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The Royals: The Complete First Season
R1 - America - Lions Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Abraham Phillips (16th September 2015). |
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The Show
 "The Royals" The Complete First Season is one of those television shows that is an acquired taste. I for one can say that this is not my cup of tea. With that said there are fans that enjoy this style of show. It’s basically a modern day soap opera. The best way to describe it, is a reality show turned into a TV drama. It has a trashy, addicting guilty pleasure style written all over it. It’s a fictionalized telling of the Royal family. It has a wonderful cast of actors and actresses. Your main leads are played by Merritt Patterson, William Moseley, Alexandra Park, Jake Maskell, Tom Austin, Oliver Milburn, Vincent Regan, which all give solid, to okay performances. Such veterans as Elizabeth Hurley, as Queen Helena and for a small part, the fantastic Joan Collins makes an appearance. The series is based on the book "Falling for Hamlet" by Michelle Ray. This series is the very first scripted drama for the E Network. The plot is simple, Queen Helena (Elizabeth Hurley) deals with her family issues. Her twin children Princess Eleanor (Alexandra Park) and Prince Liam (William Moseley) are basically living the life of riches and pleasure. They have no worries because their older brother is to take the thrown eventually. But everything changes when Robert, the older brother is killed, and now Liam must come to terms with his changing life. He finds himself trapped having to adjust to the monarchy. The reality for Liam is much worse, because he is in love with Ophelia (Merritt Patterson). Ophelia is the American daughter to one of the Royal security guards. Next add in Princess Eleanor who basically has a "my way" attitude as Queen Helena strives to keep the family together. The series does boast some solid performances. The beautiful and amazing Elizabeth Hurley owns her part. Next I would have to mention the handsome William Moseley, he also owns his part, and makes you believe his character's reality taking place. It has everything you would expect a series like this to have. Power, money hungry people, spoiled youth, and very blunt sexual content. It's very cheesy at times. It’s filled with humor, devious actions, and a drama filled with campy, over the top soap opera tropes. It most assuredly belongs in the guilty pleasure category. I think the biggest problem with it is it's clichéd. There is really no compelling storyline to its plot. While the acting is good, and the production design is awesome, it just lacks any real appeal. This is a 3-Disc DVD. It comes in at around 450 minutes. 10 episodes long.
Video
Presented in an anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 ratio, the video is equally amazing. Something that stands out with the series is all the costumes and sets and the video quality allows the imagery to be vibrant in color and clarity.
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is included, there was no fault in this category. The audio tracks are solid and delivered clear and without distortion. There are no optional subtitles.
Extras
Lionsgate has included a light selection of extras, a few featurettes and a collection of bonus trailers, and a digital copy version of the season, below is a closer look. DISC ONE: The only extras on this disc are series of bonus trailers for: - "The Royals: Season 2" which runs for 32 Seconds. - "Orange is the New Black: Seasons 1 & 2" which runs for 1 minute 14 seconds. - "Mad Men: The Final Season Vol. 1" which runs for 1 minute 7 Seconds. - "Weeds: Complete Collection" which runs for 1 minute. - "Lionsgate" promo which runs for 1 minute 37 Seconds. DISC TWO: "Madness in Great Ones: Creating the Royals" featurette runs for 13 minutes 13 seconds. This is a program of the actors, creators talking about the show. "Behind the Royal Wardrobe" featurette runs 8 minutes and 23 seconds. The title describes it. This is a program about all the costumes and designers used to pull off this flawless reality of the show. DISC THREE: "Private vs. Public: Public a Modern-Day Monarchy" featurette runs 5 minutes 31 seconds. A program about how the world has changed with social media and the paparazzi. The program talks about how the public only sees what they want you to see, and hides the true reality. Plus you get an insert for the digital copy of the season.
Packaging
Standard black plastic, 3-Disc keep case, wrap around artwork. Also has a card-board sleeve with artwork.
Overall
Like I say there are fans of this style of series. It has great acting, costumes and sets. Soap Opera lovers will take to this. A great DVD product to showcase this series.
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