Smallville Season 8 Blu-ray Review

Synopsis: There’s a new reporter at the Daily Planet: Clark Kent, who shares a workspace with Lois Lane. There’s a new hero in Metropolis, too. No one knows who he is. But Jimmy Olsen was on the scene of one of the do-gooder’s exploits, and he snapped a blurred photo of the hero in superspeed action, a hero everyone now calls the Red-Blue Blur. Red-jacketed, blue-shirted Clark Kent draws closer to his Superman destiny in the exciting 22-episode, 6-disc Season 8 of Smallville. Another Kryptonian destiny also takes shape. Davis Bloome begins to realize he is Doomsday. His mission on Earth: kill Clark Kent. So many new events (will Jimmy and Chloe’s marriage last?), so many new faces (Tess Mercer, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy among them!), so many state-of-the-art effects so don’t miss a single thrill-packed moment!

Purchase Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season [Blu-ray]

THE SERIES:
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Another year, another Smallville. Season 8 did a lot of things right, and had wonderful character development. But man o’ man could that season finale episode have been 10x better! A big build up for nothing! I don’t want to go too much into detail because you deserve to watch this series for yourself spoiler free. The series expanded so much though that it will be very interesting what all comes to play in Smallville Season 9.

Clark has finally become more heroic than ever before. Which is about time. Now let him fly! The Justice League is shown more! *Rock On!* and we also got the introduction of Tess Mercer … basically the replacement for Lex Luthor. She’s very annoying to say the least and always seems to be in the right spot at the right time. (Haha!) But for what I personally believe steals the show is the performance of Sam Witwer as Doomsday. He’s taken a character that had no personality and made it one of the best parts of Season 8. Hell, one of the best parts of Smallville period. The wrap-up though was a total let down of all the steam built up and thus the rating reflected.

Fans of Smallville will enjoy watching this once again in Hi-Def … the Blu-ray way!

VIDEO QUALITY:
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It really is amazing the transfers some of these tv seasons are getting these days. All the technology and know how is in place and its allowed for some fantastic peices to really pop and come to life when released to Blu-ray. Smallville Season 8 is just that. It looks awesome on blu-ray. Its got deep blacks and vibrant colors. It had a few shotty moments here and there with some quick color changes but more or less you can come to expect that with tv seasons. Especially one of which that lasted 22 episodes! What a great transfer this one got. Smallville fans will be excited to watch this beauty in Hi-def be it 1080p or 720p. The season features a 1080p vc-1 transfer.

AUDIO QUALITY:
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Does it sound good? Yes it sounds good! Does it sound great to the average consumer? Why yes it sounds superb! Does it sound great to an audiophile? Why Yes errrrr no! Season 8 comes to you no different than prior seasons with the simplistic Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack. It does sound good, it just saddens me not to have any other audio options. Your bangs, slams, crashes and kapows will get them speakers boomin’ and roarin’ and thankfully the dialouge really has great clarity. However, audioholics will always have to wonder what could have been.

It’s great to see all speakers totally utilized but personally I feel the rears deserved a bit more action. If you’ve been happy in the past with the audio tracks that Smallville have delivered than you’ll be perfectly fine with what Season 8 brings to the table.

SUPPLEMENTS:
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Smallville Season 8 comes in a 4-disc package and while the set looks nice and is all packed in 4 discs the bonus features seem a bit rather lackluster. Being that they are the same as the DVD counterpart. The bonus though is that they are in High Def. For HD phreaks, they’ll be happy but for smallville junkies they’ll probably be saddened with the lack of features. I mean after 8 seasons and still no Tom Welling interview or commentary! Jeez! C’mon!

  • Audio Commentaries (Disc 2): Director Mairzee Almas, executive producer Brian Peterson, and actress Cassidy Freeman give an overview of “Identity,” while producers Tim Scanlan and Darren Swimmer, and writer Geoff Johns bring insight on “Legion.”
  • Smallville’s Doomsday: The Making of a Monster (HD, 15 minutes): Here it is, a look at the big beast bad man. The CG, designs and what brought this character to life in the 8th season.
  • Unaired Scenes (HD, All Discs, 18 minutes): Deleted scenes are included for “Plastique,” “Instinct,” “Legion,” “Hex,” “Eternal,” “Power,” “Requiem,” “Turbulence,” “Beast,” and “Injustice.”
  • In the Director’s Chair (HD, 19 minutes): A discussion with Allison Mack with a behind-the-scenes trip and an informative peice on her transition from actor to director.Smallvilledvd.com
THE BOTTOM LINE:
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Smallville fans can still rejoice. Even without a lossy soundtrack and oodles of extras you still got Smallville Season 8 in its highest form. The picture quality is great, probably as good as it can get and the audio does sound great for only being a dolby digital 5.1 track. Fans overall who opt to fork out the extra dough on the Blu-ray counterpart will atleast be happy with this purchase for its sheer presentation. However, we really wish their could’ve atleast been more features/supplements for the Blu-ray brother! For any fan or person just becoming interested in Smallville I recommend this purchase along with the other seasons. (You got some catching up to do!) For blind purchasers, it may be wise to atleast watch an episode first. 😉

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Purchase Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season [Blu-ray]

About the author

is a pop culture fanatic who loves to collect things from films that leave a lasting impression on him. A big fan of such brands like SteelBook, Mondo, and Sideshow. Favorite films or franchises include Braveheart, HEAT, Book of Eli, Ip Man, Nolan's Batman, Everything Marvel, and practically anything Quentin Tarantino touches. Proudly owns The Notebook, drives 88 mph, and know's exactly what was in Marsellus Wallace's briefcase!