Why So Blu?

Game of Thrones: The Complete Seventh Season (Blu-ray Review)

In addition to our exclusive 2017 Game of Thrones Hall H Comic-Con coverage here it’s that time of the year once again here at Why So Blu.  HBO’s record-breaking phenomenon, Game of Thrones, is back with a seventh season that proved to be worth the extra wait this year.  In fact, despite the brevity of this year only being 7 episodes it packs the most action packed wallop ever seen thus far in a single season.  Yes ladies and gentlemen there’s finally epic dragon battles and long awaited character meetings too.  Best of all Winter is FINALLY here!  Also, try these stats on for size as the latest season of Game of Thrones here featured the most-watched premiere and finale episodes in HBO history.  The series also remains the most-awarded drama series in Emmy history with 109 nominations to date and inner of the 2015 and 2016 Best Drama Series.  If you missed any of our past coverage of these best selling Blu-ray sets, please refer to the following links to seasons 1 and 2 here, 3 here, 4 here, 5 here and 6 over here.   So join me down below as we celebrate everything Game of Thrones: The Complete Seventh Season in this historic December 12th HBO Blu-ray release.

Season 

We have long surpassed the events in George R.R. Martin’s published novels so we can dispense with the references to the books going forward here.  This season welcomes back the regulars: Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Aidan Gillen (Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Diana Rigg (Lady Olenna Tyrell), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Pilou Asbaek (Euron Greyjoy), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Richard Dormer (Beric Dondarrion),  Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark), Conleth Hill (Varys), Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane), Rory McCann (Sandor “The Hound” Clegane), Hannah Murray (Gilly), Carice van Houten (Melisandre) and Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand).  New cast members for this seventh season include: Jim Broadbent, Tom Hopper and Megan Parkinson. Embarrassingly Ed Sheeran also guest stars in one episode.  I say embarrassingly because he sticks out like a sore thumb unfortunately.  His recognizable celebrity appearance briefly took you of the suspension of disbelief here, but I digress.

Season 7 picks up right after the events of the sixth (Season 6 spoilers DO follow).  Daenerys Targaryen has finally set sail for Westeros with her armies, dragons and Hand of the Queen, Tyrion Lannister.  Jon Snow has been named King in the North after defeating Ramsay Bolton in the Battle of the Bastards last season and has since returned to Winterfell.  Meanwhile in King’s Landing, Cersei Lannister has seized the Iron Throne by incinerating the High Sparrow, his followers and her rivals.  Season 7 sees old alliances fracture and new ones emerge, but like it or not they all seem to have a common enemy now.  An army of dead men marches on the Wall, threatening to end the “game of thrones” forever.  Ha ha!  Of course I’m referring to the Whitewalkers!  Timeline debates aside winter has finally arrived here in Season 7.   This is the point within the season where the epic Episode 6 battle happens (no longer #9 as there are only 7 episodes this season) as Jon Snow must face these Whitewalkers once again to furnish proof to all opposing parties of their nightmarish existence.   As HBO puts it “Dragons battle ensue, steamy romances blossom, unlikely heroes rise and many more surprises” are in store for all of you who have not seen Season 7 as of yet.  I’m  sorry, but I’m not going to spoil it for anyone here.  That’s about as far as I’ll go with an “official” summary or synopsis of the season as a whole.

Once again here in Season 7 the overall production value completely eclipses other television shows (even most movies) and epic battles rival their cinematic equivalent counterparts.  So in other words the show’s technical merits continue to excel here throughout.  Visually speaking the series continues to be nothing short of stunning.  The production value continues to shine along with the authentic/elaborate costumes (the furs, intricacies, stitchings and textures) and set designs (vast as can be).  I mentioned the action already, but it should come as no surprise that the battles are a major part of this season.  Thankfully, they’re more plentiful.  I think it was week 3 of watching this shortened 7-episode season live where I found myself questioning is this really Game of Thrones?  I’m just not used to so much action within each episode.  Like the past seasons the battle sequences are both spectacular and grand, always managing to showcase some of the show’s finest hours, albeit more frequent this year.  So for those complaining that there’s too much talk, bloated politics and endless expose in the show this season is for you.  Things actually happen!  What I mean by that is simply Season 7 is the definitive season for action.  Finally!

