Why So Blu?

Game of Thrones – Seasons 1 & 2 Steelbook Collectors Sets (Blu-ray Review)

The smash hit HBO series Game of Thrones has sat atop the Iron Throne of the home entertainment charts as the best-selling TV on Blu-ray/DVD title in each of the last four years.  We have had you covered with our in-depth reviews of the series here on Why So Blu.  The box sets are extremely popular among fans for their extensive bonus content that takes diehard viewers even further into the world of Westerns.  Read any of my past two season reviews (here and here) and you’ll know that’s no joke at all.  Now a new Steelbook collectors release is bringing a whole new dimension to the series with the addition of a Dolby Atmos soundtrack and brand new box art designed by the team that created the series’ Emmy Award-winning title sequence.  Seasons 1 and 2 will be available in the new Steelbook format on November 3, 2015, just in time for holiday gifting season.  The release date for Seasons 3 and 4 will be announced soon.  However, for now, let’s take a closer look below at both Seasons 1 and 2 in this exciting Steelbook Collectors Set lineup.

So lets talk basics about this set first.  Sure it’s a repackaging of everything you’ll find in Season 1 and 2 already on Blu-ray.  I honestly lost count on how many times these Blu-ray sets have been repackaged and how many different retailer versions there have been over the years.  However, I digress.  Let’s just promise to stay focus on the sets at hand and not dwell on the past.  Okay?  Good!  Now as I mentioned up above, these Steelbook sets feature brand new box art designed by Elastic, the agency responsible for the series’ Emmy Award-winning opening credits.  Each Steelbook showcases a specific location that is significant to that season and includes usable magnets on packaging featuring Game of Thrones sigils and symbols:

• Season 1 packaging features Winterfell, where fans are introduced to the Stark family in the series premiere. The magnet for Season 1 is the direwolf sigil of House Stark (refer to the detailed pictures down below).
• In Season 2, the Lannisters’ influence is keenly felt from the Iron Throne and their sigil is included on packaging set in King’s Landing, where the season’s pivotal Battle of the Blackwater occurs (refer to the detailed pictures down below).

In addition to all of the bonus content from the previous Blu-ray sets, the Game of Thrones Steelbooks mark the first time a TV on Blu-ray title has been released with the revolutionary new audio technology Dolby Atmos.  The Blu-rays feature a newly remixed Dolby Atmos soundtrack, which places and moves sounds and music anywhere in the room, including overhead, creating a captivating experience that brings entertainment alive all around the audience.  With the new Steelbook set, fans can hear Daenerys’s dragons swoop past them and feel the soaring score rise and fall around them.  There is a catch though.  To experience Dolby Atmos at home, Dolby Atmos-enabled AV receivers (may I recommend the one I have here) and additional speakers are required; however, Dolby Atmos soundtracks are fully backward compatible with traditional audio configurations and legacy home entertainment equipment and will automatically play in the best possible way.

Before we go any further into this coverage I wanted to share this in-depth, behind-the-scenes look below, provided to us from kind folks at HBO, which expands upon the role sound plays in the action on Game of Thrones, featuring exclusive footage of the Game of Thrones sound crew talking about the effect of Dolby Atmos audio on the show.  Click play on the video below before moving along to the next set of text.

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Series 

Some four years after its initial Blu-ray release, I would feel rather silly trying to recap everything that goes down in Season 1 and 2 of this hit HBO series here in this particular review of the Steelbook Collectors Set.  If you’re here reading this, then you already know what Game of Thrones is all about.  You’re just here to find out more about these sets and if they are worth double dipping for and/or in some cases, triple dipping on depending on if you had also picked up any of the exclusive Best Buy sets in the past or not.  If by some very sad miracle you are a Game of Thrones virgin (I heard there are still people like this out there in the real world), then perhaps you’ll find one of the following two hyperlinks pertinent to your search for knowledge as to what the mind-blowing,  and ever-expansive world of Game of Thrones is all about.  You can always Wiki it over here and if you’re curious to know what it was all like the first time we sat down with the series on Blu-ray (I know that was my first time as I did not have HBO when the series originally premiered), then you can catch up and read Sean Ferguson’s in-depth Blu-ray review of Season 1 here or by clicking on the review graphic below.

