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