Now with the good usually comes the bad.  For me it has to do with some very far fetched timelines as it relates to that of the Whitewalkers.  I’ll table that discussion right there though as to not spoil anything.  There is the other negative too that this season is super short (although the episodes are longer than the usual 60-minute runtime) and no one has any idea when the final season will air next year or God forbid beyond.  But besides the gratuitous nudity and impressive action sequences I really think the main draw of Season 7 is the sense of unity surrounding the impending threat of those pesky Whitewalkers.  What I mean by that is there are many firsts here.  Characters who have been around since the very first season, which seems like forever ago, meet for the very first time.  I swear the one episode where the three big power players meet together for the very first time felt like a Quentin Tarantino film.  It felt like a rubber band was being pulled apart and it literally could break at any moment.  That was quite powerful!  However, I’m no fool.  You’re not here to find out what I thought about the seventh season.  You’re here to read about how things look and sound not to mention what’s all in this set in way of extras.  So why don’t I shut up and let’s start discussing those important topics below, but not before I at least capture for you the titles of each episode and what Blu-ray disc you’ll find them all on.

*

Episode Listing:

Episode 1 – “Dragonstone” (Disc 1)

Episode 2 – “Stormborn” (Disc 1)

Episode 3 – “The Queen’s Justice” (Disc 1)

Episode 4 – “Spoils of War” (Disc 2)

Episode 5 – “Eastwatch” (Disc 2)

Episode 6 – “Beyond the Wall” (Disc 2)

Episode 7 – “The Dragon and the Wolf” (Disc 3)

 

Video 

• Encoding: AVC MPEG-4
• Layers: 3 50-GB Dual Layer Discs
• Resolution: 1080p
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Clarity/Detail: From dragon scales and chiseled bricks in Winterfell’s castle walls to the intricacy of the costumes and sets, Game of Thrones on Blu-ray continues to excel in exemplifying the utmost of detail and three-dimensional pop as usual.  The textures (architecture, knittings, fur and leather clothing, dragon scales, feathers on arrows, facial stubble, etc.) and near seamless blending of CGI is always remarkable in this series and makes it a absolute pleasure to both behold and take in.  It looks like a million bucks (although I really don’t know what that much money looks like yet).  Since Winter has finally come here be prepared to be cold as every bead of snow is brilliantly on display.  I love the way the ice glistens too.
• Depth: Because of the many, worldly environments in Game of Thrones, some real and some CGI, the vast landscapes are what really draw me in from the vast snowy mountainsides to Whitewalkers surrounding Jon Snow and others.  Truth be told though, it’s always the vast and breathtaking outdoor scenes that do it for me here.  Huge battle scenes are always a bonus too.  And there are plenty of those in this season.  Trust me.  But that’s not all.  You need to see how these onscreen characters pop here with three-dimensional qualities.  They are completely separated from their backgrounds.
• Black Levels: Here’s where my review may differ than a few of the others, but you have to take an average of the whole rather than select episodes when grading a series such as this.  The black levels are not perfect by any means.  From time to time they are not always deep and inky.  However, I don’t want to knock it down just because of that.  This is one of the finest looking and sounding television shows on the Blu-ray format period and year seven still doesn’t let us down in the slightest.  So with that being for the most part here the black levels are deep, inky and dark throughout.
• Color Reproduction: The color palette in Game of Thrones is always rich and cinematic in appearance. Game of Thrones has always had a cooler looking appearance to it all, but this year takes the prize with Winter finally here.  Still some of the shots I love in this season the most are the sharp contrast ones between fires and flaming swords and their darkened, illuminated surroundings.  The blue eyes of Sansa and the Whitewalkers are quite striking and rich too.  I’m justing saying.
• Flesh Tones: The skin tones for the most part look  natural and authentic throughout the presentation.
• Noise/Artifacts: There’s really nothing in the presentation to ever truly distract you from the blissful enjoyment of Season 7 here.