So with the exception of the above identified Game of Thrones virgins (#firstworldproblems), we all know the history here.  Game of Thrones is HBO’s most beloved show ever aired on the channel and is based on the thick series of books, which are still being penned, by George R.R. Martin.  While some episodes may be recipes for insomniac conditions, make no mistake about it, Game of Thrones will punch you in the solar plexus when you least expect it.  Worst of all, you’ll never see it coming.  Who will ultimately become king?  Who the hell knows!  That’s the thrill of it all!

Next year kicks off Season 6 of the hit series and we’re still all in the dark.  The show’s like Fox’s 24 series.  No character’s fate is ever safe or written in stone.  The show has kicked me in the balls many of times and left me gasping at what I just saw onscreen.  You’ve never seen anything quite like this before in a television series.  Each episode is full of breathtaking cinematography and rich in production value with some of the most expansive sets and stunt sequences (the Neil Marshall directed episodes are always fan favorites) that puts even theatrical pieces like The Hobbit trilogy to shame (in my opinion of course).

Video 

In addition to the exceptional fine detail all abound here throughout each season of Game of Thrones on Blu-ray, the color stock and mood is only enhanced and escalated by the show’s stunning visuals, cinematography and overall quality of this 1080p AVC MPEG-4 encode.  You’ll enjoy every single viewing moment of this show on Blu-ray with the expected dark castle interiors, brightly lit, wooded outdoors and endless vast snowscapes and all the “dark” undertones that matches the bleak subject matter and treachery unfolding and plotting within every episode onscreen.  Yes, this is a dark series and this transfer therefore is  intentionally a dark one when the moment calls for it.  You wouldn’t want it vibrant throughout, would you?  No!  You want melancholy, deceit and above all else, treachery.

This 1.78:1 aspect ratio presentation basks in the warmhearted glow of its cinematic qualities it yields.  So let’s talk about the detail!  Wow!  Sit down and watch any episode.  I don’t care.  You pick one!  From the scars that adorn certain character faces to the intricate fabric that weaves and constructs the wardrobe, no expense is spared.  Even individual snowflakes look fabulous, and I hate snow.  LOL.  Perhaps what caught my eye the most, and I’m not sure why, were the light, pale freckles on the face of Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons.  Of course, there’s lots of beautiful scenery to behold and gaze upon in Game of Thrones, right guys?  The black levels are all in check as well as the skin tones (most important to us guys) and color saturation too.  There are no visual signs of banding, artifacts, specks of noise or other blemishes in the print to be found at all.  You get what I’m saying?  Things look perfect here for a premium television show on the supreme HD format of choice.  The look, the feel and the cold, damp and ever treacherous atmosphere of Game of Thrones is brilliantly rendered and captured timelessly hereon the Blu-ray format.

Audio 

From the show’s powerful, rousing and heroic opening score to the stomping and romping of horseback riders, things sounds absolutely fantastical with this now Dolby Atmos (or compatible Dolby TrueHD 7.1) equipped surround track that literally immerses you in the fantasy and perfidiousness of it all in Game of Thrones.  The LFE and aggressive rear surrounds will make you feel like you’re in the heart of the action, adventure and diabolical treachery here from the howling and blistery winds of the winter landscape to the clash of swords and armor and crows yapping and flapping, things sound colossal here. You got to love the pans and directionality this surround track immobilizes you in.  The addition of Dolby Atmos only sweetens the pot.  Most importantly, as there is certainly a fair share of spoken word to say the least in this series, dialog is always prioritized and intelligible, because let’s face it.  If you don’t understand what’s going on or being said in this show, it’s quite easy to get lost adrift the many family story lines and complex layers that develop throughout here.  So pay attention!  LOL.  But seriously, for a television show on the Blu-ray format, things have never sounded better in my living room.  This surround track rivals most theatrical presentations so you know what to do…um…turn it up!  Rock it!  Have fun with the swords clanging, the horses a-stomping and the hot, passionate and sweaty bodies doing the…um…what they do in George R.R. Martin’s fantasy world (you know all too well what they do).  Also, selectable from the main menu on the Blu-ray discs are audio options for French, Spanish, German and Italian as well as subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Polish and Swedish.  See below for all the full specs that appear on both releases.

