The Office: Season Five – Blu-ray Disc Review

September 4, 2009 – 5:09 AM --- by: Justin Sluss

Tags: Angela Kinsey, B.J. Novak, BD-Live, Brian Baumgartner, Craig Robinson, Creed Bratton, Ed Helms, Greg Daniels, Jenna Fischer, John Krasinski, Leslie David Baker, Mindy Kaling, NBC, Oscar Nunez, Paul Lieberstein, Rainn Wilson, Steve Carell, Universal

has an average rating of 9.1 on TV.com
1080p in VC-1 on FOUR 50gb discs
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
over 3 hours of deleted scenes in Hi-Def
–
– 2009
– 586 minutes
– Universal
–
Street Date: September 8th, 2009

Overall Verdict – Very Funny & Recommended

Buy it for $41.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss —

Watch full episodes over at Hulu.com

The Show Itself is in it’s fifth season and the United States adaption of a British show of the same name, “The Office“. The American adaption was created by Greg Daniels who is known for writing and serving as a executive and co-executive producer on both “King of the Hill” & “The Simpsons” episodes. The main actor / character of the show is “Michael Scott” (played by Steve Carell) who is a very intense boss at the Scranton, Pennsylvania division of a paper company called “Dunder Mifflin“. The show plays out basically as a reality show that is being taped in “the office” of the paper company.

The other more predominant characters in the office (on the show) are first and foremost the world’s most annoying co-worker named “Dwight Schrute” (played brilliantly by Rainn Wilson). “Pam Beesly” (played by Jenna Fischer) is the receptionist who now, finally, in this season is engaged to a co-worker “Jim Halpert” (played by John Krasinski) who she’s had an ongoing relationship with. The entire office knows about their romance but they also are aware of other romances or affairs going one. On the subject of Dwight who I mentioned earlier, he has over the show’s previous seasons had an ongoing fling of-and-on with a co-worker named “Angela” (played by Angela Kinsey). The problem there is that another co-worker, another annoying one, “Andy Bernard” (played by Ed Helms) is engaged to Angela and is unaware that his fiance is sleeping with Dwight.

Rounding out the other cast of characters (co-workers) you have the creepy but entertaining “Creed Bratton” (playing himself), you have the accounting department with “Kevin Malone” (played by Brian Baumgartner), the openly gay “Oscar Martinez” (played by Oscar Nunez), the quiet but still often at times funny salespeople like “Phyllis Lapin” (played by Phyllis Smith) & “Stanley Hudson” (played by Leslie David Baker). Last you have the folks in the human resources department “Toby Flenderson” (played by Paul Lieberstein) who is off and on present as you’ll soon see and also there is the always overly emotional “Kelly Kapoor” (played by Mindy Kaling). Another person is in the HR (human resources) department for a while in this season (no spoilers) by the name of “Holly Flax” (played by Amy Ryan) who obviously has some chemistry with the boss at “the office”, our very own Mr. Michael Scott.

I’ll leave the rest for you to discover if you missed the season when it aired on NBC. If you’ve missed seasons, I’d honestly say you’re going to be pretty fine watching this without feeling lost but I can’t say for sure because I have seen every episode from the first episode all the way to the last episode of season five. Yes, I actually watched the ENTIRE season of the show to give you my total honest and (I feel) accurate opinion of the show itself as well as most obviously assessing the video and audio quality (sections) further down below for this Blu-ray Disc debut of “The Office“.

The full 26 (total) episodes for Season Five are included:

• Episode 1 : “Weight Loss“
Writer: Lee Eisenberg & Gene Stupnitsky — Director: Paul Feig
Original Air Date: 09/25/08— 9.1 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 2 : “Business Ethics“
Writer: Ryan Koh — Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Original Air Date: 10/09/08 — 8.7 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 3 : “Baby Shower“
Writer: Aaron Shure — Director: Greg Daniels
Original Air Date: 10/16/08 — 8.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 4 : “Crime Aid“
Writer: Charlie Grandy — Director: Jennifer Celotta
Original Air Date: 10/23/08 — 8.7 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 5 : “Employee Transfer“
Writer: Anthony Q. Farrell — Director: David Rogers
Original Air Date: 10/30/08 — 8.6 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 6 : “Customer Survey“
Writers: Lester Lewis — Director: Stephen Merchant
Original Air Date: 11/06/08 — 9.1 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 7 : “Business Trip“
Writer: Brent Forrester — Director: Randall Einhorn
Original Air Date: 11/13/08 — 8.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 8 : “Frame Toby“
Writer: Mindy Kaling — Director: Jason Reitman
Original Air Date: 11/20/08 — 8.6 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 9 : “The Surplus“
Writer: Gene Stupnitsky — Director: Paul Feig
Original Air Date: 12/04/08 — 9.0 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 10 : “Moroccan Christmas“
Writer: Justin Spitzer — Director: Paul Feig
Original Air Date: 12/11/08 — 8.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 11 : “The Duel“
Writer: Jennifer Celotta — Director: Dean Holland
Original Air Date: 01/15/09 — 9.1 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 12 : “Prince Family Paper“
Writer: B.J. Novak — Director: Asaad Kelada
Original Air Date: 01/22/09 — 8.3 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 13 : “Stress Relief“
Writer: Paul Lieberstein — Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Original Air Date: 02/01/09 — 9.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 14 : “Lecture Circuit: Part 1“
Writer: Mindy Kaling — Director: Ken Kwapis
Original Air Date: 02/05/09 — 8.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 15 : “Lecture Circuit: Part 2“
Writer: Mindy Kaling — Director: Ken Kwapis
Original Air Date: 02/12/09 — 7.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 16 : “Blood Drive“
Writer: Brent Forrester — Director: Randall Einhorn
Original Air Date: 03/05/09 — 8.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 17 : “Golden Ticket“
Writer: Mindy Kaling — Director: Randall Einhorn
Original Air Date: 03/12/09 — 8.8 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 18 : “New Boss“
Writer: Lee Eisenberg — Director: Paul Feig
Original Air Date: 03/19/09— 8.7 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 19 : “Two Weeks“
Writer: Aaron Shure — Director: Paul Lieberstein
Original Air Date: 03/26/09 — 8.7 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 20 : “Dream Team“
Writer: B.J. Novak — Director: Paul Feig
Original Air Date: 04/09/09 — 8.8 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 21 : “The Michael Scott Paper Company“
Writer: Justin Spitzer — Director: Gene Stupnitsky
Original Air Date: 04/09/09 — 8.7 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 22 : “Heavy Competition“
Writer: Ryan Koh — Director: Ken Whittingham
Original Air Date: 04/16/09 — 9.2 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 23 : “Broke“
Writer: Charlie Grandy — Director: Steve Carell
Original Air Date: 04/23/09 — 9.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 24 : “Casual Friday“
Writer: Anthony Q. Farrell — Director: Brent Forrester
Original Air Date: 04/30/09 — 9.0 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 25 : “Cafe Disco“
Writer: Warren Lieberstein — Director: Randall Einhorn
Original Air Date: 05/07/09 — 8.9 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 26 : “Company Picnic“
Writer: Jennifer Celotta — Director: Ken Kwapis
Original Air Date: 05/14/09 — 9.1 rating over at TV.com

In closing, “The Office: Season Five” is definitely the strongest season of the show except for it’s first — which I hope comes to Blu-ray Disc soon as well as the other seasons. I think fans will love what they get here in the 26 episodes that make up the season.

Video Quality on this release is 1080p in VC-1 on FOUR BD-50’s (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Discs) and is presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. This show looks great even in it’s 1080i HDTV broadcasts on NBC, so it should come as no surprise that it looks excellent on Blu-ray Disc. The show, according to IMDb’s technical specifications under aspect ratio was shot in Hi-Def using the Sony HDW-F900 camera 1080i @60Hz (frames-per-second). F.Y.I. I’m just going from what I read here, so feel free to correct me. As I mentioned before it is shot in 1080i @60Hz source but now here in this Hi-Def transfer or possibly up-conversion, they have turned this to a 1080p @24Hz signal here and it translates perfectly throughout the entire fifth season of the show. The amount of compression found on the off-air broadcasts is heavy at times and in comparison to this it’s like night and day. No compression issues here at all, not the slightest sign of artifacts or pixilation.