Audio 

• Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible — Make sure to select Atmos to get this track even if you don’t have an Atmos setup because HBO for some reason authored these discs to default to an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track.), French Dolby Audio 5.1, Latin Spanish Dolby Audio 2.0, Castilian Spanish Dolby Audio 5.1, German Dolby Audio 5.1, Brazilian Portuguese Dolby Audio 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, Castilian Spanish, Latin Spanish, French, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
• Dynamics: The audio presentation here is what really makes Game of Thrones a champion when you’re speaking of doing a television show right on the Blu-ray format.  The dynamics of the Dolby Atmos track virtually puts you in the middle of everything happening onscreen and changes with each subsequent moment never sounding fake, unpolished or generic.  The dynamic range of this surround track is like climbing the highest peaks of Everest with a dragon roaring in your ear.  It doesn’t sound like a mere television show, but rather the action sequences make this feel like a bombastic, summer blockbuster.  Despite all the spikes, fire breathing and action moments nothing ever gets lost in the mix here including the dialogue thanks to the discreteness of it all.  This is simply top notch and still one of the best sounding television shows I ever heard on Blu-ray.
• Height: Think about all the ways Atmos can properly be employed throughout here and you have some of the finest sounding battle scenes, objects flying through the sky such as dragons flapping overhead and crashing down to the ground too.  I didn’t forget them spitting fire downwards either or blood from the injured squirting up.  Simply put the dragons are what make this Atmos track.  One of the coolest uses was when they were looking over this cliff in the sixth episode and they blast off upwards.
• Low Frequency Extension: The LFE channel swiftly engages and makes itself known during the brutal action sequences, most notably in the show’s many epic battle scenes.  Rest assured though the LFE of it all complements this surround track throughout.  Not only do they assisting in you properly hearing Daenerys’ dragons roar and breath fire with the utmost of authority, but the subtle bass equalizes and energizes the score too.  Probably one of the greatest scenes where the subwoofer shook my viewing room was when the Whitewalker’s bear attacked our fearless band of soldiers out of nowhere.  Even our little chihuahua jumped up at that one.
• Surround Sound Presentation: Like the dynamics of it all the surround channels showcase the organic ambience of the series putting you in the middle of every happening.  However, it’s the many action sequences that really pull you in.  From the multitude of battle cries, swords clanking, horses charging, Whitewalker armies fighting and dragons swooshing and breathing fire, you’ll enjoy every insane moment of being stuck in the middle of it all here in this immersive track.  Prioritization and directionality is paramount here.
• Dialogue Reproduction: Dialog is clear, intelligible and prioritized throughout the season on Blu-ray.

Extras 

The Blu-ray set of Game of Thrones: The Complete Seventh Season is packed with bonus content such as audio commentaries on every episode, two new behind-the-scenes featurettes and for a limited time, a bonus disc containing Conquest & Rebellion: An Animated History of the Seven Kingdoms, a 45-minute, never-before-seen extension of the Clio Award-winning History & Lore features included on previous individual Blu-ray season releases. It’s narrated by some of the series’ biggest stars including Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) and Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark).  This companion piece here to season 7 reveals the fascinating story of how the world of Westeros as we know it came to be, which also includes what happened the last time a Targaryen invaded the realm.  If that’s not enough the Digital Download release (also included in this Blu-ray set redeemable in both iTunes and UltraViolet) for Game of Thrones: The Complete Seventh Season includes an exclusive new “Creating the North and Beyond” featurette that takes fans behind the scenes of Jon Snow’s epic trek north of The Wall and his latest battle with the Night King’s army.  So what say you?  Let’s take a closer look down below at all these exciting extras I just mentioned.

• Conquest & Rebellion: An Animated History of the Seven Kingdoms (Bonus Disc, HD, 44:47) – As previously mentioned up above this is the never-before-seen story of the tumultuous events that shaped the world of Westeros thousands of years before the series start. Cast members Pilou Asbæk (Euron Greyjoy), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Aidan Gillen (Littlefinger), Conleth Hill (Varys), Harry Lloyd (Viserys Targaryen) and Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) team up to narrate the animated telling of Aegon Targaryen’s attempts to conquer the Seven Kingdoms.  This one is written by show writer Dave Hill.  Just an FYI the default English track is a Dolby TrueHD one here.

