Once a series passes that 100th episode and continues to remain strong, it’s hard not to take note. No, I cannot say that I am a fan of this show, but I know several people that are, and when given a chance to review this season, I decided to take it. I’m still working my way through the episodes as I type this, but if you’re considering buying the Blu-ray + Digital HD release, you’ve probably already seen season six and you’re picking this up for the extra features or the convenience of having it on disc and Ultraviolet. To that end, most this article will be about those extras and the presentation quality.
Before getting into those, a brief overview of season six, shall we? A list of major themes and events for the sixth season would have to include the end of several key actors who are not returning for season seven. These include the face of the series, Elena (Nina Dobrev), her younger brother Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), Tyler (Michael Trevino), and the human Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes (Marguerite MacIntyre). It will be interesting to see how the series transitions without their ‘queen bee’ as Michael Malarkey called Nina in one of the extra features. That aside, season six, to little surprise, focuses a lot of the relationships of the characters. Each character deals with significant personal losses and how they cope and interact with each other through those is a central theme throughout the twenty-two episode season. Expect romance, betrayal, and all matter of teen-thriller emotions and tactics to keep you zoned in from episode to episode. For more detail episode analysis, I would defer to any number of internet sources.
Now as far as the Blu-ray release, there are several points to cover in appreciably more detail than I did the show itself. Let’s work our way from the outside in, starting with the packaging. The four disc set is packed in a double-thick case and the artwork fits perfectly well into the theme used for the first five season releases. Inside you’ll find your Ultraviolet code and a full color fold-out booklet that includes a brief synopsis of each episode, a still image, airdate, and who the director was. The last page of this also includes the list of special features and cast. Each disc has an admittedly forgettable dark brown design.
I liked very much how each disc loads right up to a quick, succinct WB logo and then immediately to the disc menu — no previews to skip through, in fact no irrelevant content is included on any disc. The menu setup is similar to other WB releases we’ve seen in the last year or so — the buttons are very basic, but the still image background and the “sliding” or slide-out menu animation is easy to navigate and functional. The menu layout is the same for all discs, of course, and when you go to Special Features, you see the same list no matter what disc you’re on. Each special feature is labeled with the disc number, so if you’re on disc two and you want to watch the Comic Con feature, you can see a disc logo with a number 4 on it to indicate that you need to pop-in disc four.
Before getting into the features, I’ll address the presentation quality, which won’t take very long to do: it’s great. Expect a crisp image with maybe the slightest bit of grain in some scenes, but otherwise it looks quite clean and good. 5.1 audio gets the job done and multiple audio tracks are included, i.e., English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. About a dozen subtitle tracks are also available.
As for features, I’ll take it disc-by-disc. Note that all features, including all deleted scenes, are in HD. Disc 1 includes a couple of deleted scenes, one from “Black Hole Sun” running 1m34s, and the other from “The World Has Turned And Left Me Here,” running 52s. On Disc 2, you get several deleted scenes: “Do You Remember the First Time?,” at 2m36s, “Fade Into You,” for 1m13s, “Woke Up With A Monster,” at 1m39s, and “Prayer For the Dying,” at 2m33s.
Onto Disc 3, things get slightly more interesting as we get an audio commentary track from Executive Producer/Writer/Director Julie Plec for the episode “Let Her Go.” This was actually her directorial debut, too. There are several deleted scenes from this episode included, totaling 6m48s with another scene from “A Bird in a Gilded Cage,” running 1m.
Disc 4 has a host of special features, with deleted scenes from “I’m Thinking Of You All The While,” lasting 2m28s. You also get these goodies:
-The Vampire Diaries: Best.Reactions.Ever. – Just over six minutes of the cast reading some of the most positive/passionate tweets from fans during the season. It’s a bit cringe-worthy to be sure, but worth a watch.
-The Vampire Diaries: Good Bite and Good Luck – Thirteen and a half minutes of cast and crew discussing the departing of four of its characters, including Nina. The actors who are leaving the show share some of their memories and gives thanks to the fans. It’s a series of quick cuts between various cast and crew talking about their respect and appreciation for each other.
-Second Bite: Gag Reel – Outtakes and goofs from season six running 4m17s.
-Come Visit Georgia PSA – Cast and Crew have some fun with this two and a half minute ‘promo’ for the state of Georgia, with a Mystic Falls theme.
-2014 Comic Con Panel – Over twenty-eight minutes of Nina and Kat and others at the San Diego Comic Con in 2014 talking about what to expect for season six.
To the summary…