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True Blood: The Complete First Season
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - Australia - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (17th August 2009). |
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The Show
 Now into its second season, "True Blood" has become one of the biggest hits on the HBO network since "The Sopranos" (1999-2007) and "Sex and the City" (1998-2004), screened on Prime here in New Zealand the show enjoyed moderate success. The series is the first to be produced under creator Alan Ball's newly struck deal with HBO, and provides viewers with a well written series about vampires who live out in the open now among the living. Based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series of books. "True Blood" follows Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a waitress in a small town eatery. Sookie has telepathic powers that allow her to read people's thoughts. Sookie works for Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), who also has a secret ability, to shape shift. One night Sookie meets a vampire, Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), who has walked the Earth for 173 years and has finally returned to his home town after vampires are finally allowed to live alongside humans (after the invention of a synthetic blood drink) and after the death of his last remaining relative. Sookie and Bill become romantically involved, while the town deals with its own problems as people who are affiliated with vampires are winding up dead as Bill tries to woo the townsfolk and assure them that he is not a threat. The show runner, Alan Ball's obsession with death continues with this series, as his previous "Six Feet Under" (2001-2005) dealt with a family run mortuary, "True Blood" deals with the living dead. He exposes some vampire myths and also creates a few new ones (lifted from the books) that help move the series' narrative along. The show's tone is set right from the starting credits, something that was done with "Six Feet Under". The tone is perfectly matched and carries through the entire series as intermingling contradictory images of sex, violence and religion are presented in a jittery and uneasy fashion that welcomes viewers to this show, and Jace Everett's "Bad Things" song which plays over the credits has made it's way onto my regular rotation on my iPod. The tone is carried over with the series' pilot, that provides an equal mix of sex, gore and humour and although the series feels like a dark soap opera, mainly stemming from the romantic arc, which is unavoidable considering the romanticism surround vampires as lusting creatures with a ferocious sexual appetite, it manages to compel male viewers just as much as it does female. Like Ball's previous foray into television drama, he focuses the majority of his spotlight on the characters, all of which appear fully developed by season's end. The characters are fleshed out with smart casting choices that each bring a certain gravity to the series, starting off with the against-type casting of Anna Paquin who sinks her teeth (pun indented) into the most adult role of her career. Matching her onscreen with Australian import Ryan Kwanten as her brother, they play well off each other and Kwanten manages to break away from his teen soap opera persona from "Home and Away" (1988-Present) emerging a dramatic force in this series. Both actors seem to have broken their respective "types" and delivered tremendous turns here. These two are supported by vampire Bill played by Stephen Moyer brings an alluring sense of intrigue and sexual tension between him an Sookie, his dark persona is matched with an equally dark sense of humor but has a incredible ability to switch from that to menacing and scary in the blink of an eye. The same kudos can be given to cast members Sam Trammell, Rutina Wesley, Nelsan Ellis, Chris Bauer (one of my favorite characters from the series, he plays a detective that just can't catch a break) among others, in fact everyone here is uniformally excellent. If you missed it on television then do pick up this series on disc, it exhibits masterful writing, excellent casting and performances, and it looks damn good too in high-definition. "True Blood" comes highly recommended. The series' first season includes all 12 episodes: - "Strange Love" - "The Firs Taste" - "Mine" - "Escape From Dragon House" - "Sparks Fly Out" - "Cold Ground" - "Burning House Of Love" - "The Fourth Man In The Fire" - "Plaisir D'Amour" - "I Don't Wanna Know" - "To Love Is To Bury" - "You'll Be The Death Of Me"
Video
Presented in the show's original broadcast ratio of 1.78:1 in high-definition 1080p 24/fps mastered in AVC MPEG-4 compression codec. Overall the image for these episodes is solid, sharpness is good throughout although there's noise here and there and some shots are a bit blurry and soft. Some backgrounds looked a bit on the murky side. But the majority of the image is decent. Detail looks good as does texture, blacks are a bit noisy but colors hold up well. The overall look of the film is very muted and the transfer reproduces these colors well. The image is clear and dirt free, no specks or any compression related problems.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included here in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/24-bit as well as French DTS 5.1 and Spanish DTS 2.0 surround. The show's audio is rather good for a TV series, although not as aggressive or complex as most feature films, however manages to hold up. The dialogue is clear and distortion free, although some of the heavy Cajun accents can be hard to understand (I found is OK, but some of the viewers that watched this show with me requested subtitles at times). Ambient sound is well mixed throughout the surround channels that immerses the viewers, the music also comes out in force, the opening credits are especially well mixed and balanced throughout the sound space. Overall it's a solid track that has some room for improvement. Subtitles are included in English, English HoH, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Extras
Warner Brother has released this series with a collection of extras that features episodic audio commentaries, original bumper spots and a picture-in-picture enhanced viewing mode. below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: First up is an episodic audio commentary the episode “Strange Love” by executive producer/series creator Alan Ball. In this track the creator talks of his involvement in setting up the project and the development of the material into a series. he comments on the pilot's production and reveals some details about the production, the locations and the cast among other things including setting the tone and look of the show. He takes a few moments to watch the scenes and comments every now and then but overall provides a terrific track filled with production trivia. The second audio commentary appears on the second episode “The First Taste” and includes star Anna Paquin director Scott Winant. In this track the two participants comment on the episode from two different locations but are watching the episode together and it's as if they are in the same room. They keep the track mainly screen-specific as the episode