True Blood: The Complete First Season – Blu-ray Disc Review

May 29, 2009 – 1:09 AM - Posted by: Justin Sluss

Tags: Alan Ball, Alexander Skarsgard, Anna Paquin, Bonus View, HBO, Lois Smith, Rutina Wesley, Ryan Kwanten, Sam Trammell, Stephen Moyer, Stephen Root, Warner

has an average rating of 8.4 on TV.com
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on FIVE discs
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
include Bonus View on ALL episodes
–
– 2008
– 720 minutes
– HBO (Warner)
–

Overall Verdict – Recommended

Buy it for $44.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss —

The Show Itself was created by Alan Ball who’s previous credit includes creating another cable series, “Six Feet Under” and writing the screenplay to the film “American Beauty“. The show is based on the “Sookie Stackhouse” book series (also known as “The Southern Vampire Mysteries“) by Charlaine Harris. This show takes place in a northern Louisiana town in a world where vampires openly exist amongst humans. At first this may sound a little “campy” to some or like it’s just capitalizing off the success of another book turned to film vampire themed franchise, “Twilight“. Those people who believe either of those previous statements should seriously “suck it up” (pun intended) and give the show a chance. I say that and I’m usually not a fan of shows or even films about vampires, with a few exceptions as of recent.

The main character to the show is a young lady in her early twenties named “Sookie Stackhouse” played by Anna Paquin. “Sookie” is a special girl, not in the sense that she is a vampire but in the sense she has psychic abilities, able to read the thoughts of those around here. This character isn’t too far of a departure from her character “Rogue” in the “X-Men” films some may find, which I’ll certainly agree but that is why it works so well. Sookie lives with her grandmother, “Adele” (played by Lois Smith) and has a brother named “Jason” (played by Ryan Kwanten). Sookie and Jason have been raised by their grandmother since they lost their parents. Sookie works as a waitress at a bar called “Merlotte’s” ran by “Sam Merlotte” (played by Sam Trammell).

Sookie’s best friend, named “Tara” (played by Rutina Wesley) soon joins her as a co-worker at Merlotte’s after she has an interesting experience in the first episode. This is the basic setup to the show and then you learn that “Sookie” can hear people’s thoughts and a vampire comes into the bar which changes everything. The vampire that enters the bar is a native of the area by the name of “Bill Compton” (played by Stephen Moyer) who strikes the attention of everyone in the entire bar but namely the attention of our lead character (Sookie). That is the premise of this show that you really need to know to get into the show and I’ll leave it at that really to avoid spoilers and not spend all night on this review.

All 12 Episodes of the first season of the show are included. They are as follows.

Episode 1 – “Strange Love“
• Originally Aired: 9/7/2008
Episode 2 – “The First Taste“
• Originally Aired: 9/14/2008
Episode 3 – “Mine“
• Originally Aired: 9/21/2008
Episode 4 – “Escape from Dragon House“
• Originally Aired: 9/28/2008
Episode 5 – “Sparks Fly Out“
• Originally Aired: 10/5/2008
Episode 6 – “Cold Ground“
• Originally Aired: 10/12/2008
Episode 7 – “Burning House of Love“
• Originally Aired: 10/19/2008
Episode 8 – “The Fourth Man in the Fire“
• Originally Aired: 10/26/2008
Episode 9 – “Plaisir D’Amour“
• Originally Aired: 11/2/2008
Episode 10 – “I Don’t Wanna Know“
• Originally Aired: 11/9/2008
Episode 11 – “To Love is to Bury“
• Originally Aired: 11/16/2008
Episode 12 – “You’ll Be the Death of Me“
• Originally Aired: 11/23/2008

In closing, “True Blood: The Complete First Season” was a really very unique approach at a TV show, regardless of it coming out around the same time as the feature-length film adaption of another vampire book, “Twilight“. The fact that the show was created (adapted actually) by Alan Bell, who’s previous work includes writing “American Beauty” & creating another show “Six Feet Under” is a very appealing reason to start watching the show. That being said, this is where I’ll being ending my general synopsis on the first season of the show.

Video Quality on this release is in 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on FIVE discs total. The configuration is a bit mixed here, Discs 1, 3 & 4 are on BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Discs) while Discs 2 & 5 are on BD-25 (25 gigabyte single layer Blu-ray Discs).

