As over the past years Paramount began releasing Original Series episodes and all but one of the Trek films on DVD in the US, European fans felt a bit neglected, getting only a few films on DVD. New reports reveal that Paramount UK soon plans to make up for this in a spectacular way, as it is preparing to release extra-packed DVD box sets of Star Trek: Voyager.

According to a report that appeared in the British Total DVD magazine (and was cited on the Great Link), Paramount is planning to start releasing Voyager box sets in the UK this Fall. The six-or-seven disc sets will contain a full season at a time, and come with a recommended retail price of £89.99 (about $130).

Besides the actual episodes, the DVDs will feature the original trailers for each episode as well as a Star Trek database that will be accessible on both DVD-Roms or via menu screens on standard DVD players. In addition, the discs will include a 'Star Trek Masterclass,' which will consist of clips from the episodes to inform viewers about things such as the characters, spacecraft, story arcs and alien races in the show.

The box sets appear to have been slightly pushed back from their original release date. Originally it was reported that Paramount intended to start releasing Voyager DVDs in June 2001, with the intention to follow with Original Series DVDs in December and TNG and DS9 DVDs in 2002. It is unknown what Paramount is currently planning for the release of these series on DVD.

The United Kingdom isn't the only European country that will soon see the first Star Trek episodes released on DVD. Paramount Germany was also recently planning to start releasing Voyager box sets in the Fall, featuring both German dubbing as well as the original English version.

Rumours have abounded about Paramount planning to release Trek box sets in America as well, but there have been no official announcements as of yet. Due to the DVD regional encoding system, it will be impossible for Americans to import European Trek box sets and attempt to play them on their DVD players.

Meanwhile, Paramount is still continuing with its regular release schedule for the Trek movies on DVD in the UK. 'Star Trek V: The Final Frontier' was recently released in the United Kingdom, and according to reviewer Ian Dudley at the R2 Project, neither the film itself nor the DVD transfer are very spectacular:

[Overall] a mediocre release of a fairly poor film. I cant say I blame the studio though. The only people likely to buy this are collectors like myself, who will watch it once and probably never get it out again unless they are doing a Trek marathon. So its hardly surprising they didn't spend a fortune on polishing it up. The best thing you can really say about this is that it will make your collection look neat.

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