plays out. They start out with talking about Anna getting beating up, they talk about character moments that stand out in the episode and joke around a little bit and even talk about one of my favorite shows, "The Shield" (2002-2008) briefly. Some praise is handed out to the other cast members and more production trivia is revealed for fans but it's not as solid a track as the previous. The disc includes a BonusView Picture-in-Picture feature which is optional on all the episodes of the series. It's entitled an “Enhanced Viewing” experience and can be accessed with profile 1.1 players or greater. The "Enhanced Viewing" experience features the character Lafayette and offers up vampire trivia, production information about the episodes, animated maps, as well as advertisements, PSA's and character features that pop-up as you view the episodes. It's a good idea for a feature and other discs have utilized this well, unfortunately for "True Blood" this feature was a little underwhelming as I felt like there simply wasn't enough information to pop-up, there were far too many gaps in-between bits. I feel like this was a missed opportunity. There are also some "Previously On" and "Next On" bumper spots, these are essentially clips that were added to the start and end of each episode that kept viewers in check with what had happen on the previous episode and what was coming up in the following week's episode. “Next On” spot for the episode "Strange Love" runs for 36 seconds. “Previously On” spot for the episode "The First Taste" runs for 1 minute 31 seconds and the “Next On” spot for that same episode runs for 36 seconds. DISC TWO: The second disc includes an episodic audio commentary on the episode “Escape from Dragon House” by writer Brian Buckner and director Michael Lehmann. These two talk about the writer's strike and how this episode was produced after a long gap between it and the previous. The comment on shooting the scenes, setting up the episode and on working with the cast. They comment on shooting some location stuff in L.A. and cheating it for Louisiana, story elements, vampire blood, and also reveal more production trivia about shooting the series among other things. The disc includes a BonusView Picture-in-Picture feature which is optional on all the episodes of the series. It's entitled an “Enhanced Viewing” experience and can be accessed with profile 1.1 players or greater. The "Enhanced Viewing" experience features the character Lafayette and offers up vampire trivia, production information about the episodes, animated maps, as well as advertisements, PSA's and character features that pop-up as you view the episodes. “Previously On” spot for the episode "Mine" runs for 1 minute 31 seconds and the “Next On” spot for that same episode runs for 36 seconds. “Previously On” spot for the episode "Escape From Dragon House" runs for 1 minute 31 seconds and the “Next On” spot for that same episode runs for 36 seconds. DISC THREE: The first of two episodic audio commentaries is on the episode “Sparks Fly Out” by actor Stephen Moyer and director Dan Minahan. Story elements are explained here and some neat tricks are revealed about the episode and on a side note it's interesting to hear Moyer speak in his native British accent. He talks about developing the character with Alan Ball while making the pilot episode and on how his character tries to explore things he's never experience before, specially being a character that's 173 years-old. They also talk about the production design of the Compton house, and remain largely screen-specific much like the previous tracks. The second episodic audio commentary is on the episode “Burning House of Love” by director Marcos Siega. We get more of the same topics covered here in regards to the story, cast, shooting etc. just from the perspective of this sole participant as director of this episode. He comments on character feelings and examining character nuances, establishing the rules that apply to vampires, Siega takes a few silent moments throughout this track and it's fairly straight-forward. The disc includes a BonusView Picture-in-Picture feature which is optional on all the episodes of the series. It's entitled an “Enhanced Viewing” experience and can be accessed with profile 1.1 players or greater. The "Enhanced Viewing" experience features the character Lafayette and offers up vampire trivia, production information about the episodes, animated maps, as well as advertisements, PSA's and character features that pop-up as you view the episodes. “Previously On” spot for the episode "Sparks Fly Out" runs for 1 minute 31 seconds and the “Next On” spot for that same episode runs for 36 seconds. “Previously On” spot for the episode "Cold Ground" runs for 1 minute 31 seconds and the “Next On” spot for that same episode runs for 36 seconds. “Previously On” spot for the episode "Burning House of Love" runs for 1 minute 46 seconds and the “Next On” spot for that same episode runs for 36 seconds. DISC FOUR: The only extra on this disc the same BonusView Picture-in-Picture feature which is optional on all the episodes of the series. It's entitled an “Enhanced Viewing” experience and can be accessed with profile 1.1 players or greater. The "Enhanced Viewing" experience features the character Lafayette and offers up vampire trivia, production information about the episodes, animated maps, as well as advertisements, PSA's and character features that pop-up as you view the episodes. “Previously On” spot for the episode "The Fourth Man In The Fire" runs for 1 minute 45 seconds and the “Next On” spot for that same episode runs for 36 seconds. “Previously On” spot for the episode "Plaisir D'Amour" runs for 1 minute 46 seconds and the “Next On” spot for that same episode runs for 46 seconds. “Previously On” spot for the episode "I Don't Wanna Know" runs for 1 minute 46 seconds and the “Next On” spot for that same episode runs for 46 seconds. DISC FIVE: A single episodic audio commentary is on the episode “To Love is to Bury” by writer/director Nancy Oliver. Oliver breaks down the episode scene-by-scene as she comments on the technical aspects of the episode such as creating smoke on-screen, on working with the same crew from "Six Feet Under" and how that provides a great working environment, the challenges of the episode and directing scenes that play on both the emotional aspects as well as "procedural exposition" stuff among other things. The disc includes a BonusView Picture-in-Picture feature which is optional on all the episodes of the series. It's entitled an “Enhanced Viewing” experience and can be accessed with profile 1.1 players or greater. The "Enhanced Viewing" experience features the character Lafayette and offers up vampire trivia, production information about the episodes, animated maps, as well as advertisements, PSA's and character features that pop-up as you view the episodes. “Previously On” spot for the episode "To Live Is To Bury" runs for 1 minute 46 seconds and the “Next On” spot for that same episode runs for 46 seconds. “Previously On” spot for the episode "You'll Be The Death Of Me" runs for 1 minute 46 seconds.
Packaging
This 5-disc Blu-ray set is packaged in a fold out digipack housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
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