LOST – The Complete Fourth Season: The Expanded
Experience (Disney Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B- Episodes: B-
LOST continues and barely is able to
keep itself together and afloat in its Complete
Fourth Season, but even in this new Expanded
Experience Blu-ray cannot cover-up the cracks in what has become the action
version of a soap opera much the way Dark
Shadows was a Horror genre soap opera that did both well enough to keep
people watching. This is the last
complete season, first broadcast in the first half of 2008 (what is a season
used to be a mid-season replacement in the old TV days) and all 14 hour-long
shows are here.
Now if
you expect me to explain the plot, besides that being a spoiler-by-default
process, know that we have reviewed the first three seasons and you have the
most serious version of the “stuck on an island” scenario yet. However, it always feels like (especially at
this point) that new actors are just waiting off cameras (as if they just few
in between scenes so the helicopter noise would not be recorded) to enter the
storyline or others to leaver, so cynical the quickly-formula show has
become. Yes, the actors are giving it
their best efforts, but unless you are a diehard fan at this point, you have
likely turned out a long time ago. You
should in fairness to the show, start at the beginning, but only the Third and Fourth Seasons are on Blu-ray as of this release, complicating a
high def Blu-ray start for new fans.
Still,
the money is in the show and it is one of the few shows getting Blu-ray
release, though just about all of those shows are new and not classic TV. Still, LOST
is sadly one of the better shows in a sea of bad TV and especially bad “reality
TV” best ignored.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 image looks better than HDTV broadcast/cable presentations, but not by
much. The shaky camera work is beyond
tired and with motion blur like this, runs counter to the high quality Blu-ray
can deliver, even for TV (see Mad Men)
and leaves the show holding onto a formula look versus trying something
new. Close ups look good, as do shots
where the camera is still, but the overall presentation is disappointing. The PCM 5.1 16/48 5.1 sound mix is better
than any Dolby Digital equivalents, but the audio is limited and too much
towards the screen for its own good. I
do not see either being any better anywhere else, but this is far from the best
TV on Blu-ray on the market for playback performance.
Extras
are another matter, with this disc loaded with goodies, including Blu-ray
exclusives like SeasonPlay, Course Of The Future: The Definitive
Interactive Flash-Forward and More From The Symphony bonus music
piece, et al. Other extras include the LOST in 8:15 recap for those who
actually saw the previous season, Right
To Bear Arms gun featurette (!), Freighter
Folk, Island Backlot: Lost In Hawaii,
Oceanic Six: A Conspiracy Of Lies, Offshore Shoot, Soundtrack of Survival, LOST On Location, Course Of The Future,
LOST Bloopers, deleted scenes and select audio commentaries. If that does not define loaded, I don’t know
what does.
For more
on past seasons of LOST, try this
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6473/LOST+–+The+Complete+Second
- Nicholas Sheffo
