“Game of Thrones”: The Complete First Season starts off strong and continues to its brutal season finale with brilliant performances from its vast cast from beginning to end along with award-winning production and costume designs. This new Limited Edition Steelbook release is more or less the same as the previous releases but comes with an upgraded Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
“Game of Thrones”: The Complete First Season
– Limited Edition Steelbook –
(2011)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Adventure, Drama
Warner Home Video | TVMA – 600 min. – $79.98 | November 3, 2015
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** Click Here to Purchase “Game of Thrones”: Season 1 on Blu-ray from Amazon.com **
THE MOVIE – 4.5/5 |
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“Game of Thrones” follows the trials and tribulations residing in the Seven Kingdoms — Kingdoms of the North, Mountains, Rivers and Isles, Rock, Stormlands, Reach and Principality of Dorne — and when the show begins, the realm is unified led by King Robert Baratheon (MARK ADDY). When his previous Hand of the King, Jon Arryn, dies, Baratheon asks old friend, Lord Eddard Stark (SEAN BEAN), to take over the position. At first Eddard is reluctant but agrees as he believes Arryn was in fact murdered and would use his position to find the culprit(s). In the pilot episode, we also meet a variety of characters who will play prominent roles in subsequent seasons. As Baratheon approaches Eddard to be his Hand of the King, he also suggests the marriage between his son, Joffrey (JACK GLEESON), and Stark’s daughter, Sansa (SOPHIE TURNER). But like any good medieval drama, the true paranatage of Joffrey was in fact between Jaime (NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU) and Cersei Lannister (LENA HEADEY) who are in fact brother and sister. Oh, and we also meet easily the best and most memorable character, and brother to Jaime and Cersei, Tyrion Lannister (PETER DINKLAGE).
In the meantime, the House of Targaryen, exiled by King Baratheon, plots their revenge and return to prominence. In order to do so, they must gather a large army. Viserys Targaryen arranges the marriage of his sister Daenerys (EMILIA CLARKE) to Khal Drogo (JASON MAMOA), leader of the Dothraki warriors. Quick Hit Review: “Game of Thrones” is the rare bird, or dragon, of a show to start off strong and continue its success throughout its inaugural season featuring incredibly strong performances none more so than Sean Bean and Lena Headey whose characters often sparred not to mention Peter Dinklage who continues to be the highlight for the entire series. Beyond the great casting, the production and costume designs, both top notch on the level of a Hollywood feature film.
Re-watching it again after a few years, and seeing where certain storylines and characters would advance (or not) going on five seasons is quite interesting but what also was striking is just how much replay value this series has and being only 10 episodes is perfect for binge watching. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 5.0/5 |
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This “Limited Edition” release has the 5-discs contained in a nice and sturdy Steelbook packaging which is housed in a clear outer packaging with a “Collectible Sigil Magnet” displayed in front. Unfortunately the discs are stacked so it is a pain to switch from one disc to another. Also inside is a little card with the redemption code for the Digital HD copy. In-Episode Guides – Each episode comes with a picture-in-picture feature where viewers can learn more info on the characters, locations and history as well as a “Complete Guide” with text and audio trivia. Episode Commentaries – ‘Winter is Coming’ with Executive Producer/Writers David Benioff and D.B. Wiess; ‘The Kingsroad’ with Actors Lena Headey, Mark Addy and Niklaj Coster-Waldau; ‘Lord Snow’ with Actors Sophie Turner, Madie Williams and Isaac Hempstead Wright; ‘Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things ‘ with Writer Bryan Cogman and Actor Kit Harington; ‘A Golden Crown’ with Actors Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Harry Lloyd and Director Daniel Minahan; ‘The Pointy End’ featuring Co-Executive Producer/Author George R.R. Martin; ‘Fire and Blood’ with Benioff, Weiss and Director Alan Taylor Disc 1: Character Profiles (30:42; HD) is a collection of featurettes with backgrounds on the major players including Arya Stakr, Jon Snow, Ned Stark and several others which can be accessed individually or via a Play All option. Disc 3: Disc 5: |
VIDEO – 4.75/5 |
| “Game of Thrones”: The Complete First Season is presented in its original televised 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture quality is amazing with excellent detail levels and colors are generally bright except in certain scenes which were intentionally bleak in keeping with the darker tone. There were no apparent signs of aliasing or artifacts making for a nice and clean transfer that more or less matches how it aired on HBO. |
AUDIO – 5.0/5 |
| The original release was good enough as it was with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 but that has been upgraded to the new Dolby Atmos track which for older systems decodes to TrueHD 7.1, so you do gain an extra two channels. This new track sounds, unsurprisingly, fantastic with great depth and exceptional dynamic providing for crisp and clear dialogue and comes to life especially for the action-centric scenes. The score also makes good use of every available channel beginning with the catchy and identifiable main theme. |
OVERALL – 4.75/5 |
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Overall, “Game of Thrones”: The Complete First Season starts off strong and continues to its brutal season finale with brilliant performances from its vast cast from beginning to end along with award-winning production and costume designs. This new Limited Edition Steelbook release is more or less the same as the previous releases but comes with an upgraded Dolby Atmos soundtrack but I’m not sure if it’s worth the upgrade cost unless you are a collector of Steelbooks.
Published: 12/16/2015 |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.