Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Big Bang Theory: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie Review

It All Started with . . . Season 1

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 23, 2012

As I write this review, The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons is spending the show's summer hiatus starring in a Broadway revival of Harvey, where his entrance at every performance is greeted by the roar of applause reserved for established Broadway headliners and major stars of film and TV. Theatrical producers often hire such stars, because their name on the marquee sells tickets, but many of the fans who come to see their idol in person never actually experience the play in which the star is appearing, because they can't see past the actor's familiar persona from other roles. In Parsons' case, though, it only takes a few minutes before he completely banishes Dr. Sheldon Cooper from the audience's mind and replaces him with Ellwood P. Dowd, the gentle, charming bachelor from Colorado whose best friend is an invisible six-foot tall white rabbit. Only during the curtain call, when Parsons abandons Ellwood's slightly stooped posture and stands up straight again, do you remember he also plays the OCD übernerd who's a theoretical physicist prodigy on Big Bang.

Parsons' ability to disappear so thoroughly into another personality is the mark of a talented and hard-working actor, and it's not surprising that he became Big Bang's breakout star, wracking up accolades and awards during the show's five seasons to date. It also doesn't hurt that his character, Sheldon, gets a disproportionate share of the laugh lines, and those that go to others are frequently at Sheldon's expense. But it was already evident during Big Bang's first season that the show was essentially an ensemble effort, as are all the best and most durable comedies. Indeed, the first, unaired pilot included only Parsons and co-star Johnny Galecki (as Dr. Leonard Hofstadter) from the current cast, and co-creator Chuck Lorre has said that he and partner Bill Prady retained those two because they were the only part that worked. As Lorre says on the featurette accompanying this Blu-ray set, the best material in the world is no more than "landfill" unless you have the right cast to play it.

Like so many TV series, Big Bang began its Blu-ray releases in medias res with season 3 in 2010, day and date with the DVD set. Blu-ray and DVD releases have appeared simultaneously since then. Warner Home Video has now gone back to fill in the gap by releasing the first two seasons on Blu-ray.

Much has been said about The Big Bang Theory's pop culture savvy, its creative use of scientific jargon and the intelligence of its often rapid-fire dialogue. Revisiting the show's beginning, however, is a reminder of how classic a sitcom it is at its core, which is a testament to Lorre's and Prady's ability to innovate within a well-established tradition. The American sitcom originated in a family setting and remained there for most of the Fifties, but it quickly branched out to embrace the "second" family with which many people spend more time than their blood relatives: their fellow employees. Workplace comedies have been some of the most successful of the genre, including Cheers, Barney Miller and Mary Tyler Moore. The genius of The Dick Van Dyke Show was to incorporate both family (the Petrie household) and workplace (the Alan Brady show) formats, which were then able to cross-pollinate with storylines that included both.

Big Bang simply made the home and the workplace into one extended location, which isn't uncommon with academics. Leonard and Sheldon may have to commute to the university where they teach and research, but the only real difference between the classrooms where they write equations on boards with chalk and the living room where they write them with magic markers is that the latter can be personalized with nerd collectibles, because it's theirs to control. Their friends and co-workers, Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), feel right at home in Leonard's and Sheldon's apartment, because their own living quarters share the same essential personality.

The apartment building has been a staple of the American sitcom ever since Gertrude Berg created The Goldbergs in 1949, based on her popular radio series. The visual appeal for what was then a fledling medium was immediately obvious, because new plot developments required only a ring of a doorbell or a shout to the neighboring window. Whether consciously or not, sitcom writers have continued to exploit the apartment building's random juxtapositions of humanity ever since, from The Honeymooners to Seinfeld and now Big Bang. Here, the arrival of Penny (Kaley Cuoco) as the new tenant of the apartment across from Leonard and Sheldon triggers a cascade of new developments in the lives of the two nerd scientists, of which the final outcome still remains to be discovered.

Fans will no doubt remember that the major arc of season 1 (shortened by five episodes due to the Writers Guild strike of 2007) is Leonard's apparently hopeless mooning over Penny from afar, while Sheldon routinely tells him he hasn't got a chance. Sheldon's prediction certainly seems sound, as the aspiring actress, currently a waitress at The Cheescake Factory, dates one vacuous hunk after another, until finally, in the season's final episode, "The Tangerine Factor", she throws out the latest one, along with his iPhone, and considers whether to take a new direction. But between Penny's arrival in the pilot and the momentous crossroads at which she arrives by season's end, everyone has had ample opportunity to introduce themselves, both to each other and to the audience.

