Dawson's Creek: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Dawson's Creek: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 28, 2023

It is likely that nothing television ever offers will conquer 1990's Beverly Hills, 90210 as the top "Teen Life" TV show of all time. It has had many competitors, including Melorose Place, which debuted just two years after 90210 first aired as something of a direct competitor with Fox's breakthrough, genre shaping, and era defining hit. Dawson's Creek released in 1998, deep into 90210's reign and represented something of a torch passing experience, carrying on the genre for a new decade and a new generation. But rather than the glitzy world of California's elite where both 90210 and Melrose Place were set, Dawson's Creek moved the story across the country, not to the glitz and glamor of New York City or Miami Beach but rather into the small New England down of Capeside, Massachusetts where life may be lived at a slower pace on the outside, but on the inside all of the same basic teenage qualities and characteristics that shaped the lives of California's own are evident as well.

Offical synopsis: Kevin Williamson created this engaging drama, which chronicles a group of young friends' passage from adolescence to young adulthood in the small coastal town of Capeside, Massachusetts. Based on Williamson's own experiences growing up, 'Dawson's Creek' focuses on teenagers Dawson (James Van Der Beek) and Joey (Katie Holmes), who have been friends since they were five and are trying to cope with the way their friendship is changing now that their hormones are raging. Add to the mix their friend Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and the new girl in town, Jen (Michelle Williams), and you can count on extra twists to the drama in their already turbulent lives.

At its core, Dawson's Creek is a coming-of-age story. That's nothing new or unique -- most everything set within the confines of the teenage life is a coming-of-age story, whether it's sprawled out over numerous TV seasons, as is the case here, or whether it's contained in a single 90- or 100-some-minute movie, like The Breakfast Club. The show is also not all that unique in its content. Teenagers are teenagers, and while the world around them might change and evolve, the soul of the teenager, the fundamental life experiences, the basic biological processes, all of that remains a constant. So, what is the secret that makes Dawson's Creek not just effective, but also unique? For one it's the show's frankness, its willingness to put everything on the table and offer blunt and honest presentations of teenage life and times in a modern setting. The show is not graphic, but it is far more than general in its approach. It's specific, not selective in the issues it covers and the clarity with which it covers them. It explores real life and real emotions. Sometimes those are driven by sexual need, sometimes by emotional resonance, and always by the ever-evolving internal world within each character that ultimately has some serious, rippling repercussions in the outer world around them. In its clarity, focus, and willingness not to push boundaries but simply play things like they are, the show proves its worth and proves very compelling even through the full series run.

The show made stars of its cast because, for one, several big names (James Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson) got their big breaks on the show; because they're all great actors; because they work off a great script; and because they fully commit to the characters and, more than simply act them, inhabit them. The sense if authenticity is evident throughout the show's run. Even if there is some amplification in various issues of sex, growth, school, home life, friendships, and so on and so forth in the name of dramatic engagement, the show holds within the realities of life and excels as a vivid, unapologetic portrait of how these characters live, grow, and interact. It does not shy away from difficult topics, from relatable topics, from life topics. It is at times graphic (more verbally than physically) and it is blunt and firm in its incessantly forward motion through the rigors of teenage life and interaction. The cast is uniformly excellent, breathing life into authentic stories and arcs that see them progress through both their high school and college years.

Of course, the show is probably best known, beyond its incredible cast, for its frankness in dealing with sexuality. The script hammers the hormonal points home without inhibition or resistance, at least within the boundaries of taste and explicitness allowed on television at the time of the show's airing. One of the reasons this content plays so well and so authentically is because the cast fully embraces the real life talk and issues that deal in love, lust, and sexual orientation. The show does not shy away from hormones and evolving sensibilities, and the cast's embrace of the material, both broadly and specifically, through major arcs and intimate moments alike, brings a level of genuineness to screens that was heretofore missing in this genre.

Dawson's Creek: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Dawson's Creek is another in a fairly long line of releases that fall into the "looks good at-a-glance but exhibits problems upon closer inspection" titles. The picture generally has a decent looking foundation at work but is mired in excessive compression issues that render the picture sloppy below its film-source front. The picture always looks like it's on the verge of digital breakup. The macroblocking is not so excessive and severe as to destroy the picture, but it's always in evidence to some degree or another, leaving the image in a some awkward hybrid state of pleasing and hideous. The image's essential characteristics are fine. There is never a feeling that the image has been scrubbed down or its natural film state reduced in any significant capacity, leaving detail pleasing and grain, although chunkier than anything else, at least resembling grain. Overall definition is good enough, allowing viewers to soak in details in bedrooms, classrooms, and around town. Wherever the action goes, enough detail follows to render the image at least worthwhile in this area at the 1080p resolution.

