“The Vampire Diaries” might not be as strong as it once was and the writing isn’t the best with contrived storylines, yet the ensemble cast mostly makes up for the series’ shortcomings so it should be interesting to see how it does going forward without star Nina Dobrev as well as a few other key departures. Still, the show has some entertainment value for what it is.
“The Vampire Diaries”: The Complete Sixth Season
(2014-15)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Warner Bros. | NR – 928 min. – $60.10 | September 1, 2015
 |
MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Various Writer(s): L.J. Smith (book); Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson (developed by) Cast: Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Matt Davis, Steven R. McQueen, Kat Graham, Candice Accola, Zach Roerig DISC INFO: Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0) |
** Click Here to Purchase “The Vampire Diaries” Season 6 on Blu-ray from Amazon.com **
THE MOVIE – 3.5/5
Plot Synopsis: After spending an entire summer heartsick, grieving the loss of both her boyfriend and her best friend in the Other Side, Elena (NINA DOBREV) returns to Whitmore College for her sophomore year determined to move on. But Damon (IAN SOMERHALDER) refuses to give up and makes his way back to Elena’s side, only to realize he’ll have to make her fall in love with him all over again as Elena made Alaric (MATT DAVIS) compel her to forget about Damon. With Bonnie (KAT GRAHAM) trapped in the prison world, Stefan (PAUL WESLEY) on the outs with Caroline (CANDICE ACCOLA) and Mystic Falls under an anti-magic spell, convincing Elena to start over will be no easy feat.
Quick Hit Review: Although I’m not big on the whole vampire craze that hit thanks primarily to the “Twilight” novels and subsequent movie adaptations, I actually kind of enjoy “The Vampire Diaries” even though the drama is heavily forced and even contrived at times. But like any successful shows, it’s the ensemble that makes it work. Between Nina Dobrev’s — who departs the series in emotional fashion in the season finale — Elena endless romantic drama and the love-hate relationship between brothers Damon and Stefan, played brilliantly by Somerhalder and Wesley respectively, it makes the nonsensical and oft circular storylines work so well.
The season does throw a nice wrench from the same old, same old. The founders are still at play and their latest concoction to keep Mystic Fall not so mystical placing a curse that keeps out any magical beings and used as a weapon for those captured by Tripp Cooke (COLIN FERGUSON) in a truly cruel yet original fashion…
When you break down this season, and the series, it’s a primetime soap opera with changing alliances, characters coming and going in various fashions. And that’s not a slight against “The Vampire Diaries” as it is often entertaining and just all around fun to watch and compelling, no pun intended, enough to make it worth watching from beginning to end and this season was full of changes with a few cast members exiting the series headlined by Nina Dobrev and Steven R. McQueen.
Episodes:
- I’ll Remmeber
- Yellow Ledbetter
- Welcome in Paradise
- Black Hole Sun
- The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
- The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get
- Do You Remember the First Time?
- Fade Into You
- I Alone
- Christmas Through Your Eyes
- Woke Up With a Monster
- Prayer for the Dying
- The Day I Tried to Live
- Stay
- Let Her Go
- The Downward Spiral
- A Bird in a Gilded Cage
- I Never Could Love Like That
- Because
- I’d Leave My Happy Home for You
- I’ll Wed You in the Golden Summertime
- I’m Thinking of You All the While
SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.0/5
Warner Brothers has, as it has with other current TV on Blu-ray releases, removed the DVDs. The 4-disc set is housed in an HD Keep Case and side-slides into a matted slip cover. Inside there is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy.
Disc 1:
Deleted Scenes (2:26; HD) – ‘Black Hole Sun’ and ‘The World Has Turned and Left Me Here’
Disc 2:
Deleted Scenes (8:11; HD) – ‘Do You Remember the First Time?’, ‘Fade Into You’, ‘Woke Up with a Monster’ and ‘Prayer for the Dying’
Disc 3:
Episode Commentary – ‘Let Her Go’ with writer/director Julie Plec
Deleted Scenes (8:20; HD) – ‘Stay’, ‘Let Her Go’ and ‘A Bird in a Cage’
Disc 4:
“The Vampire Diaries”: Best.Reactions.Ever. (6:09; HD) has the cast reading the most outrageous Twitter reactions to this season’s major events.
“The Vampire Diaries”: Good Bite and Good Luck (13:30; HD) is a farewell from the cast and crew to cast members Nina Dobrev, Steven R. McQueen, Merguerite MacIntyre and Michael Trevino.
Second Bite: Gag Reel (4:17; HD) is filled with flubbed lines and other antics.
Deleted Scenes (2:08; HD) – ‘I’m Thinking of You All the While’
Come Visit Georgia PSA (2:33; HD)
“The Vampire Diaries” Comic-Con Panel 2014 (28:19; HD) – The cast and producers discuss what fans can expect in the upcoming, this, sixth season.
VIDEO – 4.5/5
“The Vampire Diaries”: The Complete Fifth Season sinks its teeth onto Blu-ray presented in its original televised 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer (MPEG-4 AVC codec). Much like the other seasons, this one looks great in HD with often times bright colors during daylight scenes to the starkness for the dark ones showing no signs of artifacting, pixilation or banding. Detail levels are also quite impressive especially for the close-ups and even some of the background objects. It’s a fine transfer that is modestly better than its 780p airing. (Copied from the Season 5 Blu-ray review)
AUDIO – 4.25/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is what I consider adequate, just not very expansive. Dialogue levels at least are relatively crisp and clear and some of the sound effects aren’t bad, but at the same time, it’s not especially dynamic where some of it just comes off as flat at times. Still, when the soundtrack kicks in, be it the score or choice pop/teen music, it’s bad. (Copied from the Season 5 Blu-ray review)
OVERALL – 4.0/5
Overall, “The Vampire Diaries” might not be as strong as it once was and the writing isn’t the best with contrived storylines, yet the ensemble cast mostly makes up for the series’ shortcomings so it should be interesting to see how it does going forward without star Nina Dobrev as well as a few other key departures. Still, the show has some entertainment value for what it is. The Blu-ray release offers good/great audio and video transfers and a respectable amount of bonus material.
Published: 09/08/2015
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.