• Audio Format(s): English 5.1 Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible), French Dolby Audio 5.1, Latin Spanish Dolby Audio 5.1, Castilian Spanish Dolby Audio 2.0, German Dolby Audio 5.1, Italian Dolby Audio 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Latin Spanish, Castilian Spanish, German, Italian SDH, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

So like I mentioned way up above, in addition to the marketing ploy here that is new collector-style packaging the main attraction here is the fact that Game of Thrones is the very first television series on the Blu-ray format to arm itself with Dolby Atmos, the most immersive and interactive way to enjoy a movie in the privacy of your home theater.  Why watch a film when you can be part of a film?  That’s the added benefit that Dolby Atmos gives you here.  You are now smack dab in the middle with all the other parties vying to claim the iron throne for themselves.  Who will win and lose?  You better fight if you want to survive!

• One of the best references I have found on the Internet explaining what Dolby Atmos is can be found in a FAQ here brought to you by the good folks at Pioneer.
• Another great reference I found in regards to Dolby Atmos speaker set up can be found on Dolby’s website here.

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Extras 

Alrighty!  You made it this far!  Rejoice!  It’s the real reason you’re all here!  Y’all want to know besides the Dolby Atmos surround tracks, what’s so special about these Collector Set packages?  Am I right?  Of course I am!  This is my profession after all.  I’m the master in this realm.  So I’m going to cut short the proverbial foreplay here and just serve the main dish already.  In addition to all the hearty, lengthy extras originally found on the first two season Blu-ray releases of Game of Thrones (with the addition now of HD Digital Copies – UV and iTunes)  which I’ll list for you below, you will also find the new packaging (with magnets included) as captured through my ever glorious unpacking photographs (I did my best combating the glare on the outside plastic).  Enjoy.  Dinner has just been served.  Eat it up!

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The Complete First Season

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• Complete Guide to Westeros
• In-Episode Guide
• Anatomy Of An Episode
• Hidden Dragon Eggs
• Making Game of Thrones
• Creating The Show Open
• From The Book To The Screen
• 7 Audio Commentaries
• Creating The Dothraki Language
• The Night’s Watch
• Character Profiles
• Digital HD Copies – UV & iTunes

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The Complete Second Season

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• War Of The Five Kings
• Histories And Lore
• In Episode Guide
• Hidden Dragon Eggs
• Creating The Battle Of Blackwater Bay
• The Religions Of Westeros
• 12 Audio Commentaries
• Character Profiles
• Digital HD Copies – UV & iTunes

Summary 

So there you have it.  I hope you got a lot out of this coverage as my goal is not to persuade you to like Game of Thrones, but rather show you everything you’re getting here so you know whether or not a double dip is right for you or if you should save your pennies up for a secondhand Shelby GT350 one day.  The choice is yours.  Obviously, these Game of Thrones Collector Sets are a lot easier on the pocketbooks than a GT350 like I obsess over.  With reference video, audio (now enhanced with Dolby Atmos) and hours worth of extras on each release to boot, the only real decision here is the price of admission worth it.  Let’s recap again what you’re getting so you can make an educated decision.  You’re getting everything in the previous Season 1 and 2 Blu-ray releases so they’re not taking away anything from you there.  In addition you’re gaining Dolby Atmos audio surround sound (remember you need that capable AVR for this), Digital Copies in HD (both UV and iTunes) and a nifty Steelbook packaging (see unboxing pictures up above).  While I love Steelbook cases for their ultimate durability and protection, I have to say I kind of miss the elaborate packaging of the initial cardboard case releases, albeit they’re a bit bulky and clumsy.  However, if you’re a huge fan of the series or one of those Game of Thrones virgins that exist, this decision is probably a no brainer so let me help you help us.  Click on the below links to pre-order these November 3rd releases and leave me a comment below if you should have any questions regarding this Collectors Set.  Thanks for reading!

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Brian White

Owner/Writer/Reviewer/Editor, Dreamer, Producer, Agent of Love, Film Lover, Writer of Screenplays and a Devoted Apostle to all things Ford Mustangs (the real ones with V8's!). Some of my favorite films include FIGHT CLUB, MOULIN ROUGE, THE DARK KNIGHT, STAR WARS alongside television shows such as SEINFELD, 24, SANFORD & SON and even the often loathed in the geek community BIG BANG THEORY. Outside of my three lives I live I also enjoy spending time with my girlfriend and our three girls (of the furry kind).