The trilogy is arriving. Seventeen years after the film’s release, the Back to the Future trilogy is coming to DVD from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Now a great list of features has been announced for these titles, but peppered with some news that may be fine with some and unpleasant for others.

The year is 1985 — but not for long. Because teenager Marty McFly is about to be blasted back to 1955 aboard the plutonium-powered DeLorean created by eccentric genius Doc Brown. But when Marty accidentally keeps his parents-to-be from falling in love, it triggers a time-shattering chain reaction that could vaporize his future — and leave him trapped in the past! Now Marty’s last hope is to change history before the clock runs out on his only chance to get himself “Back to the Future.” Marty and Doc then return to the future and then the far past in one of history’s rare trilogies that remains wonderful throughout.

After the precedent set by E.T., Universal seems to be embracing some concerning new trends, namely packaging large collectors packs without offering films individually, and relying too much on their online partner Total Axess. That trend continues with the Back to the Future releases as the entire trilogy will be available together in some unique new packaging, but not available individually. Although many fans of the series will be picking up the trilogy anyway, this won’t cause them much concern, but more casual fans may not want to spend the extra money for three films. The discs themselves will be filled with wonderful features. Two versions of the set will be made available. One set will contain the films in anamorphic widescreen, the second set in fullscreen. All other features will be the same starting with audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 sound. The extras will include an audio commentary with actor Michael J. Fox, director Robert Zemeckis and producer Bob Gale, outtakes from all three films, deleted scenes (no mention either way on the controversial Eric Stoltz footage), hoverboard tests, the featurette “The Making of Back to the Future”, fun facts placed throughout the films, a photo gallery, the Huey Lewis music video, a teaser and original theatrical trailers. Universal has also decided again to make several interviews, clips and other materials to be available exclusively through the Total Axess web site and not on the DVD itself.

Scheduled to appear in a flash of light on December 17th, the trilogy will be priced at $39.95.