Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season – Blu-ray Disc Review

August 25, 2009 – 4:35 PM - Posted by: Brendan Surpless

Tags: Aaron Ashmore, Allison Mack, Callum Blue, Cassidy Freeman, Erica Durance, Justin Harley, Samuel Witwer, Tom Welling, Warner

has an average rating of 7.9 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on FOUR 50gb discs
Dolby Digital 5.1
are mostly Hi-Def but short
–
– 2008
– 1012 minutes
– Warner
–

Overall Verdict – Recommended for Fans

Buy it for $49.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless —

Trailer for “Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season” on Blu-ray:

The Show Itself is the eighth season of the series. This season finds Clark Kent (Tom Welling) with a new job, perhaps one that he didn’t necessarily think he would ever land in but us fans knew was coming; reporter at the Daily Planet! Along side Lois Lane (Erica Durance), Clark’s job is to report the news, which shouldn’t be that difficult as he’s always able to get the scoops of the story without really trying too hard. Elsewhere, we have Chloe (Allison Mack) getting ready to marry her love Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore), who happens to be a kind of reporter as well but more on the fun side. Poor Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) has been missing and now new Luthorcorp VP Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman) is dead set on finding where Lex is, which just may lead her to Clark.

The full 22 (total) episodes for The Complete Eighth Season are included:

• Episode 1 : “Odyssey“
Writer: Todd Slavkin, Darren Swimmer, Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders — Director: Kevin G. Fair
Original Air Date: 09/18/08 — 8.8 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 2 : “Plastique“
Writer: Don Whitehead & Holly Henderson — Director: Rick Rosenthal
Original Air Date: 09/25/08 — 8.9 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 3 : “Toxic“
Writer: Caroline Dries — Director: Mairzee Almas
Original Air Date: 10/02/08 — 8.6 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 4 : “Instinct“
Writer: Al Septien & Turi Meyer — Director: James L. Conway
Original Air Date: 10/09/08 — 8.8 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 5 : “Committed“
Writer: Bryan Q. Miller — Director: Glen Winter
Original Air Date: 10/16/08 — 9.0 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 6 : “Prey“
Writers: Kelly Souders & Brian Peterson — Director: Mike Rohl
Original Air Date: 10/23/08 — 8.9 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 7 : “Identity“
Writer: Darren Swimmer & Todd Slavkin — Director: Mairzee Almas
Original Air Date: 10/30/08 — 9.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 8 : “Bloodline“
Writer: Caroline Dries — Director: Mike Rohl
Original Air Date: 11/06/08 — 9.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 9 : “Abyss“
Writer: Don Whitehead & Holly Henderson — Director: Kevin G. Fair
Original Air Date: 11/13/08 — 9.1 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 10 : “Bride“
Writer: Turi Meyer & Al Septien — Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Original Air Date: 11/20/08 — 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 11 : “Legion“
Writer: Geoff Johns — Director: Glen Winter
Original Air Date: 1/15/09 — 9.2 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 12 : “Bulletproof“
Writer: Bryan Q. Miller — Director: Morgan Beggs
Original Air Date: 1/22/09 — 8.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 13 : “Power“
Writer: Darren Swimmer & Todd Slavkin — Director: Allison Mack
Original Air Date: 1/29/09 — 7.0 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 14 : “Requiem“
Writer: Don Whitehead — Director: Holly Henderson
Original Air Date: 02/05/09 — 7.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 15 : “Infamous“
Writer: Caroline Dries — Director: Glen Winter
Original Air Date: 03/12/09 — 8.7 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 16 : “Turbulence“
Writer: Turi Meyer & Al Septien — Director: Kevin G. Fair
Original Air Date: 03/19/09 — 8.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 17 : “Hex“
Writer: Bryan Q. Miller — Director: Mairzee Almas
Original Air Date: 03/26/09 — 8.9 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 18 : “Eternal“
Writer: Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders — Director: James Marshall (III)
Original Air Date: 04/02/09 — 9.0 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 19 : “Stiletto“
Writer: Caroline Dries — Director: Kevin G. Fair
Original Air Date: 04/23/09 — 8.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 20 : “Beast“
Writer: Genevieve Sparling — Director: Mike Rohl
Original Air Date: 04/30/09 — 8.7 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 21 : “Injustice“
Writer: Turi Meyer & Al Septien — Director: Tom Welling
Original Air Date: 05/07/09 — 8.6 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 22 : “Doomsday“
Writer: Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders — Director: James Marshall (III)
Original Air Date: 05/14/09 — 7.5 rating over at TV.com

