The West Wing: The Complete Series - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The West Wing: The Complete Series



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Ahhh, just as our nation is engaged in one of the most brutally close election cycles in modern history Warner drops a gigantic Blu-ray boxset that hearkens back to a time that felt SO much different politically speaking. A time when both sides of the political aisle could watch a TV show ABOUT politics without truly HATING the other side. And a time when you didn’t have to have every adult oriented drama with a TV-MA rating for nudity, language, and generally Kevin Spacey being Kevin Spacey. My highschool and college days were spent watching The West Wing, and while it was never a perfect show, it was certainly one of the most enjoyable examples of a political “White House” oriented show done correctly. It had smartly written characters, great actors (Martin Sheen absolutely dominated) and grandiose attempts at humanizing politicians for us.

I guess that’s really what made The West Wing great. It wasn’t because it chose one side of the political aisle and catered to their demographic, but rather those grandiose ideas of coming together and uniting as a nation were so intensely felt at that time. The show started a couple of years before 911, but peaked right after said date (partially fueled by the intense patriotism and camaraderie that swept the nation from 2001-2003 ish) and gained us some of their best episodes. As I said, the show itself was meant to be sort of edgy when it started, as it features a bunch of cutthroat politicians trying to help the President of the United States (Sheen) run the country in a transitional time as we shifted from one century to the next. Couple that with the obvious story telling boon that was 911 (of course not saying 911 was a boon to us as a whole, just that it gave SO MUCH incredible fodder for the show runners to writ

The West Wing really thrived the first 4 years of the 7 year with Aaron Sorkin at the helm, giving us some hard hitting episodes that challenged people about everything from loving they neighbor, to the difficulty of running an entire nation when everyone in the capital just wants to further their own goals. But at the core of it’s message was always this underlying utopian message of “we can do better” that JFK was so intensely passionate about. It brought hope to those of us who were tired of “Clinton vs. Bush”, and while it was definitely taken from a left leaning perspective, gave shelter to Liberals, conservatives, and independents alike.

As I mentioned above, the first 4 seasons were easily the best in the show, and the show suffered a reasonably significant quality drop in the 5th season after Sorkin left the show. That being said, the 6th and 7th season picked up after the shaky 5th season, but could never reach the heights that was seasons 2-4 (when it was PEAK West Wing). That being said, this is still very obviously Aaron Sorkin’s brainchild, showcasing his lightning fast dialog, witty repartee, and likable characters. Martin Sheen is breathtaking as the President of the United states, but Bradley Whitford, Rob Lowe, Janel Moloney and Allison Janney absolutely pull their weight in keeping this political drama more than the sum of its parts. But while they’re the big names of the show, and Sheen himself is the focal point as President Bartlett, the show’s saving grace is that it utilizes the “revolving door” of sub cast members to keep things fresh. Staffers come and go in the White House, and Sorkin does a good job of not making the entire series revolve around him like a King. Instead the seasons flex and contract based upon the side stories with the various staffers and cutthroat political infighting, even though he most DEFINITELY is one of the most repeated characters. As such, The West Wing has garnered itself a very popular and rabidly loyal fan base over the years, yours truly included in that number, and for very good reason. It’s smartly written, better acted, and actually FEELS warm and inviting. I haven’t seen more than a few re-runs since it ended in 2007, but going back and re-watching parts of this show reminded me just how much I loved it, and how glad I am to finally retire my DVDs (some technical issues not withstanding).




Rating:

Rated TV-14 by the MPAA




Video:

I had a sneaking suspicion on what to expect when I saw the newly remastered episodes streaming, and I was largely correct. While the show has never looked fantastic on streaming and DVD it’s not going to get a WHOLE lot better on Blu-ray. Comparing my ancient DVD set against this behemoth will show some decent upgrades, but usually only subtle upgrades over the DVD and streaming images, just with better compression and slightly better textures.

Color, contrast, and saturation are pretty solid all the way around, as the overly warm show features some decent punch when called upon. But most of the time the picture really doesn’t sparkle or “pop” like we would hope to see in HD. I get that the show was not really filmed with HD in mind, but the early 2000s series is decidedly dull and bland looking from the get go. Warm browns and sepias dominate a lot of the picture, and fine details can look a bit soft at times. Some of this can be attributed to the way Sorkin shot the series, as the cast and crew have stated many times that while they predicted that HD TV’s would be the future, they also shot the show with a sort of dreamlike haze and “back in my day” type of gauziness to it that just can’t be overcome with higher bitrates and less compression.

At the end of the day the series in no way looks bad. It just isn’t going to be a show that really takes the Blu-ray format to its limits. Some of that may be lack of a painstaking remaster, but most of that can be laid at the feet of the stylistic choices shown for the show. Fans will definitely be left wishing for more on the picture element, but I’m not sure much can be done about it considering this is the way the show has always looked, just with more or less compression and details based upon which format it appeared on.







Audio:

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA track fares very similarly to the video track. It’s not a bad track by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just that the series was never this big, bombastic, action mix. The mix is a bit flat and stodgy, with simple dialog and a few score elements to make it a tad rousing. I can’t see any issues with the audio bitrate or encode itself, so once again I’m forced to guess that this was simply how the show was recorded back in the day, and in lieu of a full remix where the creators remix the track from the ground up, I just doubt we’ll see anything different.




Extras:

• Audio Commentaries (21 episodes)
• Featurettes
• Unaired Scenes
• Seasons One & Two gag orders

Final Score: ​

The West Wing: The Complete Series is a mix of mild let down, combined with elation at finally seeing this set in HD. On one hand I’m frustrated with how little upgrade the audio and video were compared to the DVD set, but on the flip side I’m ecstatic to finally see a giant bundle that takes advantage of Blu-rays tougher disc format as well as space saving packaging (though I do take mild disagreement with the same overlapping disc cases that Paramount used for years. At least with Blu-ray it’s not so much of a problem as with easily scratchable DVDs) It’s great show, a good price, and has some minor upgrades from the DVD, I’m just sad that the leap isn’t as big as I would have HOPED for.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, John Spencer, Janel Moloney, Bradley Whitford
Created by: Aaron Sorkin
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1/1.33:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: TV-14
Runtime: 6732 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 1st, 2024

Recommendation: Good Show, Solid Collection