D V D C R Y P T

TRUE BLOOD The Complete First Season

Directed by Various
Written by Various
Cinematography by Various
Music by Nathan Barr
Cast: Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammel, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Chris Baur, Nelsan Ellis

2008/720 Mins/Color/Dolby Digital 5.1
1:85 anamorphic/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from HBO DVD

Vampires have come out and admitted their existence. They sustain themselves on synthetic blood, called Tru Blood, and now no longer have to feed on us. We soon meet the series lead character, Sookie Stackhouse, a pretty waitress with the psychic ability to read minds. This has caused havoc on her relationships. But, that all changes when she meets Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a 173 year old vampire, whom life she saves. And, whom she cannot read his thoughts. She is surrounded by various other interesting characters, including friends and family. But, when women who are involved with vampires start dying her womanizing brother (Ryan Kwanten) is the main suspect. Meanwhile, the world begins to show their prejudice feels towards vampires.

This latest hit from HBO, based on the Sookie Stackhouse book series, is smart and fun. The writing is great on the show. Couple this with the excellent acting from all involved and you have a winning combination. The series makes you care about what happens to each of them in their lives. The way the characters develop, grow, and interact with each other is splendid. The twists and turns in the plot will keep you glued to the screen and anxiously putting in the next episode to see what is going to happen.

Many of the ideas in the series are intelligent and are clear representations for various real world issues like prejudice and racism. There is also the very interesting idea that vampire blood can be an addictive blood. And, beyond all that this one show where the romance actually works and you can even watch it with your girlfriend. Trust me, you’ll both enjoy it!

Because this is a premium cable channel series, they are allowed to go in ways regular TV would never allow them to go. That means that the gore can be, and is, shocking and bloody, whenever it hits the screen. I simply love the way vampires die in this show! It also means that nudity is allowed, which is a good thing because there are lots of hot babes on the show. I have liked Anna Paquin for a long time. She looks great on this show, especially when she finally gets naked

In all, I had never seen this show until catching it on DVD. Now, I am totally into .it and devoted viewer. I look forward to future seasons, because as long as the writing remains this good, this one will definitely go down as being one of the finest genre TV shows, ever.

HBO Video makes TRUE BLOOD SEASON 1 drain our blood with this excellent DVD release. Presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen the image looks absolutely perfect! This is one of the best looking TV shows on DVD, I have ever seen. The 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround sound is exciting and loud.

This release also has some really fun and cool extras. “Tru Blood Beverage Ads”, one American and a French one, are really funny. Also funny are the Vampire Service ads. They include ads for vampire dating, vampire hotels, and vampire lawyers, and I really loved all of them. Another cool extra, in the same vein (pun not intended), are the pro- and anti- vampire public service announcements.

My favorite out of all these, though, is “In Focus: Vampires in America” a fun mock-u-mentary that is well written, acted, and really funny! I recognized Tiffany McElroy from the CW news, here in NYC, playing herself, hosting this “special”. There are also six episodes with running commentary. While they are all informative, the actual commentary varies from OK to really good. The best one has to be the one where Paquin joins in on the commentary, as it is a really fun discussion.

The five disc set comes in great looking packaging. All twelve episodes are broken into chapters. One can chose from each episode, and the extra features, from the main screen, which looks really sweet! The first disc comes with an ad for HBO TV series DVDs. It also comes with a cardboard slip that lists the DVD specs and two ad slips, one for an HBO contest and the other for the Sookie Stackhouse series of books.

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