Game Of Thrones Season 7 Blu-ray Review
The seventh season of “Game of Thrones” sees a dip in quality.
For those that are waiting to binge the 7 episodes of season 7, fear not, as I will not delve into major spoilers here. Instead, I will just say viewers can expect to see stories involving character reunions, revenge, White Walkers, Jon Snow trying to drum up allies for the war against the White Walkers, character deaths, Cersei trying to get allies of her own, Jorah, Sansa becoming a leader, battles, Bran, and Samwell learning vital information and making major decisions. I know that’s all very vague, but hey, I’m not going to ruin this for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
Up until the seventh season, I was on board with this show like millions of other viewers, but the seventh season lost me a little bit. Now that the show is not going off of George R.R. Martin’s novels and is venturing into territory that has yet to be published, the show unfortunately feels more like fan fiction. For the first six seasons, the series was carefully plotted as it followed Martin’s lengthy fantasy books. In season 7, however, it feels off book as events that would normally take multiple episodes of build up happen instantly (same goes with characters traveling). Yes, the show is nearing the end point, but I don’t think that’s an excuse to rush things. Characters shouldn’t be acting moronic, characters shouldn’t be arriving at the same time (or in the nick of time) for things, and characters shouldn’t be written off in a puzzling fashion. What’s even stranger is that the show weirdly lingers on menial moments for far too long (I’m looking at you Ed Sheeran cameo and the depiction of Samwell’s duties).
Flaws aside, there is much to admire about this season. The battles are epic (I will reveal no more details here), the White Walkers who after being shrouded in mystery for so long are finally front and center during certain episodes, and a character at long last returns to the show after a lengthy absence.
As per usual, the ensemble cast is near perfect. Peter Dinklage was born to play Tyrion, Kit Harrington and Emilia Clarke shine as Jon Snow and Daenerys, Lena Headey is so good as the loathsome Cersei, the list goes on and on. I wouldn’t recast anyone.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.78:1 1080p. How does it look? The hi-def transfers of the episodes are near perfect. The colors are crisp and you can spot so many more details here.
Audio Tracks: Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital 5.1 How do they sound? I’m not sure why there’s a DD 5.1 track instead of a DTS 5.1 track, but it doesn’t really matter as the Atmos track is the real draw here. It really brings a lot of depth to the audio and is a significant upgrade from the TV broadcasts.
Extras: *Digital copy, *In-Episode Guide for all 7 episodes (a pop-up guide that gives info about characters, locations, and history), *a lively commentary on episode 1 by Jeremy Podeswa, Gwendoline Christie and John Bradley, *2 commentary tracks for episode 2- one by Gemma Whelan, Jacob Anderson and Nathalie Emmanuel and the other by Bryan Cogman, Barrie Gower, Rowley Irlam and Pilou Asbaek, *commentary on episode 3 by Bernadette Caulfield, Deborah Riley, and Michele Clapton, *2 commentary tracks for episode 4- one by Matt Shakman, Rob McLachlan, Sam Conway and Chris Plevin and the other by Chris Newman, Joe Bauer and Steve Kulback (some good info about location shooting here), *2 commentary tracks for episode 5- one by Dave Hill, Matt Shakman and Rob McLachlan and the other by actors Liam Cunningham and Ian Glen (who admittedly don’t have much to say), *commentary on episode 6 by Alan Taylor, Jonathan Freeman, Sean Savage and David Morgan, *2 commentary tracks for episode 7- one all-star track by David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Lena Headey and Kit Harrington and the other by Jeremy Podeswa and Greg Middleton, * “From Imagination To Reality: Inside The Art Department”- A 2 part extra about the exquisite production design and art department’s work, * “Fire And Steel: Creating The Invasion of Westeros”- A half-hour behind-the-scenes featurette about the various battles, * “Histories and Lore”- An extra that explores the mythology more through animations and actor narrations. Among the topics covered here are Dragons, the Citadel, Casterly Rock, Highgarden, the Golden Company, prophecies, The Hand of the King and the Rains of Castamere. * Last, but not least there is a bonus Blu-ray disc titled “Game of Thrones: Conquest and Rebellion.” This 45 minute animated special explores the mythology of the in the same vein as the above mentioned “Histories and Lore.” The main topics covered here are Aenar Targaryen, Aegon, Ironborn history, King Loren and King Mern Gardener, Torrhen Stark, Visenya Targaryen, and more.
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