look at the front of the box for this release, and - as we guessed! - the original
Star Trek series episode "Mirror, Mirror" figures prominently into it. Yes, that's "good" Spock on the left, and "evil, bearded" Spock on the right (under the starburst; more on that in a moment).
"Mirror, Mirror" was the
ST:TOS episode which first introduced the so-called Mirror Universe, an ongoing alternate reality universe that wasn't featured in any stories of
The Next Generation, but was featured in 5 episodes of
Deep Space Nine ("Crossover"; "Through the Looking Glass"; "Shattered Mirror"; "Resurrection"; "The Emperor's New Cloak"), and then seen once more in a 2-Part episode of
Enterprise called "In A Mirror, Darkly" (which built off of events of the
TOS episode "The Tholian Web").
Not that episodes of
TNG didn't have few "alternate reality" episodes. Some of the installments most fans would agree could fall into that category include "Yesterday's Enterprise", "The Inner Light", "Tapestry", "Parallels" and "All Good Things...", among others. Of course, several of these have appeared in other
Star Trek "collective" DVD releases, too. We're not sure yet which episodes of
TNG, or the other series, will actually appear on this new set.
But we DO know, thanks to the starburst in the picture below, that the release will include an offer to send off for an exclusive action figure related to the show. We've dug further and found out that this will be an exclusive figure of
TNG's Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge, produced by
Diamond Select Toys.
This figure will only be available through buying this DVD collection, and is valued at $15.99 (but will be free with this DVD purchase, although we assume the consumer will probably be responsible for shipping charges). We do NOT yet know what episode the La Forge figure will be based upon, but we can guess: the 100th episode of
Star Trek: Voyager, "Timeless", could be considered an alternate reality episode, and features an appearance by the future CAPTAIN Geordi La Forge of the
U.S.S. Challenger, as played by Levar Burton (who also directed). It's just a guess, though. We'll see!
Just remember that the whole thing isn't finalized yet, so the offer, the set and it's contents, and the preliminary package art show below are all subject to change. Stay tuned, because we're trying to get a list of episodes that will be found on this 5-disc package. If you're ready to make the jump, though, then you can pre-order it from Amazon right now for $27.99 at the link below, discounted from the $39.98 list price:
