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True Blood premiered on HBO in 2008. The main cast
includes Anna Paquin (X-Men film series), Stephen Moyer,
Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Alexander Skarsgard,
and Nelsan Ellis. The show is based on Charlaine Harris’
novels. ***
True Blood takes place in a world where, due to synthetically-produced
blood, vampires have become a reality, living in the real
world. A small-town waitress has been cursed with the ability
to read peoples’ thoughts, and quickly jumps to the conclusion
that her brother, who has had sex with numerous vampire
women, is responsible. However she ultimately changes her
mind, and begins hunting for the real murderer – which isn’t
easy considering there are numerous suspicious individuals
lurking in town. ***
This series came as a pleasant surprise for this viewer.
I admit, I didn’t come in here expecting much. But my mind
was quickly changed when I sat down and watched a few episodes.
There’s far more depth there than in your average hour-long
drama series. The characters are interesting and well-played,
and the storylines are pulled off very well. Rather than
trying to work as stand-alone episodes, each episode of
the show is part of a larger, progressive storyline. Once
you start watching and get involved in the show and its
storyline, you won’t want to stop watching. It’s easily
the best original series HBO has in its lineup today. Give
it a chance, and I guarantee, it won’t disappoint. The second
season is slated to begin airing in June, and if the first
season is any indicator of what is to come, it’s going to
be excellent. ---
Image and Sound:
Let me be the first to tell you that this Blu-Ray set
does not disappoint in the visual department. Colors are
vibrant, the image extremely well-detailed, and absolutely
no noticeable flaws in the image. This transfer really must
be seen to be appreciated. The sound quality fares even
better, featuring lossless audio that sounds great from
start to finish. Audio and visual-wise, there isn’t a single
weak point with this transfer. After seeing the incredible
job here, I am very much optimistic for other HBO Blu-Ray
releases, new and back-catalogue ones alike.
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| Special
Features: |
The discs feature an enhanced viewing experience, which
includes a number of interesting pop-up facts, and assorted
other strange items. This is one of those features that
has to be experienced to be appreciated, and there is indeed
some interesting stuff to be experienced here. My only complaint
with this is that there is too much time where you’ll find
yourself waiting for something to pop up on screen – there’s
just too much “unused” time in this viewing mode. Still,
it was a great idea, and it will be interesting to see what
comes of it should it be integrated into later seasons.
Additionally, cast and crew commentaries appear here, all
of which have a wide variety of interesting information
for viewers. The crew goes into extensive detail, and even
covers some of their past experiences, and the cast has
some interesting details to share as well. Closing out the
supplements are episode previews (these are the “next time
on” and “previously on” things that so often get left off
home video presentations of television shows. All in all,
it’s a terrific collection of supplemental material.
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