“True Blood: The Complete First Season” is presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. According to IMDb’s tech specs for the aspect ratio, this was shot using Super 35mm film on a Arricam ST/LT camera and makes for a very nice Hi-Def transfer. The show originally aired in 1080i on HBO but now comes to you in full 1080p plus with a whole lot less compression. The amount of detail in close-ups is very impressive here. Black level is very solid with only a few exceptions in some night or dim lit scenes, fleshtones are extremely accurate (with the obvious exception of vampires) and the color palette can be pretty vibrant at times. There’s not a huge amount of film grain or noise present here, but no signs of DNR (Digital Noise Reduction) being used to achieve this presentation. “True Blood: The Complete First Season” looks better than most TV shows that come to Hi-Def, but has a few tiny little flaws. This being said, it’s enough to earn this release a solid “4 Star Rating” overall for video quality.

DISC USAGE:

Disc 1 uses 26.4GB total. Disc 2 uses 22.5GB total. Disc 3 uses 34.6GB total. Disc 4 uses 34.6GB total. Disc 5 uses 23.2GB total.

Also worth noting, Discs 3 & 4 contain a total of three episodes per disc whereas the other discs (1,2 & 5) contain a total of two episodes per disc. Each episode roughly uses about 11 gigabytes.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. This is a huge improvement over the Dolby Digital 5.1 contained on the DVD release. The first thing’s you’ll notice is that dialogue is delivered very distinctly throughout (primarily through the front center channel speaker) if it’s from the main character(s) speaking out loud. On the other hand if it’s the background chattering of thoughts going through the minds of people from the “Sookie” perspective you’ll hear excellent use of the 5.1 soundscape to almost create a simulation of what it might sound like to her. The rears (left/right) and bass channel have excellent presence throughout, especially during the opening theme song (“Bad Things” by Jace Everett) that serves (along with some truly twisted imagery) as the intro to the show. I have to admit the opening to the show sounds AMAZING and is one of my favorite aspects of the audio mix. Also, the sounds of action or special effects all sound very realistic and help deliver a really solid audio presentation very much worthy of a “4.5 Star Rating.” HBO‘s TV show Blu-ray Disc releases boast some of the best audio quality out there and this is no exception.

Bonus Materials are presented in High Definition (HD) video using the AVC MPEG-4 codec and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound.

• A Bonus View Picture-In-Picture feature is optional on ALL episodes to deliver an “Enhanced Viewing” experience. This does require the user to be on a “Profile 1.1” capable Blu-ray Disc Player. This will play with a Picture-In-Picture experience mostly involving the character “Lafayette” from the show discussing the characters and situations. You’ll also occasionally get the option to hit the middle button on your directional pad of your Blu-ray Disc Player‘s remote control to activate featurettes that are presented in Hi-Def that provide back story and expansion to the show itself. These featurettes are very entertaining and worth the watch. My only complaint with these has to be that the instructions to return from these back to the episode stays visible in the bottom left side. In addition to the PIP video and branching out (optional) featurettes, you’ll also receive onscreen facts and hints about the show’s characters and story. This proves to be a very in-depth experience and is definitely worth watching every episode in this mode but only after you have seen the first season completely through — as it does contain spoilers.
• “Previously On” & “Next On” spots that originally ran on HBO are presented for each episode in this season, except for the “Strange Love” episode which has just “Next On“. Episodes not contained on the disc you are viewing from are listed and tell you which disc to insert to watch them. These episodes on other discs also feature Preview Episode options on each disc. This is a very convenient feature.

Disc 1 includes:

• Audio Commentary on Episode 1 “Strange Love” by (Executive Producer/Series Creator) Alan Ball
• Audio Commentary on Episode 2 “The First Taste” by Anna Paquin (“Sookie“) and Scott Winant (Director of the episode)

Disc 2 includes:

• Audio Commentary on Episode 4 “Escape from Dragon House” by Brian Buckner (Writer) and Michael Lehmann (Director)

Disc 3 includes:

• Audio Commentary on Episode 5 “Sparks Fly Out” by Stephen Moyer (“Bill Compton“) and Dan Minahan (Director)
• Audio Commentary on Episode 7 “Burning House of Love” by Marcos Siega (Director)

Disc 5 includes:

• Audio Commentary on Episode 11 “To Love is to Bury” by Nancy Oliver (Writer/Director)

Overall, the bonus materials we get here are pretty darn neat with the “Enhanced Viewing” experience present on EVERY single episode from the first season. The six audio commentary tracks found on select episodes will be very pleasant listening experiences for die-hard fans of the show. The short little videos that serve as “Previously On” and “Next On” are very useful as well as the menus that feature lists of all the season’s episodes as well as offer info on which disc they are found and Previews. The only things that feel to be missing are some behind-the-scenes “making of” stand-alone featurettes and possibly a music video (if it exists) of the show’s theme song.

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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