• From Imagination to Reality: Inside the Art Department (Disc 3, HD, Part 1 – 24:26 and Part 2 – 21:59) – This is it folks!  Want to know everything that goes into making Game of Thrones look like a million bucks?  These two segments are for you!  Here we have a two-part featurette detailing the astonishing work of Production Designer Deborah Riley and her Art Department.  Within this one we dissect the process behind the creation of this season’s incredible new sets, including Dragonstone, Casterly Rock, Highgarden, the Dragonpit and more.

• Fire & Steel: Creating the Invasion of Westeros (Disc 3, HD, 30:02) – Here we revisit this season’s most pivotal moments with this behind-the-scenes featurette that includes interviews with key cast and crew breaking down how fans’ favorite moments were created.  This is basically your definitive making of here.

• Audio Commentaries (Discs 1 – 3) – There are commentaries on every episode with cast and crew including David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Jacob Anderson, Gwendoline Christie, Liam Cunningham, Kit Harington, Lena Headey and more.  There are way too many names to list here.  Sorry.  You can see who’s in each commentary when you select Audio Commentary from the Disc’s menu selections or refer to my unboxing pictures down below which spells it all out for you.  You’re welcome!

• Histories and Lore (Disc 3, HD) – Here we have 7 new animated pieces that give the history and background of notable season 7 locations and storylines that include The Dragonpit, The Citadel, Casterly Rock, Highgarden, The Golden Company, Prophecies of the Known World, the Rains of Castamere and The Hand of the King.  They are all narrated by cast members including  Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aidan Gillen, Iain Glen and more.  Disappointingly there’s no Play All selection to be found here.  You have to go into each individually.

• In-Episode Guides (Discs 1 – 3, HD) – These are your usual in-feature resources that provide background information about on-screen characters and locations.

• Creating the North and Beyond (HD) – This is the digital only behind-the-scenes featurette that delves into the massive undertaking of creating and filming the battle in Episode 6 of Season 7.  I don’t know how you feel about it, but it’s kind of sad that we live in a world where we have to tout the digital version with exclusive extras.  Put it on the Blu-ray Disc for crying out loud!

*

Here’s what this Blu-ray set looks like outside of its plastic wrapped retail wrapper.

*

Click on the below image to expand the text for all the audio commentaries.

 

*

Summary 

This kind of conclusion in my Game of Thrones Blu-ray reviews has been a tradition now for three consecutive years.  If Peyton Manning and John Elway can go out a champions (and hopefully Tom Brady too), then why can’t I with these reviews?  Like usual I’m actually going to steal from myself and copy how I ended my Seasons 3 through 6 Blu-ray reviews.  So let’s end this review with a 3-point recap as to why Game of Thrones: The Complete Seventh Season is a MUST-OWN on the Blu-ray format.  The below list is positively three main reasons why you need to hit that pre-order link down below.

1. You are getting one of the most amazing shows on television today in respect to breadth of storytelling, production value, cinematography and acting.  And let’s not forget that one episode of the season that always promises and delivers one one hell of an action thrill ride.  Best of all as we are winding down on seasons here and this seventh outing is more action packed than all previous years.
2. This Blu-ray box set contains 3 Dual-Layer 50GB Blu-ray discs that house hours of bonus material not to mention the complete seven episode season in pristine 1080p picture and DOLBY ATMOS HD surround  sound PLUS a redemption code for HD Digital Copies in both the iTunes format and UltraViolet PLUS it’s all housed in a fancy package too filled with very nice looking self portraits of three main characters (see screenshots above).  For that Amazon price tag down below, this is an absolute steal!  Don’t you think?  It’s like HBO is paying you to take this off their hands.
3. You know you want to help support our site so we are able to keep it running as smoothly and efficiently as possible to deliver robust, kick-@$$ reviews like this, don’t you?  Of course you do and everyone here at WSB thank you for your generosity, time and support!  Enjoy!

Game of Thrones: The Complete Seventh Season comes out in retail stores December 12th, but you can pre-order it here and ensure that it’s on your doorstep waiting for you when you get home from a hard day of work.

 

*

Winter is FINALLY here!

Game of Thrones: The Complete Seventh Season

Brings The Snow on HBO Blu-ray w/ Digital HD

December 12th!

PRE-ORDER NOW!

*

*