AVAILABLE ON DVD AS OF AUGUST 27TH, 2010
The CW Network hit series, The Vampire Diaries had it’s season 2 premiere, The Return, on Thursday September 9th at 8PM EST. According to the next day press release, the series is still going strong with the VAMPIRE DIARIES delivering its best ‘Women 18-34 Ratings ‘ since February 2009 and held onto virtually all of its audience from explosive season one finale, Founder’s Day. The Vampire Diaries also retained a large chunk of its massive series premiere audience from last year, keeping about 87% of its year ago adults 18-34 (1.9/6) and 90% of its year ago women 18-34 (2.8/9) delivery.
If you missed the season one premiere or all of the first season of The Vampire Diaries on The CW Network and want to catch up on this intriguing series, then now’s your chance because The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season is now out on DVD.
The Vampire Diaries season one premiered on The CW Network on September 10, 2009 as the new lead in series for the Thursday night line up, which included veteran hit series Supernatural. The Vampire Diaries, which was based on the L.J. Smith novels of the same name, is set in the small town of Mystic Falls. There, teenager Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and her younger brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), struggle to come to terms with the recent death of their parents. While Jeremy heads on a downward slide of drug use to run away from the grief, Elena attempts to remain a perfect straight-A student but has trouble hiding her grief from the world. When the mysterious Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) becomes a new student at her high school, Elena finds herself draw to him not knowing that both he and his older brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder) share the dark secret of Vampirism.
The Vampire Diaries, executive produced by Bob Levy and Leslie Morgenstein, taps into the mystique of vampirism and it’s current use as an allegory to the awaking sexuality in teenagers to create a dark and compelling teen drama with supernatural overtones. Vampirism seems to be the new venue to deal with the issues of teen angst and the Hollywood focus on the concept of ‘living forever as young and beautiful’. And the cast of The Vampire Diaries is certainly both young and beautiful. They are also extremely talented young actors who are a big part of the reason why the CW’s vampire themed teen drama is such a hit. The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season contains a fascinating and very enlightening look into the behind the scenes casting of the young stars of this series. It’s titled, The Vampire Diaries: A New Breed of Vampires and includes casting auditions.
Like any good TV show or movie about the legends of Vampires should, the writers and creators of the Vampire Diaries have done their homework and research into the lore of the myths and legends of vampirism. It is part of what makes the series solid and entertaining to watch. The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season contains a really great featurette that details the extent of the research the writers and creators did for their series. The featurette is titled, The Vampire Diaries 101- The Rules of the Vampire.
I have to say I was very impressed with the number of and quality of the special features included with The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season. Featurettes that also include:
- Second Bite – The Gag Reel
- Unaired scenes
- Creator/directory commentary on the pilot episode
- Downloadable audio book version of the best selling novel Vampire Diaries: The Awaking by L. J. Smith
My overall opinion of The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season on DVD is that it is well worth adding to any fan’s collection.
DVD Quality -B
Special Features – A+
Overall Grade – A