8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.4 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Sam Winchester grew up hunting unearthly horrors. But now law school and a normal life beckon. That is, until Sam’s estranged brother Dean appears with troubling news: their father has disappeared, a man who’s hunted evil for 22 years. So to find their father, the brothers must hunt what he hunts... and Sam must return to the life he’d rather leave behind.
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Jim Beaver, Mark SheppardAction | 100% |
Supernatural | 99% |
Horror | 73% |
Dark humor | 22% |
Thriller | 20% |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0
German: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 2.0
Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0
English SDH, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (4 BDs)
BD-Live
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
When there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Until two years ago, I would have screamed "Ghostbusters!" right along with you. Today? Nostalgia notwithstanding, the Winchester boys, not Peter Venkman and his crew, would be at the top of my speed dial. Cry blasphemy all you want, but Supernatural's brutal beasties have dragged the series' brazen demon hunters through more Hell than Gozer the Gozerian and her ungodly ilk could dream up; more unholy fire and brimstone than Vigo Von Homburg Deutschendorf could unleash on New York and its Boroughs. And the Winchester brothers? Over the course of five seasons (soon to be six), Sam and Dean have gutted, decapitated, perforated, eviscerated, torched, exorcised, shot, impaled, electrocuted and stabbed more nefarious night denizens than the Ghostbusters have crammed and recrammed into two containment units, all with that patented Winchester wile, wit and style. Granted, creator Eric Kripke's debut season isn't quite as inventive or captivating as later seasons, but it does provide an addictive introduction to the series' tone, characters and mythos sure to convert many a newcomer to the Supernatural fold.
On the case...
More menacing than Supernatural's most devilish beasties? Eric Kripke and DP Serge Ladouceur's grim-n-gritty genre photography, near-impenetrable shadows, and eye-piercing respites in the white-hot sun. Don't get me wrong: the series' visuals are terribly effective -- particularly when bolstered by such a striking, technically proficient 1080p/VC-1 transfer -- but viewers shouldn't expect to peer too deeply into the darkness. Thankfully, black levels are inky, contrast is strong and stable (albeit quite hot at times), and the image isn't plagued by any significant artifacting, banding, ringing, or DNR. And while Ladouceur's dim palette and stark skintones bobble between bleak and bleaker, blood and brain matter still soak the screen with gruesome reds, the stubble-cursed Winchesters look relatively healthy, and the occasional sun-streaked backdrops are brimming with vibrant greens and blues. And detail? Startlingly refined. Granted, every shot isn't razor sharp -- a few sequences are downright soft and murky -- but it's clear that Warner's presentation isn't to blame for the shortcomings that do arise. Not only does each episode appear to cling to its creators' intentions, crisp textures lend realism to many a scene and, far more often than not, closeups look fantastic. If anything, surging noise and detail-hampering crush hold the picture back from perfection. Supernatural is meant to be a grainy show draped in swampy shadows, yes, but be warned: these aesthetics produce a few distracting anomalies throughout the first season, few of which will go unnoticed.
Be that as it may, I can't imagine the series' debut episodes netting a better transfer. Whether you've followed the Winchester boys to hell and back for five seasons or just recently decided to take the plunge, brace yourself for a big, toothy grin.
Like a rotting, reanimated corpse, standard Dolby Digital audio continues to claw its way across the Blu horizon, given everlasting life by the well-intentioned wizards at Warner Brothers (one of the few, if not only, studios hellbent on using lossy mixes whenever possible). I know, I know: Supernatural is a five-year old niche series, not to mention one that's carved out a comfortable home on a lesser network. But four years into the high definition revolution, I've come to expect lossless audio from Hollywood's major players, especially when struggling independent studios manage to conjure up DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD tracks for their humblest releases. Ultimately, if studios want TV titles to earn the attention they deserve among Blu enthusiasts, such fundamental elements simply must be in place. Sigh... I digress. For what it's worth, The Complete First Season's 640kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track is decent enough, lending screams, tearing flesh, roaring engines, and gunfire semi-respectable kick. Dialogue is fairly clean and well-prioritized (even if too many lines are lost during the Winchesters' most dangerous romps in the dark), LFE output is passable (albeit too thin when ghostly chaos ensues), and rear speaker activity is adequate (just not entirely immersive). Acoustics and ambience are acceptable as well, modestly enhancing the tension and atmosphere of each episode accordingly. But while the experience does sound marginally better than its DVD counterpart, I can only imagine the level of clarity, sternum-cracking power, and hair-raising chills a lossless mix could afford a fierce, at-times unruly horror series like Supernatural. Ah well. Perhaps 2011 will finally be the year lossy audio becomes the relic the overwhelming majority of studios, large and small, have already declared it to be.
Generally, when earlier seasons of fan-favorite television shows make their Blu-ray debut, they arrive with the same dated supplemental packages as their aging DVD counterparts. Not so with Supernatural: The Complete First Season. While the new 4-disc Blu-ray release features all of the content that appears on the 2006 standard DVD set, it also boasts two notable exclusives: a seventy-minute Q&A event with key members of the series' cast and crew, and an exhaustive interactive "Roadmap" that offers a slew of interviews, mini-docs, behind-the-scenes clips, and other goodies. Neither is groundbreaking, mind you, but both add significant value to a set that might have otherwise induced boredom.
Supernatural isn't the tired, derivative genre misfire so many people assume it to be. (Speaking from personal experience, circa 2008.) Smart, inventive, and brimming with unbridled brimstone, it's more akin to early seasons of the X-Files than the sort of programming one might expect from smaller networks like the WB and CW. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray release of The Complete First Season, though well worth Warner's asking price in my opinion, is a bit of a mixed bag. While it boasts a strong video transfer and a solid supplemental package (one blessed with two excellent exclusives), it only includes a standard Dolby Digital surround track. Still, longtime Supernatural fans can finally toss aside their season one DVDs, and newcomers can cross one last excuse off their list and see what all the fuss is about.
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