Entourage – The Complete
Series (2004 – 2011/HBO Blu-ray Set)
Picture: B Sound: B Extras: C Episodes: B
Entourage has been reviewed extensively on this site, as we have been able to
watch the series evolve from beginning to end.
The series overall was excellent, with minor bumps in the road along the
way. Here on Blu-ray we get to finally
see Entourage in full series run release in High Definition. Previously, only the later seasons were
released on Blu-ray, but HBO has made the smart choice to go right for the gold
and release the entire series at once.
The result is a mixed bag that has all of the same great content as the
previous releases, but gives fans that extra something with a high definition upgrade. Granted the difference is only minor as (for
whatever reason) Entourage never
looked stellar on Blu-ray. It didn’t
always have the best visuals (regardless of what ladies say) and the sound
quality was basic as there was never much action to truly demonstrate or need
anything more.
For those unfamiliar, the series stars
Adrian Grenier (Vince), Kevin Dillon (Drama), Kevin Connolly (Eric), and Jerry
Ferrare (Turtle) as a bunch of friends trying to find their way through the
fast paced life of Hollywood. Vince is an up and coming star and his
friends are there to help them out as his entourage of buds. Eric became
his manager, Drama is Vince’s older brother who doubles as chef and trainer,
and Turtle is the gopher assistant who winds up being the butt of many
jokes. The whole series is said to be based loosely on real time
movie star Mark Wahlberg’s life and times as he made his way into Hollywood,
but how much is true we may never know (probably most isn’t).
We have reviewed many of the seasons here
on both DVD and Blu-ray and I invite you to read those reviews at the links
provided below:
Entourage: Season 5
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8794/Entourage+%E2%80%93+The+Complete+5th
Entourage: Season 6
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10080/Entourage+%E2%80%93+The+Complete+Si
Entourage: Season 7
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11048/Entourage+%E2%80%93+The+Complete+S
Entourage: Season 8
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11789/True+Blood+%E2%80%93+The+Complete
The more important thing for this review
is discussion of its technical features.
This set will be one of two things, an upgrade for extreme fans who must
have it in high definition and newcomers who want to dive head first into a
great series.
Let’s start by saying this is upgrading
your DVD releases in the case of Entourage:
The Complete Series is a no brainer. The difference between DVD and Blu-ray here
is astounding. Most of the time when early
seasons of a series are thrown in a ‘complete series’ set audiences are left
wanting; not in this case. The first
four seasons (which never saw a Blu-ray release) appear as if they were always
made for Blu-ray high definition as the quality from Seasons 1 through 8 never wavers.
The picture for this 18 disc release is a 1.78 X 1,
1080p AVC encoded High Definition that is consistent, but not consistent. That is to say that respectable quality is
always there in terms of color, contrast, inky blacks, sharpness; but the art
direction varies drastically from season to season.
This means that what a viewer observes in
Season One is quite different than what is seen in Season Eight. Throughout its time on TV, Entourage
went through many changes, being altered by who was running the show at the
time and what the theme/mood of that season was; admirable in some ways,
distracting in others as you watch the series in its entirety. What I can guarantee is that a solid, quality
product is delivered visually here on Blu-ray; something that DVD never
did. The audio quality is again an
upgrade, but not like the picture. The
audio is a 5.1 DTS-HD lossless Master Audio that gets the job done but mostly
comes from the front. There is some
directionality and the surrounds kick in for the musical scores, but with
little action the surrounds are a bit absent.
The dialogue is crisp, clean, and clear without issues. It is nice the series song choices come
through with ease as they are very appropriately chosen and definitely will
make you put your hands up or tap your toe.
If nothing else the technical features are consistent (in one way or
another).
The extras are nothing new, merely
porting over everything from the former DVD/Blu-ray releases, but at least
nothing was dropped. Viewers might
expect there to be many more extras (since there are 8 seasons here), but Entourage
never exactly had many extras to start with.
In all there are 21 revealing commentaries with cast, crew and special
guests, 10 behind the scenes featurettes, 2 panel discussions with cast and
crew, a series retrospective featuring exclusive footage/candid interviews, and
much more. The series is housed in a
thick/solid cardboard box that holds a ‘Blu-ray Book’ of discs that folds out
to nicely reveal each season. The
engineering of such massive sets has improved over the years and the housing of
this set protects, while conveniently giving access to eight seasons held on 18
discs.
Entourage is a great series that if you haven’t seen now is the time; but for
those long time fans this is also a solid Blu-ray upgrade.
-
Michael P. Dougherty II
