As Smallville winds down its ten year run, fans can look forward to one final release of the show on DVD.
For those who have been collecting the series as the season sets came out, the tenth season hits shelves this fall. But if you’ve been waiting for a complete set of the show, then you may be interested in the full series box set that will hit stores later this year.
This 62 disc set collects all 218 episodes of the show. It will include the special features from the original sets as well as some new special features.
Here’s what you’ll get:
- 90-minute series retrospective with new cast and crew interviews
- Commemorative issue of the Daily Planet, created by DC Comics
- 2010 Comic-Con International panel
- Episode guide with production art (storyboards and sketches) and behind the scenes photos
- Previously unseen Superboy pilot from 1961
Hopefully there will be a blu ray release. I have avoided buying any season dvd sets.
I’m with Necrosomniac. I missed the series in the first few seasons. After than I didn’t have the time to play catch up. Now I could see the whole thing on my own time.
I just checked Amazon. It’s straight DVD and over $200. Putting it on blu-ray would easily increase the cost by 50%.
Putting it on Blu-Ray would be cost prohibitive. From TVShowsOnDVD.com’s discussion on this:
First of all, we’ve been informed by Warner Home Video that this release of Smallville – The Complete Series will ONLY be for DVD format, and not on Blu-ray Disc. We asked for some in-depth information about why the studio would make that decision, and we were informed that there are technical issues present in the early seasons. Here’s an exact quote from the studio:
“The special effects were created and output for standard definition broadcast using the tools and formats of that time. Elevating the special effects to an acceptable level for HD may require going back to original film elements and re-creating new special effects from scratch to marry with the film elements, which is extremely costly.”
So, like other SFX-heavy series which were finished on videotape but not made-for-HD from the ground up (such as Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, Babylon 5, early seasons of Doctor Who, and others), the first few seasons of Smallville simply aren’t up-to-snuff for high def Blu-ray Disc format without paying for a pricey special effects do-over. It’s quite understandable that Warner wouldn’t go back and do that just now, with the economy still not where everybody wants it to be.
“Wait a second!”, you might ask, “didn’t Smallville – The Complete 5th Season come out in the now-defunct HD-DVD high-def format? Can’t they make a Blu-ray version of it, at least?” Yes, we looked into that question as well. Warner’s answer to us was this: “Although the release of Season 5 on Blu-ray is technically possible, we do not have current plans to release Season 5 on BD.”
Link: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Smallville-The-Complete-Series/15318
Thanks Falkner. However, what’s keeping them from releasing a half DVD half blu-ray pack? Seasons 1-5 on DVD. Seasons 6-10 on blu-ray. Sell them separately so they’re more affordable for those who don’t want to plunk down $250 for the whole thing.
I don’t know that many people would spring for that, no matter how cool it would be. But, I’m not in marketing, so I don’t know for sure. For my part, I’ve been pretty happy just buying the DVD season sets and forgoing the high definition.