Tuesday, January 20, 2009

iF Magazine reviews Moonlight's newly released DVD


iF Magazine has published their review of the new Moonlight DVD. They have the same chief complaint that we do... no extras :(

DVD Review: 'MOONLIGHT: THE COMPLETE SERIES'

Fans get their beloved show in one set, but why no extras at all?

Grade: B
Stars: Alex O'Loughlin, Sophia Myles, Jason Dohring, Shannyn Sossamon, Tami Roman
Writer(s): Ron Koslow, Trevor Munson
Release Date: Jan. 20, 2009
SRP: $39.98
Rating: NR
Distributor: Warner Home Video

By EMERSON PARKER, Contributing Writer

I guess the one good thing about MOONLIGHT: THE COMPLETE SERIES is that they actually gave fans the series in its entirety relatively quickly. Unlike fans of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and other genre shows that have come and gone and been fan favorites, they didn’t have to wait years.

Of course, this is just a bit of solace to fans of the show that believe the show should never have been cancelled in the first place and that CBS gave the series an unfair opportunity especially given the shortened season due to the four-month long writer’s strike from the 2007-2008 season. That also took away other shows that fans were getting attached to too soon as well, such as JOURNEYMAN.

But probably the biggest slap in the face of the fans in terms of the DVD is the fact that MOONLIGHT: THE COMPLETE SERIES lacks any special features at all. Really? You couldn’t get Alex O’Loughlin or Shannyn Sossamon or Sophia Myles at all for one interview? You couldn’t put together a few clips from behind-the-scenes and include them? There were no deleted scenes at all? Really? That’s just a big slap in the face and something that Warner Home Video – usually really good about adding extras – should have done, because this would be a DVD where fans would eat it up and actually watch the special features with a lot of interest.

That’s just not right. And I don’t know how any fan can be happy about it.

But again, those same fans are just probably happy to have the episodes in their collection and the ability to watch them whenever they want and in digital in a nice digital transfer from the already impressive widescreen broadcast presentation.

The story is an interesting one centering on L.A. private eye Mick St. John (O’Loughlin) who makes a living by learning about other people’s secrets and revealing them to those who pay him for such information. But the biggest secret of all is from St. John because he’s a vampire, yes a creature of the night with a past as complex as, well, all vampire series. He’s been good. He’s been bad. He’s loved. He’s lost.

Now he is drawn to a new love with a human woman (Sophia Myles) but his memories of his wife that turned him originally into a vampire (Shannyn Sossamon) and his lingering relationships with other vampires and the underworld leaves him troubled with his past, his present and maintaining a cover as a PI.

DIGITAL TRANSFER
Looks great. The widescreen it was originally shot on looks even better in this digital transfer of the series.

SPECIAL FEATURES
As stated above, there are none.


THE LAST WORD
Obviously, fans of the series will be buying this set. No if, ands or buts about it. But I gotta imagine they aren’t too happy about not having anything other than just the 16 episodes. A for the series, but because the DVD lacks extras it gets a B.


http://ifmagazine.com/review.asp?article=2984

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, I agree with this review and can't believe there aren't any special features either- thats essentially why I bought the DVD! I still have almost every MOONLIGHT episode saved on my TiVo and I'd purchased every episode from Amazon Unbox- I can watch any episode of MOONLIGHT any time I want- I WANTED THE SPECIAL FEATURES!!!!

Anonymous said...

Yes, the widescreen is wonderful & my blu-ray player up-converted to 1080p -- its perfect.


BUT, the first thing I searched for was a 5th disk i.e. Extras -- such a disappointment!

Bitter-sweet purchase!