Howard's shameless hound-dogging of any woman within reach is established early on, and the only thing as inventively varied are his screaming exchanges with his never-seen mother (voiced by Carol Ann Susi). Raj's inability to speak to women except under the influence of alcohol (episode 8) or experimental medication (episode 15) results in inventive silent comedy by Kunal Nayyar, whose face has the same expressive quality that made the great clowns of the silent screen so memorable. Kaley Cuoco very quickly captured the distinctive combination of affection, bemusement and exasperation that continues to define Penny's relationship with her man-child neighbors. Johnny Galecki's Leonard quickly becomes the glue binding the group together; he just wants everyone to get along, though that wish comes in a distant second to his desire for Penny or, failing that, just about any girlfriend. (One of the season's most memorable lines is spoken by Galecki's former Roseanne castmate Sara Gilbert, as Leslie Winkle, a female version of Sheldon who dallies briefly with Leonard. The line is overheard by Sheldon and Penny through a bedroom door.)

Then, of course, there's Sheldon Cooper, whose world atlas of quirks and eccentricities is only beginning to be mapped by the end of the season. We do meet his formidable mother, Mary, in episode 4 (played by Laurie Metcalf, another Roseanne alum), and his fraternal twin sister, Missy (Courtney Henggeler) in episode 15. We deal with Sheldon's phobia about germs and his regression to childhood behavior when sick (episode 11). We watch him become hyper-competitive in the university's annual Physics Bowl (episode 13) and when threatened by an even younger prodigy from Korea (episode 12). And let's not forget Sheldon's approach to telling a lie, which in typical Cooper fashion is more convoluted than anyone could possibly imagine (episode 10).

Whatever he may tell himself, it's obvious why someone like Dr. Cooper gathers a surrogate family. No one else would put up with him.

The Big Bang Theory: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As best as I have been able to determine, season 1 of The Big Bang Theory was shot on film. With one exception discussed below, the image on Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray discs for season 1 is clean, sharp, colorful and well-defined, with a fine but natural grain pattern. Fine detail is evident throughout, which is essential for a series that routinely crams its sets with nerd-specific bric-a-brac. The series is famous for its bright colors, and the Blu-ray image captures this aspect of the production capably.

The only episode that looks any different is the pilot, which has a somewhat coarser grain structure than the regular episodes, possibly due to different lighting conditions, or perhaps because of budget constraints. The difference is not so dramatic that it should interfere with anyone's viewing enjoyment; indeed, it might not even be noticeable if the pilot were not juxtaposed with episodes produced later, after the series was greenlit. Warner is certainly to be commended for not applying any sort of filtering or degraining software in an attempt to placate grainophobes by making the pilot look more like later episodes, but thereby sacrificing picture detail in the process.

The Big Bang Theory: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack isn't called upon to do any heavy lifting, as Big Bang's soundtrack is almost entirely made up of dialogue, which remains clear and centered, and the (no doubt heavily edited) reaction of the live audience before which the show is filmed. The audience is heard to the sides and slightly to the rear. Two specific elements place a greater demand on the audio system. The first is the show's signature theme song by Barenaked Ladies, which is heard during the opening titles and, in an instrumental version, over the closing credits. The sound engages the entire 5.1 system and fills the listening space, with solid bass extension. The second element is the graphic featuring planetary (or molecular) rotation that is used as a transition between scenes. The accompanying audio also reaches out into the listening space with a deep rumble, creating a sonic break to accompany the visual one. If you don't have either a subwoofer or full-range left and right main speakers, you're missing out on some of the highlights of this soundtrack.

The Big Bang Theory: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Quantum Mechanics of The Big Bang Theory (SD; 1.33:1; 17:16): An entertaining retrospective on the origins of the series. The main interviewees are Lorre and Prady, but all of the principal cast get a few moments to talk.


• Gag Reel (HD, 1080p; 1.78:1; 7:36): Botches and crack-ups. "The key word is 'balls!'"

The Big Bang Theory: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fans have waited a long time for the early seasons of The Big Bang Theory to arrive on Blu-ray. Now that they're here, the technical quality is everything fans could have hoped for. As for the quality of the show, there's a reason it became an immediate hit—five reasons, in fact, and that's just in front of the camera. The show hardly needs my endorsement, but I'll give it anyway: Highly recommended.