Sons of Anarchy: Season One – Blu-ray Disc Review

September 3, 2009 – 1:32 am - Posted by: Brendan Surpless

Tags: Charlie Hunnam, FOX, Karl Sutter, Katey Sagal, Ron Perlman

has an average rating of 8.1 on TV.com
1080p in AVC on THREE 50gb discs
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
over an hour long & mostly in Hi-Def
–
– 2009
– 594 minutes
– FOX
–

Overall Verdict – Recommended

Buy it for $39.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless —

Watch Clips from the show over at FX & Hulu.com

The Show Itself is a new FX series that takes place in the fictional California town of Charming. Led by Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) and his wife Gemma (Katey Sagal), the group happens to be an eponymous gang. One of the biggest influences in Morrow’s life or at least someone who constantly looks up to him, is his stepson Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam). The season basically shows how the members of the group essentially protect and handle the town through gritty toughness and bribes. There name is Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original, sometimes referred to as SAMCRO. Most of the members of the group have day jobs, typically working in fields that wouldn’t normally lead anyone to think they might be a part of a club like this. While some money is made there, a majority of their income comes from selling drugs, weapons and pretty much whatever else they can to other gangs in the East Bay.

The full 13 (total) episodes for Season One are included:

• Episode 1 : “Pilot“
Original Air Date: 09/03/08 — 7.2 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 2 : “Seed“
Original Air Date: 09/10/08 — 7.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 3 : “Fun Town“
Original Air Date: 09/17/08 — 7.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 4 : “Patch Over“
Original Air Date: 09/24/08 — 7.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 5 : “Giving Back“
Original Air Date: 10/01/08 — 7.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 6 : “AK-51“
Original Air Date: 10/08/08 — 7.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 7 : “Old Bones“
Original Air Date: 10/15/08 — 7.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 8 : “The Pull“
Original Air Date: 10/22/08 — 7.4 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 9 : “Hell Followed“
Original Air Date: 10/29/08 — 7.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 10 : “The Future is Free“
Original Air Date: 11/05/08 — 7.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 11 : “Capybara“
Original Air Date: 11/12/09 — 7.2 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 12 : “Sleep of Babies“
Original Air Date: 11/19/08 — 7.5 rating over at TV.com
• Episode 13 : “The Revelator“
Original Air Date: 11/26/08 — 7.5 rating over at TV.com

I’m not 100% sure what it is about motorcycle theme based movies/shows that always seem to pique my interest. Perhaps it’s the aspect of these gangs being those ‘badass’ people that we all look down on but would certainly be like if we had even the slightest chance of getting away with any of these crimes they do. While that may be a possibility, I feel it lies more in the inner, deep emotive connections these gangs have with one another. No I’m not talking about that love stuff but rather that each view one another as a brother not just because they are apart of the same gang but rather because they share their every moment and day amongst the whole collective unit. The sense of brotherhood is a rarity in this day and age (especially with the way the news portrays it) and even though these shows are a sense of myth, I can’t help but feel that the cohesive unit shown here is something special.

In closing, “Sons of Anarchy: Season One” continues on the line of excellent FX shows. The network clearly knows what they are doing in this department. With shows like “The Shield“, “Damages“, “Rescue Me” and now “Sons of Anarchy“, this network is slowly becoming the new HBO. This show comes highly recommended for fans of a quality drama that successfully mixes characters we actually care about with all around good story telling.

Video Quality on this release is 1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on THREE BD-50′s (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Discs) and is presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. One of the strongest aspects of this transfer lies in the shows color palette. With the California setting, we have rich, vibrant bright colors that all but help to present an impressive image. We have solid yellows that bring out a somewhat sun baked feel to the palette. Darker colors, like the blacks of the leather coats, look great with a deep, inky feel to them. There is a bit of grain throughout the print but there is more done to capture the themes of the show. Detail is fine as well with many images showcasing that a true sense of hi-def. Contrast levels are solid while fleshtones were accurate. All in all this is a transfer that is above the HD broadcast, which allows it to earn a “4 Star Rating“.

Disc Usage:

Disc 1 uses 43.2GB total. Disc 2 uses 41.5GB total. Disc 3 uses 37.3GB total.

Audio Quality on this release is in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. Faring even better than the video is the accompanying DTS-HD track. FOX has typically been a solid company so I wasn’t really too surprised that this was such a great presentation. Dialogue is intelligible and never becomes a problem where you have to mess with the volume. LFE surprised me quite a bit, especially for a TV show. LFE was immersive with numerous instances of deep, booming bass that did shake my room more than once. In fact I found myself having to lower the controls on my new Elemental Designs sub. Discrete effects are excellent as well with a solid sense of atmosphere creation in the room. Directionality between the rears is seamless with every little effect (pipe roaring, background dialogue, cars, etc) all coming through fine. This is a stunner of a track that fans will develop enjoy as this earns a “4.5 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials are presented in a mixture of Standard Definition (SD) & High Definition (HD) with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound.

• Audio Commentaries on Select Episodes. : The episodes with commentaries are as follows: “Pilot“, “The Pull” and “The Revelator“.
• The Making of Sons of Anarchy (HD): This feature runs close to 9 minutes. I enjoyed this feature even though it did run a bit short. While not feeling like your typical EPK, I was surprised by the amount of the plot they revealed during this one.
• Casting Sons of Anarchy, The Ink, The Bikes (HD): At near 27 minutes in length, this is broken down into three parts. The “Casting” runs 15 minutes and shows us why certain actors were chosen for the roles they were. The “Ink” runs 5 minutes and gives us a bit of insight into the varying tattoos and why they were chosen. Lastly, “Bikes runs 7 minutes and looks us the different bikes the show used.
• Deleted Scenes (SD): Here we get roughly 35 minutes of scenes that were deleted from the final episodes. While some were wisely cut, I would have preferred if a few were kept in.
• Anarchy on the Set (SD): This is more of a gag reel that runs 7 minutes. Some laughs are had and it’s easy to see that the cast really enjoyed working with each other.

Overall, the bonus materials are alright. They almost add up to a bit over an hour in runtime and plus some of the featurettes are in Hi-Def. I think fans will be somewhat pleased with the supplemental materials found here.

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.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider making a purchase through us on Amazon.