One thing that might frustrate some is that focus can at times be blurry (but on purpose) in some areas and not in others, an example can be found in these two screenshots. First, HERE you have the focus on “Jim” and second you have HERE the focus on “Dwight“. This was done purposely to give it a raw feel like it’s shot as a reality show afterall — always keep that in mind here when judging the video quality. Moving on, the black level is solid, the color palette extremely vibrant at times even though it’s mostly in a dull office setting at Dunder Mifflin and the flesh tones are accurate. No real problems here at all to report, it’s an excellent Hi-Def visual presentation on every episode of the fifth season and worthy of a “4.5 Star Rating“. It is what it is when it comes to the show and despite it’s dull setting there’s now doubt that “The Office” (United States version) is one of the best looking HDTV broadcast shows and has been for many years now. However, it’s nothing that I would consider “reference material” or a “demo” type release. It looks great and I think fans who watched it on TV during the season will be happy with the small (but definitely welcomed) improvement in video quality in it’s Hi-Def Blu-ray Disc home video release.

Disc Usage:

Disc 1 uses 43.8GB total. Disc 2 uses 44.4GB total. Disc 3 uses 44.3GB total. Disc 4 uses 44.6GB total.

Audio Quality on this release is in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. First off this a definite improvement over the off-air broadcast sound quality which is in Dolby Digital 5.1 (in most areas). The show isn’t pretty much just dialogue, it literally is just dialogue so it’s very important that this be mixed correctly and not try to make elaborate use of the 5.1 soundscape. I’m happy to report it’s just as well mixed as the broadcast and dialogue is delivered primarily from the front center, left and right channel speakers. The rears and bass do occasionally get some use but it’s not that often. There’s really not a whole lot more I can say about the sound mix but say that it definitely gets the job done and earns a decent “3.5 Star Rating“. I’ll end this by saying that the show’s theme song sounds great as well and really seems to be the showcase of the 5.1 mix itself.

Bonus Materials are presented in a mix of Hi-Def (HD) video using AVC MPEG-4, Standard Definition (SD) video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound — unless otherwise noted.

Disc 1:

• BD-Live is included on this release and found on the first disc in this four disc set. This requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player and internet connectivity to access online content from the studio, in this case Universal as well as share “My Scenes” (your bookmarks) with friends.
• “One-Liner Soundboard” (HD) allows you to string together “one-liners” from all the cast of characters in the show and then you can even share them via BD-Live (mentioned above) with your friends.
• Episode Audio Commentaries are included for episodes “Weight Loss“, “Business Ethics“, “Employee Transfer” & “Customer Survey“.
• Deleted Scenes are included for (62:24 – HD) are included for are included for all of the episodes on this disc. The option is available to play each by episode the scenes were deleted from or play all which the runtime above comes from.
Disc 2:
• Episode Audio Commentaries are included for episodes “Moroccan Christmas” & “The Duel“.
• Deleted Scenes (77:37 – HD) are included for are included for all of the episodes on this disc. The option is available to play each by episode the scenes were deleted from or play all which the runtime above comes from.
Disc 3:
• Deleted Scenes (24:12 – HD) are included for all of the episodes on this disc. The option is available to play each by episode the scenes were deleted from or play all which the runtime above comes from.
Disc 4:
• Deleted Scenes (40:37 – HD) are included for all the episodes on this disc. The option is available to play each by episode the scenes were deleted from or play all which the runtime above comes from.
• Episode Audio Commentaries are included for episodes “Dream Team“, “Michael Scott Paper Company“, “Casual Friday” & “Company Picnic“
• “Gag Reel” (14:48 – HD) is pretty much self-explanatory from it’s title and also downright hilarious to see the actors breaking out of character and cracking up on the set.
• “100 Episodes, 100 Moments” (8:45 – HD) obviously celebrates the show’s 100th episode and the other 99 that came before it in a montage of greatest clips from the show’s first 100 episodes.
• “The Office promos” include “XLIII Football Championship” (2:31 – HD) & “Beijing Games” (2:08 – HD) clips. These are pretty funny and worth the watch if you missed them when they aired as promotional material on NBC.
• “Webisodes” (20:18 – HD) are pretty funny and don’t necessarily fall under the category of outtakes, deleted scenes or so forth. They were exclusively distributed online via NBC’s website. It is surprising to see that these are in Hi-Def video quality.
• “Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presents The Office” (30:02 – SD) may suffer in video quality but true fans of the show will really enjoy getting to see this hosted by Andy Richter.

Overall, the bonus materials are pretty darn impressive and worthy of a “4.5 Star Rating“. After all, you have OVER 3 HOURS of Deleted Scenes presented in Hi-Def, audio commentary tracks on select episodes and a slew of featurettes. Fans will be very pleased after the finish watching the season’s last episodes on disc 4 — where a majority of the bonus content resides.

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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