Blu-ray fans received a fresh dose of British television with the BBC Home Video Blu-ray Disc release Being Human: Season One on July 20th, 2010.

This show was popular in the UK and is very much in a similar vein to Torchwood.

While it is partly promoted as witty and occasionally is, this show is far from a comedy, rather more being a stylistic thriller.

As with many BBC shows, the season runs six full one hour episodes.

Being Human is based on an intriguing premise, with a vampire and a werewolf living in a house along with the ghost a woman that died in the house.

While the members of the house are cursed, supernatural creatures, they want nothing more than to be normal and fit in with the civilized world.

Each of the characters is different in nature and handles their affliction in a different way.

George the werewolf is a very sensitive, intelligent and neurotic fellow who now faces the monthly curse of his transformation.

The vampire is Mitchell, who is now 120 years old and has decided to shun the killing and feeding lifestyle and is trying to refrain from drinking human blood.

Annie the ghost unhappily died before her wedding and is still madly in love with her fiance, who has now moved on, though still visits the house in the role of landlord.

For the most part, the episodes cover the trials of each of the characters, often with a focus one particular character.

There is also a season length story arc with the vampires secretly planning to take over the Earth from the humans.

While the show starts off a little slow for my liking, I found after a couple of episodes I was hooked and had to watch the story play out to its conclusion, which also sets up the premise for the second season which will be released later this year.

Overall I found this series to be entertaining and well worth a look, especially for fans of Torchwood and Doctor Who.

The cast features Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner in the lead roles, and also includes Sinead Keenan and Jason Watkins in key supporting roles.

Being Human: Season One was created by Toby Whitehouse, who has written for Doctor Who and Torchwood.

The series has a very respectable IMDb score of 8.3/10.

The video on the disc is a VC-1 1080i encode at 30 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

This high bitrate encode does a pretty good job of presenting this show which is often dark and occasionally ‘noisy’.

See the details page for Being Human: Season One for full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc.

The main audio is presented in Dolby Digital with 2.0 channels, encoded at 448 kbps.

With many BBC titles featuring DTS-HD audio, it was a bit disappointing to see lossy Dolby Digital used here.

The discs are dual layer BD50, with around 43 GB used and are coded for All Regions.

This release comes with quite a range of supplemental features including a lot of cast and crew interviews.

Additional footage is presented in the form of deleted, extended and alternate scenes.

The Character Profiles featurette runs 20 minutes and covers not only the three main characters but also a number of the key supporting characters.

The nature of the vampire is covered in Vamping it Up, which goes into the vampire ‘rules’ that the show incorporates, as well as some traditional traits that they chose to ignore.

Toby Whitehouse on the Journey has the show creator looking into the history of the show and the direction it took - be sure to not watch this before watching the actual show - many spoilers contained!

The technicalities and techniques of the werewolf transformation that George goes through a number of times in Season One is covered in Becoming a Werewolf.

The Stunts Package studies a couple of the major  stunt sequences that appear in the show, one with Annie falling down the stairs and a second that involves a vehicle striking a couple of pedestrians.

The Video Diaries run almost 15 minutes and features a lot of behind the scenes footage and footage of the actors discussing the process as they shoot the production, all shot by the three main actors.

Our Journey’s End is certainly another supplement that you will want to hold off on until you have seen the complete series as this talks about the set up for Season 2.

Additional featurettes cover the show’s locations, sets, costumes and make up.

Being Human: Season One is a pretty strong TV series produced by the BBC in the supernatural thriller genre.

The Blu-ray release is for the most part a strong title from BBC Home Video, with the only down side being the stereo Dolby Digital sound track.

The retail price is $39.98, or order it right now at Amazon for $28.49, saving 29%!

Extras:

• Alternate Scenes
• Character Profiles
• Vamping it Up
• Toby Whitehouse on the Journey
• Locations
• Costumes and Make Up
• Deleted Scenes
• Extended Scenes
• Stunts package
• Video Diaries
• Our Journey’s End
• Becoming a Werewolf

Synopsis:

What’s a vampire to do if he wants to live a normal life? In the first hit season of this “engaging, dark and wickedly funny” (SciFi Wire) BBC series, Mitchell swears off blood and shares a house with George-a reluctant werewolf equally committed to escaping the dark side. As luck would have it, though, the house is already occupied by Annie, an insecure ghost. Enjoy the trio’s unconventional friendships and supernatural adventures, starring Aidan Turner (Desperate Romantics) and Russell Tovey (Little Dorrit).

How the Earth Changed History is a new key documentary series Blu-ray title released by BBC Home Video on June 29th, 2010.