What worked the most in this eighth season was that no one episode really felt out of place. Unlike the seventh season where we had episodes that didn’t ever seem to make us care about the Clark Kent/Superman story line, each episode here moves closer and closer to what we know is going to happen. As the season came to an end, I wanted to continue watching simply because Clark is slowly turning from that mild mannered farm boy, to the Daily Planet/alter ego Superman that we’ve all come to know him as. That aspect is what was most enjoyable in this season. The creators (who I criticized in the seventh season review for trying too hard and seemingly losing their touch with the story lines) got right back on track here with numerous enjoyable episodes.

In closing, I had reservations going into this eighth season after the disappointing seventh season. Instead of introducing too many characters, focusing on random events that didn’t really connect us to the Superman/Clark Kent time line, this eighth season of “Smallville” has returned the series to exactly what it needs to be. And that’s all around quality television that keeps our interest from episode to episode.

Video Quality on this release is 1080p in VC-1 on FOUR BD-50′s (50 gigabyte Blu-ray Discs).

Disc Usage:

Disc 1 uses 36.7GB total. Disc 2 uses 37.4GB total. Disc 3 uses 38.0GB total. Disc 4 uses 28.8GB total.
Episodes use roughly about 6GB each. Every disc contains SIX episodes, except for disc 4 which only contains FOUR episodes.

In comparison to the previous two seasons which were also released on Blu-ray, I found this latest season to be somewhat lacking in the video department. Perhaps the best aspect found here is that a majority of the close-ups on the various characters saw fine detail and accurate fleshtones. My complaint though is that most of the color palette seemed somewhat toned down. For instance a majority of the darker sequences resulted in many shots that were difficult to make out. Grain is obviously present here but is kept in check (ie in comparison to the HD broadcast all the grain is still here meaning that no DNR filters were used). “Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season” earns a “3.5 Star Rating” for overall video quality.

Audio Quality on this release is in Dolby Digital 5.1. The first item to note of disappointment is Warner Brothers continued decision to NOT include ANY type of lossless track on their TV releases. This is completely unacceptable especially when other studios (Universal with “Heroes” and ABC with “Lost“) are supporting lossless tracks. A definite annoyance.

With that said the provided Dolby Digital 5.1 track is clearly an improvement over the TV broadcast just probably not the improvement fans were hoping for.I’m not really sure that a lossless option would have done wonders but I can imagine that it might have opened up the sound field just a bit. I will say that dialogue is rendered fine with no instance of muddled dialogue. The show does tend to have a front heavy sound mix with the rears rarely opening up. When the rears do become active it’s mostly from ambience like police sirens, character speaking behind the main characters or the whoosh from Clark speeding away. I’m going to give this is a “3 Star Rating” as I’m disappointed that Warner continues to deny their tv sets a lossless option. Pure laziness in my eyes.

Bonus Materials are all presented in both Standard Definition and High Definition video using the MPEG-2 codec with Dolby Digital 2.0 Sound.

Disc 1:

• Deleted Scenes (HD): Here we get Deleted Scenes on two episodes in “Plastique” and “Instinct“.

Disc 2:

• Deleted Scenes (HD): Found on the episode “Legion“.

Disc 3

• Deleted Scenes (HD): Found on the episodes “Power“, “Requiem” and “Turbulence“.

Disc 4

• Deleted Scenes (HD): Found on the episodes “Hex“, “Eternal“, “Beast” and “Injustice”
• In the Director’s Chair (SD): This gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the episode Allison Mack directed entitled “Power“. Mack speaks on making the move from actor to director.
• Smallville’s Doomsday (SD): This is a fairly standard look at how Superman’s notorious villain Doomsday was created.

Overall, the bonus materials presented are decent at best. I do wish Warner would spring a bit and get the creators to do a few more commentaries here and there. This is pretty much becoming a norm on tv sets now. Anyhow, even though season 7 faltered a bit, I highly enjoyed what was presented this season. The V/A is pretty much the same as the previous two seasons but this isn’t necessarily suppose to be a eye candy demo disc. Recommended for fans of the series.

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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