6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.3 |
A high-school Spanish teacher becomes the director of the school's Glee club, hoping to restore it to its former glory.
Starring: Lea Michele, Jane Lynch, Chris Colfer, Matthew Morrison, Kevin McHaleComedy | 100% |
Romance | 95% |
Musical | 65% |
Teen | 58% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Ready for a shocking statistic? Guess who outranks The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, and even The King himself—Elvis Presley—for the most songs ever included in the Billboard Top 100. Yes, the cast of Glee. As of February, the Fox TV musical’s fictitious New Directions show choir has placed 113 songs in the Top 100, beating out Presley’s previous record of 108. It took the show—a kind of karaoke-on-crack pop culture love fest—less than two years to break this record, and Glee shows no sign of stopping. Granted, the show has an unfair advantage. Where traditional acts/bands might release a handful of singles per year, each episode of Glee yields around five chart climbers, cover tunes covering the span of the musical spectrum, from Kanye West to Liza Minnelli, KISS to Madonna. Glee is a veritable cash cow for Fox, and the studio’s marketers plan to milk it dry, issuing iTunes singles, CD compilations, and other merchandise on a near-weekly basis. “Gleeks,” as the show’s fans have come to be known, eat this stuff up. Their latest fix is Glee Encore, which consists of thirty-six musical performances from the first season, back to back, without any pesky filler like plot or characterization.
Rachel does her thing...
If you already own the first season of Glee on Blu-ray, you know exactly what to expect from Encore's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer, which is practically identical. Shot on 35mm rather than digitally, the show naturally has a more filmic look than many TV programs, with a thin layer of grain that gives some life and warmth to the image. As I said in my review for season one, the presentation is as clean-cut and colorful as the show's teenaged characters. There's occasional softness, but high definition clarity is easily visible in resolved textures, like the detail in Rachel's angel wings in "Run Joey Run" or the surface of the leather jackets the guys wear during "It's My Life." In close-ups, pores and other facial features are visible, and you can even make out some pimples on Curt's chin during "Defying Gravity," which you probably wouldn't notice in standard definition. Color is dense and saturated but very realistic—the musical numbers may be stylized, but the image never is—and the picture looks especially fantastic during outdoor, daylight scenes. Skin tones, throughout, are perfectly balanced, black levels are deep, and contrast is nicely tuned. If you caught the show on Fox in high definition, you can expect a slightly more pristine look here, with fewer compression issues, but there are still a few small problems that keep the presentation from higher marks. Darker scenes are often peppered with bluish chroma noise, some fine color gradients look a little splotchy, and there are a few instance of mild banding. None of these are overt distractions, though.
I ran a few comparisons, and the audio quality of Encore's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track also seems practically indistinguishable from the musical mixes on the season one set. As you'd hope, the various pop songs and show tunes sound fantastic, especially if you've got a capable 5.1 home theater set-up. The music has real presence, clarity, and dynamic punch, without ever sounded overly compressed or bottom heavy. During the bigger numbers, the instruments and voices are spread throughout all 5.1 channels, creating an enveloping soundfield that puts you right in the middle of the school auditorium. I was particularly impressed by the low-end amplitude of the bass in Madonna's "Vogue." Vocals tend to ride highest in the mix, and although you can occasionally discern the aftereffects of processing and autotuning, the singing is almost always bright, clean, and full-bodied. Do note that along with easy-to-read English SDH subtitles, the disc also includes lyrical subtitles in French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
There are no bonus features at all on the disc, but that's not really a surprise. Instead, you'll find a few different ways to play the songs. You can choose the standard issue "Play All" to watch them all in chronological order, "Songs" to select individual tunes, or "Shuffle" to have the songs play randomly. A playlist feature would be nice—so you could, you know, filter out the more obnoxious Rachel ballads—but maybe we'll see that on the inevitable Encore 2 collection.
Glee Encore seems a bit redundant if you already own season one and have bought the various singles and music compilations the show releases regularly on iTunes, CD, and elsewhere, but hardcore Gleeks who need a quick Rachel/Finn fix will appreciate being able to loop Glee's greatest hits in shuffle mode on Blu-ray. The press release bills the disc as a "perfect party companion," and I'd agree if it weren't for the inclusion of so many Rachel-centric power ballads. No one wants to listen to those at a party. Still, if you're a Glee fan in need of something to put on the TV while you're mingling and entertaining guests, this release is for you.
2009-2010
w/ Bonus Disc
2009-2010
2010-2011
with Vudu eCopy Of Season One Finale
2010-2011
2010-2011
2011-2012
2012-2013
2013-2014
40th Anniversary Edition
1978
2009
2018
2-Disc Shake and Shimmy Edition
2007
Sing-Along Edition
2018
10th Anniversary Edition
2008
Extended Dance Edition
2009
20th Anniversary Limited Edition Packaging
2004
2006
2010
2015
2011
2005
Extended Edition
2008
2010
15th Anniversary Edition
2006
2016
1999
Remastered
1984
2011