Supernatural: The Complete Third Season – Blu-ray Disc Review

May 25, 2009 – 11:14 PM - Posted by: James Segars

Tags: Digital Copy, Eric Kripke, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Warner

has an average rating of 9.0 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on THREE discs.
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
are pretty thin but have Digital Copy
–
– 2007
– 651 minutes
– Warner
–

Overall Verdict – Worth A Look

Buy it for $27.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: James Segars —

The Show Itself is created by Eric Kripke.

Supernatural centers around two brothers who hunt down and dispatch mythic demons and ghouls with great relish and determination. Now in it’s third season, the brothers, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) are faced with two pressing issues: 1) an open gateway to hell (one they opened in Season 2) needs to be closed, or else the demons that have sprung forth will continue to wreak havoc on innocent people 2) Dean must find a way to reclaim his soul from the devil (after selling it to save the life of his brother). Along the way, the two brothers team up with a variety of characters in order to do battle with the forces of darkness, and all things supernatural.

I can’t help but feel as though I’m at a loss having never seen the previous seasons of Supernatural prior to this review. Thankfully, there is a brief primer at the beginning of the season opener, but no amount of recap can supplement the experience of two entire seasons. As such, I was not invested in the characters, their plight or the consequences of their actions, in this season or others. Having a limited understanding of their origins was also a problem, but Supernatural doesn’t really strike me as an incredibly complex, dense storyline either. In that way, the show is entirely accessible for mass audiences, and should you want to pass the time, you would certainly find much to entertain your mind grapes here — just don’t expect to exercise them too much.

Still, Supernatural succeeds admirably in what is surely its principle goal, to be an entertaining, demonic slasher piece, but it never breaks any new ground either. In other words, it’s not a particularly novel show/concept. I wish I could say that I was more enthralled by it, but truth is, I wasn’t. As the season drew to a close, I found myself pushing forward not because of a burning interest, but more so because I wanted to get to the end and start writing the review.

While I may not be the show’s biggest fan, or advocate for that matter, I’d definitely be up for starting the series from the beginning, should the first two seasons ever make their way to Blu-ray. Perhaps then I will have the necessary framework and background to truly appreciate the show. Nonetheless, I still had fun watching it, and I have no doubt that fans and newcomers alike will be pleased to see it in HD.

The full 16 (total) episodes for The Complete Third Season are included:

• Episode 1 : “The Magnificent Seven“
Writer: Eric Kripke — Director: Kim Manners
Original Air Date: 10/04/07— 9.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 2 : “The Kids Are Alright“
Writer: Sera Gamble — Director: Philip Sgriccia
Original Air Date: 10/11/07 — 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 3 : “Bad Day at Black Rock“
Writer: Ben Edlund — Director: Robert Singer (II)
Original Air Date: 10/18/07 — 9.6 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 4 : “Sin City“
Writer: Jeremy Carver — Director: Robert Singer (II)
Original Air Date: 10/25/07 — 9.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 5 : “Bedtime Stories“
Writer: Cathryn Humphris — Director: Mike Rohl
Original Air Date: 11/1/07 — 9.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 6 : “Red Sky at Morning“
Writers: Laurence Andries — Director: Cliff Bole
Original Air Date: 11/8/07 — 9.2 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 7 : “Fresh Blood“
Writer: Sera Gamble — Director: Kim Manners
Original Air Date: 11/15/07— 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 8 : “A Very Supernatural Christmas“
Writer: Jeremy Carver — Director: J. Miller Tobin
Original Air Date: 12/13/07 — 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 9 : “Malleus Maleficarum“
Writer: Ben Edlund — Director: Robert Singer (II)
Original Air Date: 1/31/08 — 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 10 : “Dream a Little Dream of Me“
Writer: Cathryn Humphris — Director: Steve Boyum
Original Air Date: 2/7/08— 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 11 : “Mystery Spot“
Writer: Jeremy Carver — Director: Kim Manners
Original Air Date: 2/14/08— 9.6 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 12 : “Jus In Bello“
Writer: Sera Gamble — Director: Philip Sgriccia
Original Air Date: 2/21/08— 9.7 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 13 : “Ghostfacers“
Writer: Ben Edlund — Director: Philip Sgriccia
Original Air Date: 4/24/08— 8.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 14 : “Long-Distance Call“
Writer: Sera Gamble — Director: Charles Beeson
Original Air Date: 5/1/08— 9.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 15 : “Time Is On My Side“
Writer: Sera Gamble — Director: Charles Beeson
Original Air Date: 5/8/08— 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 16 : “No Rest for the Wicked“
Writer: Eric Kripke — Director: Kim Manners
Original Air Date: 5/15/08— 9.2 rating over at TV.com

