Blu-ray Review: “Westworld” Season 1

Westworld was a highly anticipated reimagining, one looked forward to with both eager curiosity and well-founded reservations. First, coming from HBO and helmed by a stellar production team, there was a lot to look forward to.

The series explores artificial intelligence and asks questions about the nature of what constitutes sentience, if artificial life is living, and a myriad of questions about fantasy, morality and reality.

This is one show where the panoramic landscapes, outdoor locations and detailed laboratory scenes benefit from the high-definition treatment, with details visible even on televisions not modern enough to full utilize a high-def signal. I can’t wait to see what these discs look like on a true HD display.

The special features included allow for a deep dive behind the scenes and the story of the new Westworld, and in some cases feel like they are not long enough to assuage that hunger that any fan of the show wants to keep feeding until they’re 25% beyond information overload. Still, a set worth checking out. I’d also like to hear from anyone who’s had a chance to compare the Blu-ray with the 4K edition, see if there’s a noticeable difference in picture quality and detail.

Westworld: Season One: The Maze
Format: Dolby, NTSC
Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Region: Region A/1
Number of discs: 3
Studio: Warner Brothers
DVD Release Date: November 7, 2017
Run Time: 675 minutes

4K ULTRA HD, Blu-ray and DVD Special Features

• Inside Look with Jonah Nolan and Lisa Joy – Season One (New Featurette)
• Imagining the Main Title (New Featurette)
• The Key to The Chords (New Featurette)
• 2017 Comic Con Panel (New)
• Gag reel (New)
• Welcome to Westworld
• Crafting the Narrative
• An Invitation to The Set
• Welcome to Westworld: About the Series
• Reality of A.I.: Westworld
• “The Big Moment” Featurettes

10 One-hour Episodes:
1. The Original
2. Chestnut
3. The Stray
4. Dissonance Theory
5. Contrapasso
6. The Adversary
7. Trompe L’Oeil
8. Trace Decay
9. The Well-Tempered Clavier
10. The Bicameral Mind

Based on the film written by best-selling author Michael Crichton (ER, Jurassic Park films), Westworld is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and a reimagined past, the series explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged.

Westworld: Season One features a star-studded cast led by Academy Award® winner Sir Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs), Golden Globe winner Ed Harris (The Truman Show), Golden Globe and Emmy® nominee Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler) and Golden Globe nominee Thandie Newton (Crash). The cast of this 10-episode phenomenon also includes Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden, Ben Barnes, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Clifton Collins, Jr., Luke Hemsworth, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Simon Quarterman, Rodrigo Santoro, Angela Sarafyan, Jimmi Simpson, Tessa Thompson and Shannon Woodward. Executive produced by Abrams, Nolan, Joy, Jerry Weintraub and Bryan Burk, Westworld is produced by Kilter Films in association with Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television.