Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our undead lives...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown August 17, 2010

Dear diary, I met a boy today and we fell in love. He's quiet and intense, but he takes me seriously, even when I whine about my comfortable suburban life. He drinks blood, but that's okay. He says he doesn't feed on people. And if you can't trust a vampire stalking a teenage girl, who can you trust? His brother is a pain though, always creeping around and attacking my friends. I know I'll probably end up having feelings for both of them, but I'm happy being a one-vamp-girl for now. Of course, if a werewolf came along... ugh. There are moments, entire episodes even, when The Vampire Diaries amounts to little more than angsty teen melo-horror; a toothless Twilight doppelgänger that unspools like a blood-spattered romance novel. (And considering how much I loathe the Twilight series, that isn't saying much at all.) But then there are moments that creator Kevin Williamson summons the wit and genre-bending sense and sensibilities that made Dawson's Creek such an unexpectedly addictive phenom. (No shame here. I remain a big fan.) The Vampire Diaries has a long way to go before it earns a recommendation from me -- especially since Williamson's doting lovers aren't nearly as intriguing or compelling as his villains -- but its first season, hit-or-miss as it may be, is decent enough, and gets a bit better with each passing episode.

"I was rooting for Pacey. How bout you?"

It's rare that I quote a promotional synopsis, but the one that adorns the back cover of the series' Complete First Season is just too good to pass up. "Dark, brooding, pulsing with bloodlust and transcendent with romance," it oozes, "The Vampire Diaries has become a much-watch television hit. This four-disc, twenty-two episode season offers unforgettable characters, living and undead. They are vampire brothers Stefan and Damon, one good and one evil; Elena, a double for the beauty both brothers loved some 150-years earlier; plus Jeremy, Bonnie, Matt and more denizens of Mystic Falls, Virginia. All are caught up in a spellbinding web of secrets, passion and terror." Lingering questions? Don't worry, even after watching the entire mythos-laden season, you'll have plenty more. The aforementioned brothers, Stefan (Paul Wesley, channeling Robert Pattinson) and Damon (Lost's Ian Somerhalder, Diaries' greatest asset), have been sucking blood for more than a century, but parted ways due to... creative differences. After the turn of the millennium, Stefan -- the vampire equivalent of a vegetarian -- moves to Small Supernatural Town, USA and falls for a high school orphan named Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), while Damon -- a carnivore through and through -- swoops in for a visit. Alas, their reunion isn't exactly cordial, and Elena, her brother Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), and her doe-eyed friends soon find themselves stuck in the middle on an age-old feud.

But Stefan and Damon aren't typical vampires. Not only can they safely venture out into the sun thanks to a pair of enchanted power rings (I wish I were kidding), they also enjoy a good burger, shrug their shoulders when it comes to garlic or religious iconography, and spout pop culture references like nobody's business. They're secretive and reclusive, yet hide in plain sight, making their presence known in Mystic Falls at every opportunity. Of course, even though seventeen-year-old Elena is smitten with her undead boy-toy, she pushes him away, pulls him back, pushes him away, and pulls him back; an eternal glutton for emotional punishment. Before long, strange family ties, cursed trinkets, blood swapping, corpses, witches (one of which oh-so-conveniently turns out to be Elena's best friend, Bonnie, played by Katerina Graham), secret organizations and weapons of mass vampiric destruction (literally) become all the rage in Mystic Falls, leaving our befuddled teen heroine determined to find love and happiness in all the wrong places. Ah well, at least Stefan and Damon don't sparkle when the sun rises. Whenever evil rears its head, The Vampire Diaries is fierce, agile and funny; a prepubescent True Blood with a serious overbite. Unfortunately, Elena and Stefan are series killjoys; humorless star-crossed lovers who pout and sulk their way into an on-again, off-again relationship that goes nowhere fast. And I thought Joey and Dawson had issues... whew.

Williamson takes at least seven episodes to find his voice, and then struggles to balance the series' slowly emerging tone with its unnecessarily convoluted mythology, countless supporting characters, endless histrionics and cheesy romantic interludes. Even when The Vampire Diaries hits its stride, it does so by liberally borrowing from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga, Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles (and Neil Jordan's subsequent adaptation of Interview with the Vampire), Supernatural, True Blood and, oddly enough, Smallville. Williamson and his writers wisely weave a commentary on these similarities throughout the series -- at one point, Damon wryly addresses popular vampire tales -- but seem to have difficulty concocting fresh ideas. The result is a predictable, patchwork genre outing; an all-too-familiar gumbo of better books, series and films. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a complete waste of time. Williamson and his team's writing gets sharper and sharper as the show slithers along, Somerhalder chews up entire scenes and revels the opportunity to do so, Wesley and Dobrev give their all and keep their initially one-dimensional characters afloat, and the storylines improve dramatically. But it's often too little, too late. Diaries would be a real killer if Williamson trimmed off its genre love handles and cut its leash. Instead, it lurches like a caged lion, failing to sink its teeth into much of anything.

There's always a chance that the series' second season will bare its fangs and draw some blood. Williamson has a knack for rapidfire dialogue and intricate character dynamics, and there are sequences and subplots sprinkled throughout The Complete First Season that suggest The Vampire Diaries could be so much more. But with a sizable fanbase and impressive ratings -- thanks in large part to ravenous TwiHards, whom I'm sure would be more than happy to see Diaries stay right where it's at -- the series' second season could amount to more of the same. Here's hoping Williamson comes through, challenges the show's current fanbase to expand its horizons, and gives genre junkies more of what they crave.

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season straddles a tenuous line between a problematic and an intentional presentation; blessed and cursed with an at-times lovely, at-times unsightly 1080p/VC-1 transfer sure to please fans and fill newcomers with doubts. Black levels are deep but overwhelming, blotting out detail, merging inky hair with inkier backdrops, and consuming most everything left standing after the sun goes down. Color vibrancy and contrast are inconsistent as well. Primaries and skintones are warm and lifelike one minute, washed out and retracted the next, violent noise assaults the darkest scenes, crush is rampant, and numerous shots are crippled by charcoal-brushed shadows. Moreover, detail waxes and wanes... literally. Fine textures range from waxy to soft to clean to magnificently resolved, and both object definition and delineation are in a constant state of flux. It's also clear that noise reduction and edge enhancement have been used, but rest easy: Williamson, not Warner, appears to be the culprit. Unfortunately though, it all comes down to a game of educated guessing. Artifacting pops up here and there, and banding is quite prevalent at times, but otherwise, the whole of the presentation is technically sound. So are the various issues and inconsistencies products of intention? Or an overcooked, hyper-polished transfer? Honestly, without access to the series source, it's difficult to say. Considering how good most of the show looks, I have a hunch fans won't care either way.

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Another Warner television release, another 640kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, another long-winded diatribe about the differences between lossy and lossless audio mixes. Or so I thought before sliding the first disc of The Vampire Diaries into my Blu-ray player. The Complete First Season may only offer a standard Dolby Digital track, but I have to admit, it's a strong one. Dialogue is crisp, intelligible and smartly prioritized, LFE output is decidedly decent, rear speaker activity is restrained but effective, and the soundfield, paired with smooth pans and solid directionality, is quite involving. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I might have easily mistaken the whole affair for a middle-of-the-road lossless mix. Would a DTS-HD Master Audio track provided a more rousing and immersive experience? Without a doubt. The limitations of a lossy mix are still apparent -- especially when Williamson's soundtrack accompanies an already intense, action-oriented sequence -- and it's a shame that Warner is so intent on releasing titles sans lossless audio. Should audiophiles continue to demand the best Blu-ray has to offer? Of course. If studios hope to increase sales of television releases, they have to make purchasing TV titles as rewarding as possible. Long rant short, The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season sounds pretty good, but it could sound better.

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 4-disc Blu-ray edition of The Complete First Season includes a variety of special features -- an amusing audio commentary, a pair of extensive documentaries, several production featurettes, and other goodies -- but the real surprise of the set is a full-length audiobook recording of author L.J. Smith's "The Awakening." Still, additional cast and crew commentaries would have gone a long way, and the bulk of the supplemental package is too easily exhausted.

• Pilot Commentary: Writer/executive producer Kevin Williamson, writer/executive producer Julie Plec and director/supervising producer Marcos Siega share a breezy, forthcoming chat about the series' pilot episode, the first season of the show, and the challenges they faced during its development and production.
• Deleted Scenes (Discs 1-4, SD, 13 minutes): Next up, more than a dozen deleted scenes from "The Night of the Comet," "You're Undead to Me," "Lost Girls," "Haunted," "The Turning Point," "Fool Me Once," "A Few Good Men," "There Goes the Neighborhood," and "Let the Right One In."
• Into Mystic Falls (Disc 4, HD, 25 minutes): Williamson, Plec and key members of the cast and crew discuss the genesis of The Vampire Diaries, the differences between Smith's books and Williamson's adaptation, and the pilot shoot, as well as the series' themes, characters, performances, scripts, dialogue and special effects.
• A New Breed of Vampires (Disc 4, HD, 13 minutes): Williamson and his actors reflect on the casting process, touch on fans' initial reaction, and share all-too-brief footage from their auditions.
• When Vampires Don't Suck! (Disc 4, HD, 19 minutes): An overview of the current vampire craze and the buzz that seems to immediately accompany anything with fangs.
• A Darker Truth Webisodes (Disc 4, HD, 8 minutes): Four episodes of the online miniseries.
• Vampires 101 (Disc 4, HD, 7 minutes): The rules Williamson's vamps live and die by.
• Gag Reel (Disc 4, HD, 4 minutes): Chuckles courtesy of the cast and crew.
• Audiobook: The Awakening (Disc 4, 392 minutes): A complete audiobook recording of "The Awakening," the first volume of L.J. Smith's "Vampire Diaries" saga.
• BD-Live Functionality

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you have the patience and wherewithal to endure the early, groan-inducing episodes of The Vampire Diaries, the series does make several strides forward. Not enough to allow Williamson's blood-soaked soap opera to stand out from the genre crowd, mind you, but just enough to make it tolerable... slightly enjoyable even (at least as guilty pleasures go). Hopefully, Williamson will find ways to make the series' do-gooders as compelling as its baddies when the show's second season airs this fall. The 4-disc Blu-ray edition is also hit-or-miss. Its video transfer is inconsistent (but presumably faithful), its Dolby Digital audio track offers more than I expected from a lossy mix, and its special features, though varied and extensive, can't compete with the commentary-packed supplemental packages found on other television releases. Ultimately, Vampire Diaries devotees will unearth enough value to justify their high-def dollars, but just barely.