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Blu-ray Review: THE STRAIN – Season 1 Limited Collector’s Edition

Jul 19, 2015 Posted by in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

The Strain is a thoroughly-entertaining, creepy thrill ride from the minds of Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Mimic) and Carlton Cuse (Lost, Bates Motel), and this first season is an adaptation of the first book in the The Strain trilogy written by Del Toro and Chuck Hogan.

As the series opens, an airplane lands in New York City under suspicious conditions—all of its passengers are seemingly dead from some unknown cause. So Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll), chief medical officer for the Centers of Disease Control in New York, is called in to investigate. He soon discovers that four of the passengers are still alive and immediately has them quarantined. However, as he and partner Dr. Nora Martinez (Mía Maestro) investigate the source of pathogen and how it was transmitted, the infected are accidentally released, and unwittingly start spreading the disease. Meanwhile, pawn shop owner Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley) fears that something sinister hitched a ride aboard the plane—an evil he has been hunting for decades, a vampiric creature known as The Master. As Eph and Nora search for a scientific way to explain what is happening, they soon realize they may need to accept that Setrakian may not be the crazy old man he appears to be, and that The Master may have had help from some powerful people who want to see him reign over the world. And if that wan’t enough on his plate, Eph must also deal with his ex-wife Kelly (Natalie Brown)—a woman he still loves—who wants custody of their son Zach (Ben Hyland).

Throughout the first season we are introduced to a whole host of interesting characters who each have their own personal stakes and/or losses in this epic battle between good and evil. The series always keeps you guessing—just when you think one thing is going to happen, the show pulls the rug out from under you and goes in a completely different direction. And any character you think is safe probably isn’t.

The series has a great mix of drama, action and really tense moments mixed with dashes of humor to help lighten the mood. The show is not for the squeamish as there are some pretty gruesome moments as well. The special effects work in the series is amazing, and rivals that of some feature films—the creatures come to life, making the threat feel quite real.

Each episode of the show leaves you with some big reveal, “holy crap” moment, or asks some new question that makes you anxious to see what happens next. When viewing the show as it aired, it felt like an eternity between episodes. It was great to be able to binge the entire season on this Blu-ray, with no waiting inbetween episodes. The discs even have a Season Play mode to help you keep track of where you left off so you can easily resume playback of the entire season.

This special edition of the The Strain Season 1 Blu-ray comes packed in a really nice, detailed bust of The Master. The bust itself and the “wooden” crate underneath it are made of plastic, and the whole thing weighs just under a pound. The back of the “crate” flips open to reveal a standard Blu-ray case housing the 3 discs. I really appreciate this use of standard packaging as it allows me to store the Blu-ray along with all of my other TV shows, while still displaying the collectible bust on my bookshelf.

The audio and visual presentation of the Blu-ray are excellent—the series has a feature film like quality to it. The darkness of the show helps set the tone, and the surround and stereo audio channels are utilized to add to the creepiness of it all, while still providing clear dialogue.

At first glance, the Blu-ray included with this special edition may look the same as the previous stand-alone release, but it is not. In addition to the three featurettes from the previous release, these discs contain audio commentaries on the premiere and finale, almost 25 minutes of deleted scenes, a gag reel, teaser promos for the series and a 9-minute featurette on The Master.



I was very impressed with the selection of bonus material, and feel bad for anyone who already owns the original release and is trying to decide if they should double-dip for this special edition. I have detailed the new bonus features below to try to aid in that decision (but the new stuff is really great). It’s a shame all of this material wasn’t included the first time around.


What’s Included:


Episodes: (9:54:52)

  • All 13 Episodes of the First Season:
    “Night Zero”, “The Box”, “Gone Smooth”, “It’s Not for Everyone”, “Runaways”, “Occultation”, “For Services Rendered”, “Creatures of the Night”, “The Disappeared”, “Loved Ones”, “The Third Rail”, “Last Rites”, “The Master”
  • 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
  • Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French DTS 5.1, German DTS 5.1,
  • Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French (Quebec), French, Dutch, German

Extras:
New features exclusive to this special edition release of season 1 are marked with an *

  • In the Beginning (14:11)
    The cast and creators talk about the premise and tone of the series, the characters, the creatures, and vampire biology and myths. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, production photos, and interviews with executive producers/writers Carlton Cuse, Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, line producer/unit production manager J. Miles Dale, creature FX supervisors Sean Sansom and Steve Newburn, and actors Sean Astin (“Jim Kent”), Mia Maestro (“Dr. Nora Martinez”), Corey Stoll (“Dr. Ephraim Goodweather”), David Bradley (“Abraham Setrakian”), Jonathan Hyde (“Eldritch Palmer”), Roger Cross (“Mr. Fitzwilliam”), Kevin Durand (“Vasily Fet”), Ruta Gedmintas (“Dutch Velders”) and Richard Sammel (“Thomas Eichhorst”).
  • Audio Commentaries*
    • Night Zero (1:11:42)
      Executive producer/writer/director Guillermo del Toro provides an interesting commentary on the series pilot. He talks about his inspirations for the look and tone of the series, some of the throwbacks and homages that he put into in the episode, and the various elements of vampire lore he has pulled from. Del Toro also provides a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits about the production, sets, cinematography, wardrobe and colors used in the episode.
    • The Master (47:00)
      Executive producer/writer Carlton Cuse provides a really interesting commentary on the season finale. He talks about what drew him to the project, the advancement of special effects technology, the cast, and adapting the first book to the first season. Throughout the episode he provides interesting behind-the-scenes information about the production process.
  • Deleted Scenes* (24:35)
    Deleted scenes can be found on each disc, along with the respective episodes. This is a really nice collection of scenes, though some have uncompleted green screen effects. There are a total of 20 scenes across the three discs.
  • Gag Reel* (2:59)
    A really fun gag reel with crack-ups, flubbed lines, practical jokes and other on-set antics.
  • FX Teasers: The Strain Season 1* (2:11)
    Collection of six 15-30 second teasers used to promote the series.
  • A Novel Approach (9:38)
    A discussion on the inspiration for the books and the biological makeup of the creatures, and the differences between the novels and the television series. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with executive producer/writer/director Guillermo del Toro, executive producers/writers Chuck Hogan & Cartlon Cuse, line producer J. Miles Dale, and stars Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Sean Astin, Richard Sammel, Ruta Gedmintas, Jonathan Hyde and Kevin Durand.
  • He Is Here* (9:22)
    The cast and creators talk about the character of The Master and his minions. Includes a behind-the-scenes look at the makeup and effects and interviews with producer/writer/director Guillermo del Toro, executive producers/writers Chuck Hogan & Cartlon Cuse, creature FX supervisors Steve Newburn & Sean Sansom, and stars Corey Stoll, Mia Mastro, Robert Maillet (“The Master”), Sean Astin, David Bradley, Richard Sammel, Jonathan Hyde and Jack Kesy (“Gabriel Bolivar”).
  • Setrakian’s Lair (9:47)
    David Bradley and Mia Mastro give a tour of Setrakian’s Bat Cave and gadgets, and talk about their characters’ arcs over the season and what to expect for them next season.

 


Final Thoughts:

My Rating
Film:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Highly Recommended

The Strain is a highly-entertaining thrill ride of a series and is equal parts scary and fun. This special edition of the first season comes with a nice collectible bust of The Master as well as a host of additional bonus features not found on the original Blu-ray release. For those who don’t already own the season on Blu-ray, this comes highly recommended. Even if you don’t want the bust, the extra supplemental material makes this release the version to own. For those deciding whether to upgrade, I’ll leave that up to you, but there are a lot of great new bonus features.