Video Quality on this release is 1080p in VC-1 on THREE discs. The tech specs here are a bit weird, they are made up of TWO BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Discs) and ONE BD-25 (25 gigabyte single layer Blu-ray Disc).

DISC USAGE:

Disc 1 uses 36.7GB total.
Disc 2 uses 29.5GB total.
Disc 3 uses 16.6GB total.

With my criticism of the show itself out of the way, it’s time to talk about the rather astonishing video presentation found on this Blu-ray set. Color accuracy and saturation appear to be spot on, and while I can only guess (having never seen it on TV) I’d have to say that the overall image composition is in keeping with the director’s/creator’s intentions. Supernatural is one of the many shows that boasts a very cinematic look and feel. This works incredibly well with the material at hand, and for the most part the encode seems to keep up. Grain and fine object detail don’t appear to be scrubbed into oblivion, but there were definitely moments where I took note of some persistent DNR. At times like these, the image did soften up a bit more than I like, but I think most viewers will be none-the-wiser. Beyond the intermittent softening issue, I also observed some compression artifacts (which is understandable given the amount of footage packed onto each disc) from time to time, as well as some break-up and noise in the darkest areas of the image, but only on select shots/scenes. The latter might simply be a production artifact due to poor lighting (acquired digitally or on film) conditions, or a lens/film stock choice that was used to achieve a particular effect, but yielded the visual anomaly. Either way, I’m not going to hold it against the disc, or the encode. All in all, Supernatural sports a splendidly dark and foreboding presentation that should satisfy all but the most scrutinizing viewers, however it isn’t demo worthy nor is it nearly-perfect, and therefore it receives a “4 Star Rating” for overall video quality.

Audio Quality on this release is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.

Slightly less impressive than the video presentation, Supernatural’s lossy DD 5.1 mix isn’t great, but it isn’t run-of-the-mill either. To be sure, there are sound effects aplenty, and they are all mixed quite well, but the presentation never struck me the way the best mixes on Blu-ray tend to do. Dynamics were a bit limited, but still nice. The most crucial element — the show’s dialog — was presented faithfully, and intelligibly so long as the acting talent didn’t gruff/grunt too much or bury their line — which did happen on occasion. On the plus side, the LFE track was pretty solid for a TV show, which is always a good thing with an active show like this. And so, taking all of the pro’s and con’s into consideration, I’m confident in giving the series a “3.5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality.

Bonus Materials are presented in Standard Definition.

• Digital Copy is included for all the episodes via download. This comes in the form of a URL link and code to redeem on the website. I’m not sure if this is compatible with iTunes or Windows Media but I’m obviously sure it’s one of the two. Hard to tell with Warner‘s first attempts at Digital Copy.
• “From Legends to Reality: Supernatural Effects” – (22 minutes) A nice (my favorite) feature that goes into the special/visual/makeup effects used in the show. We are shown bits and pieces of the effects at various stages, from pre-planning to design, all the way to on-screen results. I’ve always been fascinated by the work that goes into effects, and this feature was no exception.
• “Closer Look” clips – (20 minutes, combined) A collection of short clips that accompany select episodes throughout the season, meant to provide the viewer with a “closer look” at the show. Not bad, but not too enlightening either.
• “Ghostfacers’ Confessionals” – (16 minutes) This feature is kinda bizarre. I get it, but I just didn’t find it all that funny, however, I did chuckle once or twice, and I’m sure others will dig it. Worth a look.
• “Supernatural Impala Featurette” – (5 minutes) A brief look at the nice classic car that the lead characters use to facilitate their bad-assery, and demon slaying.
• “Gag Reel” – (7 minutes)

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

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