- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1(48kHz/24-bit)
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: Not Rated
- Discs: 4 (4 x Blu-ray)
- Digital Copies: N/A
- Run Time: 960 Mins.
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Blu-ray Release Date: August 14, 2012
- List Price: $69.99
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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Series
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Series
[Rating:3/5]
The teen melodrama, quips, and big musical productions all return in this third season of FOX network’s hit teen series Glee. The third season, however, is a transitional season, and while devoted “Gleeks” will surely be happy just to get their fix of more Rachel, Santana, and Puck, the season on the whole doesn’t quite flow as well as the previous two.
The seniors are moving on, that means story lines have to be wrapped up for the likes of Rachel (Lea Michele) and Finn (Cory Monteith), Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) (who officially joins the New Directions this season), Mercedes (Amber Riley), Santana (Naya Rivera) and Brittany (Heather Morris), Puck (Mark Salling) and of course, Quinn (Dianna Agron). Personally, I think much of the loose ends feel like they’ve been tied together rather hurriedly, especially given that creators have known since the beginning of the series that graduation day would eventually have to come. It’s a transition that must be reached for every high school based show. Not to worry, though, there is also an influx of new talent to keep the series fresh, including three new faces culled from the series’ talent show offshoot The Glee Project, actors Damian McGinty (“Rory”), Samuel Larsen (“Joe”), and Lindsay Pearce (“Harmony”). Other new cast members include Vanessa Lengies as the tone deaf Sugar Motta and NeNe Leakes as Sue’s (Jane Lynch) rival Roz.
In keeping with the theme of Glee, the third season is full of themed musical numbers that dazzle, love stories, and heartbreak. Highlights of the season include a Michael Jackson episode, Saturday Night Fever episode, and, of course, the big West Side Story production that, as was noted in our review of 20th Century Fox’s release to Blu-ray of the classic film, actually caused the studio to initially go to market with a flawed version of the film’s transfer due to cross-promotional pressures concerning Glee. That flaw has since been corrected in subsequent editions.
For Gleeks who have been following for three seasons, they will finally find out what happens with Finchel, see Quinn go through a rebellious phase, only to be struck down by tragedy and “reborn” through an unexpected new romance, and have Santana and Brittany once and for all confirm to each other and everyone else how much they love each other. The season also deals with domestic abuse, among other more pressing issues.
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Glee is shot on high speed Kodak Vision3 500T 5219 Super 35 format film. As such, it can tend to look a bit grainy at times, and the artistic choices of the creators do tend to oversaturate some of the colors and sometimes blow out some of the white levels. Still, the show never looks better than it does when it appears on Blu-ray, which is a given, I suppose. The AVC/MPEG-4 1080p encodement from Fox tames the compression and motion artifacts of the broadcasts, keeps the white levels more consistent, and gives colors a slightly more natural appearance. The grain is more apparent, but it does look more organic here rather than noisy and blocky as it can tend to look via broadcasts.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Glee has never been a very aggressively mixed television series, but the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) soundtrack on Blu-ray effectively conveys the big musical numbers with solid, musical sounding low frequencies and a good amount of instrumental and vocal separation, even of highs tend to be just a bit on the tizzy side. Atmospherics are subtle, but one can at times notice the effects, both during the musical performances or when the surrounds are simply conveying the din of the high school halls and classrooms. Dialogue and vocals are pristine.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]
Frankly, this collection of extras feels a little lacking despite the quantity. It offers the usual for this series on Blu-ray, which is the “jukebox” allowing viewers to access and mix their favorite Glee performances and a behind the scenes featurette on the season along with a few extended scenes that offer nothing more to the season. One highlight is the “Santa Baby” deleted scene, that offers a performance from Naya Rivera doing the Christmas classic in her usual sexy style. It’s a pity it was cut from the series proper.
The supplements:
- Glee Music Jukebox
- Glee Under the Stars (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:07:45) – A brief look at the Glee Season Three premiere party at Santa Monica High School for the “Gleeks.”
- Ginger Supremacists – Extended Scene (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:04:05)
- Sue Flashback – Extended Scene (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:02:43)
- “Santa Baby” – Deleted Scene (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:03:50)
- Glee Give a Note (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:07:46) – The Glee stars donate to a school’s music program through their Give a Note foundation. The featurette also features the commentary of youngsters involved in their schools’ music programs.
- Glee Swap: Behind the Scenes of “props” (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:05:41) – A look at the episode in which the actors all switch characters.
- Meet the Newbies (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:13:20)
- Saying Goodbye (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:15:19)
- Ask Sue: World Domination Blog (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:06:07)
- Return of Sue’s Quips (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:02:58)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
This third season is packed with the usual fare of pop hits, classic show tunes, and mash-ups mixed with big dance numbers, campy melodrama, and teen angst. Even if it doesn’t quite fit together as perfectly as it has in the past, it still packs a lot of punch. It’s an uneven but still enjoyable third season of the hit series Glee on a Blu-ray with a solid transfer.
Additional Screen Captures
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Purchase Glee: The Complete Third Season on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
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[amazon-product]B005JR3UP6[/amazon-product]
[amazon-product]B0053O8A5U[/amazon-product]
Purchase Glee: The Complete Third Season on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Series
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]
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