The color space is generally fine. The picture lacks tonal finesse and excellence but satisfies for basic stability and output, with bright exteriors obviously offering the most abundantly colorful elements, with well saturated tones on clothes, natural greens, and other elements around town, but to be sure even in good or only moderately good lighting, there's enough color finesse to please. Skin tones look relatively healthy, blacks are OK if not prone to some crush, and white balance is decent enough. There are not too many signs of print wear along the way, either. This one could certainly look better, but it could easily look worse, too. Videophiles may be borderline repulsed, but causal viewers should like this one well enough.

Note also that the Blu-ray is presented at a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. IMDB suggests the show originally aired at 1.33:1. I did not watch the show then, but if the material is not in its native aspect ratio that is quite the disappointment. Still, viewers can rest assured that the 1.78:1 framing looks good with no obvious signs of gross visual mismanagement as a result.

Dawson's Creek: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dawson's Creek's sound design is straightforward, and so too is Mill Creek's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless audio presentation fairly straightforward. The show is dialogue heavy, with the spoken word coming through with commanding presence and clarity through the front-center channel, never to be mistaken for real life but given enough definition and detail to satisfy in all situations, whether in hushed bedrooms or busy classroom or beachside settings, for example. Music is pleasantly rigorous with the main theme the standout for fullness and spacing. Surround content is not prodigious, with usually only minor musical and environmental supports seeping through. The subwoofer is never tasked with hard work. This is a basic listen, but fans will enjoy the essentials as they are delivered with enough quality to please.

Dawson's Creek: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This twenty-disc set of Dawson's Creek contains supplements scattered throughout the set, primarily in the form of audio commentaries, but a few additional extras are also included. The set ships in two extra-wide Amaray cases tucked inside a slip box. No DVD or digital copies are included.

Disc One (Season One):

• Audio Commentary: For "Dawson's Creek:" Creator Kevin Williamson and Executive Producer Paul Stupin.
• Dawson's Creek: From Day One (480i, 8:23): Project Origins and development, working with the WB, casting and characters, the qualities the key cast brought to the show, how all the characters reflect some part of Kevin Williamson's personality, the show's success, sex in the show, and more.
• Time Capsule (480i, 6:53): Exploring the show's main characters and the personalities they bring to the story, the frank sex talk in the show, and more.
• Original Pilot Ending (480i, 1:09): An alternate ending for the pilot episode.
• Deleted Scenes from Pilot (480i, 4:32): Several scenes not provided any identifying markers.

Disc Two (Season One):

• Audio Commentary: For "Breaking Away:" Creator Kevin Williamson and Executive Producer Paul Stupin.

Disc Three (Season Two):

• Audio Commentary: For "The Kiss:" Executive Producer Paul Stupin.

Disc Five (Season Two):

• Audio Commentary: For "Parental Discretion Advises:" Executive Producer Paul Stupin.

Disc Nine (Season Three):

• Audio Commentary: For "True Love:" Executive Producer Paul Stupin and Actor Kerr Smith.

Disc Ten (Season Four):

• Audio Commentary: For "Coming Home:" Executive Producer Paul Stupin.

Disc Thirteen (Season Four):

• Audio Commentary: For "The Graduate:" Executive Producer Paul Stupin.

Disc Nineteen (Season Six):

• Entertainment Weekly's 20th Anniversary Reunion (1080i, 55:12): A lengthy retrospective look back at the popular 1998 series featuring key cast and crew together again to relive the show's origins, success, longevity, themes, characters, and more.

Disc Twenty (Season Six):

• Audio Commentary: For "All Good Things..." and "...Must Come to an End" Executive Producer Paul Stupin and Creator Kevin Williamson.
• Creek Daze: A Conversation with Kevin Williamson (480i, 17:35): Willaimson discusses project origins, story and themes, cast and characters, and more.

Dawson's Creek: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Is Dawson's Creek a legendary show? Within its genre, it most certainly is. Within the larger television history landscape? Probably not, but it is certainly worthy of mention as a show that spoke about, to, and for an entire generation. With well-rounded storylines, great characters, first-class acting, and a very real sense of time, place, purpose, and presentation, the show is definitely a keeper within the Teenage life genre and worth a watch for its larger place in the TV spectrum. Mill Creek's Blu-ray set is well rounded, offering troubled, but passable, video and solid enough audio paired with a healthy allotment of bonus content. Recommended.