Produced by the creators of Earth: The Biography, this BBC television documentary series studies how the planet’s natural forces have shaped the evolution of human society.

There are four main episodes in the series, which loosely follow the four classical elements of Earth, Water, Air and Fire.

The first episode covers the effects of water on human history.

It is not hard to imagine how water shaped the growth of civilizations planet wide, with early humans tending to start communities in the vicinity of abundant water sources like lakes and rivers.

Additionally civilizations who became capable of harnessing the water for irrigation and storage have been successful, and conflicts over the rights to water continue even to this day.

The second episode focuses on the deep earth.

This episode covers both the effects of the  minerals of the deep earth, as well as the negative effects of deep earth movement in the form of earthquakes and tsunamis.

Interestingly enough, both the abundance of minerals and the occurrence of earthquakes are associated with the fault lines along the borders of the tectonic plates.

For example, California has received great benefit from the fault lines like the San Andreas fault, as well as having occasionally suffering from major earthquakes.

Wind is the topic for the third episode, where we learn how the planet’s prevailing wind patterns changed the way humans traveled the globe after Columbus’ discovery of the Atlantic trade winds.

With ships following the winds on the trade routes where ‘globalization’ effectively began.

The wind has also affected the climate all around the world, creating opportunities for some regions to cultivate farming and subsequent wealth in historic civilizations.

Of course interactions between wind and the ocean has caused numerous natural disasters over the years.

The final episode of the series covers the topic of Fire.

While fire is of great danger to humans, the harnessing of fire has led to many innovations that have aided in the development of civilization and it is something that we use every day in a variety of ways to provide heat or energy.

Fire is a relatively recent element, with the conditions needed for fire only met when plant life had raised the oxygen level to that needed for fire to exist.

Tracing the use of fire and the effects on history is actually more akin to tracing the choices of fuel, starting with simple wood, through charcoal to coal and other fossil fuels.

Along with the development of new fuels came novel ways to use the fuel to create motive force from fire.

There is an additional episode in the series called Human Planet, which looks at the effects that humans have had in turn on the planet in recent history.

With human influence reaching even the furthest corners of the planet, this episode looks at impact on the planet that humans have and what effects this might have on the future of the human race.

This television series is entertaining in that it presents many sites on earth that you will probably have never seen before, each with an interesting story that ties into the theme of the episode.

Quite a number of the segments feature some pretty extreme efforts to access, including caving, paragliding, diving and filming at intense temperatures.

Another of the intriguing aspects of the series for me was the revelation of many ancient cultures that came and went due to the natural forces on the planet, and the ruins that remain from these civilizations.

In some ways I wonder how long current western culture has before vast natural forces cause a major upheaval and change life as we know it.

The series is presented in person by Professor Iain Stewart, which for me makes a fresh change from the typical narration.

This series was well worth checking out and I found it to be more educational than some of the ‘eye candy’ documentaries released in recent years, though it is also quite visually stimulating as well.

The series has had a good response from viewers, with an IMDb score of 8/10.

The video on the disc is an AVC 1080i encode at 19.5 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

The video is all shot on HD cameras, and while quality is generally decent. it does vary and compression artifacts are occasionally present.

You will find full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc at the details page for How the Earth Changed History.

The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

It is nice to see lossless audio used for this release - somewhat of a departure from Warner’s other television releases.

The series is presented on two discs - the first is a dual layer BD50, with 33.5 GB used and the second a close to full BD25 - the discs are coded for All Regions.

The extras are on the second disc and under the title Filming In Extremes.

This supplement is a selection of interviews with presenter Iain Stewart where he discusses the challenges of shooting certain segments for the series, intercut with occasional behind the scenes footage.

These interviews provide interesting insight in to the lengths they went to in order to get the shots they wanted - it would have been nice if there were some more similar segments or other extras included though.

How the Earth Changed History is a worthwhile documentary series that I can recommend.

The BBC Home Video Blu-ray release does have a few visual artifacts and is a little light on extras, though my overall feeling is that it is still well worth a look.

The retail price is $34.99, or order it right now at Amazon for $29.49, saving 16%!

Extras:

• Filming In Extremes - An Interview With Iain Stewart

Synopsis:

From the creators of Earth: The Biography comes this powerful story of the natural forces of geology, geography and climate that shaped mankind as we know it. Passionate storytelling and extraordinary high-definition footage offer an original version of human history and a new perspective on who we are today.

The Blu-ray market share was a fairly typical 12% on a revenue of $15.03M for the week ending June 27th, according to Home Media Magazine.

The Book of Eli from Warner maintained its place at the top of the chart, fending off Universal’s Green Zone, close behind in 2nd place.

Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story and Toy Story 2 took 3rd and 4th place respectively, ahead of Avatar from Fox in 5th place.

New release She’s Out of My League from Paramount came in 7th place, with new HBO release Entourage: The Complete Sixth Season very close behind in 8th position, and Summit’s new release Remember Me settled for 11th place.

The top sellers for this week had a pretty solid market share for Blu-ray Disc, with The Book of Eli selling 31% on Blu-ray Disc and Green Zone selling 29%.

On the other end of the spectrum though, Remember Me from Summit sold only 10% on Blu-ray Disc.

Avatar continues to be a strong seller with 42% Blu-ray Disc market share, which was equaled this week by the BBC’s TV series Life.

New releases Entourage and She’s Out of My League sold 20 - 21% on Blu-ray Disc.

It is kind of interesting that while on a release by release basis, Blu-ray is probably on average in the 20% market share range, the overall market share is much lower.

This indicates that the huge depth of the DVD catalog is going to be tough for Blu-ray to gain on.

The Blu-ray market share was 14% for the second week running for the week ending June 20th, according to Home Media Magazine.

On the plus side the revenue was a healthier $26.44M, up 27% over the same period last year.

Warner’s new release The Book of Eli took first place on the chart this week, ahead of Avatar from Fox which has pushed Disney’s Alice in Wonderland to 3rd position.

Shutter Island from Paramount and Sony’s 2012 round out the top 5, with recent Lionsgate release From Paris with Love having to settle for 6th place.

New release When in Rome from Disney debuted in 13th place on the chart, ahead of Sony’s new title Youth in Revolt in 17th position.

Looking at per title market share, top seller The Book of Eli was a strong player for Blu-ray with 35% market share, doing slightly better than Alice in Wonderland with 33% market share.

Avatar continues its strong run with 46% of sales on Blu-ray Disc, as does Life from BBC Video with 39% Blu-ray market share.

Discounts played a strong role this week with 2012 taking the top honors with 79% of sales on Blu-ray Disc, ahead of Law Abiding Citizen with 51% and of The Hangover with 48%.

New release When in Rome is at the other end of the scale with only 12% market share on Blu-ray Disc, while Youth in Revolt did better with 25% of sales on Blu-ray Disc.

The Blu-ray market share was a typical 14% for the week ending June 13th, according to Home Media Magazine.

The weekly revenue was $19.52M for the week - down a little compared to last year.

Disney’s Alice in Wonderland remains in 1st place, ahead of new releases Shutter Island from Paramount and Lionsgate’s From Paris with Love in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

Avatar is still a big seller for Fox, taking 4th place on the chart, with recent remake release The Wolfman from Universal rounding out the top 5.

The new releases are doing fairly well for Blu-ray, with Alice in Wonderland, Shutter Island and From Paris with Love all taking 28% market share on Blu-ray Disc.

Avatar is still in the 39% market share range while Life from BBC Video sold 43% on Blu-ray Disc.

The Hurt Locker from Summit was the winner for the week with 52% of sales on Blu-ray Disc.

On a different note, sorry that this post is later and shorter than usual - I am actually in China for the week so while I will try to keep everything updated, my connectivity to the internets may be limited.

It is a great month for nature show fans with the June 1st release of the BBC Home Video release Life.

This is the much anticipated follow up to the Planet Earth series, and the BBC film makers have gone above and beyond to bring the best quality wild life footage to the small screen.

The Blu-ray release is packaged on a set of four discs, covering all of the 10 original episodes and some special additions.

The overall theme of the series is survival, and it takes a look at some of the of the specialized strategies creatures have developed  to survive.

The BBC spent four years producing the series, and this time around it was shot entirely in high definition.

While the first episode covers a range of life challenges for Earth’s inhabitants,  the other episodes are typically dedicated to a class of animals, like reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, insects and even primates.

A couple of episodes also present themes like Hunters and Hunted and Creatures of the Deep.

All I can say is that nobody makes nature shows like the BBC, and one is often left to marvel as to how many of the sequences were acquired.

Needless to say they have employed some of the latest fast motion capture and some of the best optical glass around to give us close up and intimate glimpses into life on Earth.

The cast includes a wide range of the planet’s creatures and this version is narrated by Oprah Winfrey.

The Life episodes were directed by a range of film makers including Simon Blakeney and Stephen Lyle.

The television series currently has an excellent IMDb score of 9.3/10.

Life is one of the very few Blu-ray releases to sell more copies on Blu-ray than DVD on the first week of release.

The video on the disc is a VC-1 1080i encode at 29 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

This time around the whole series was shot on a range of high definition equipment, so quality can vary.

For full resolution PNG screen captures you can check the details page for Life.

The main audio is DTS-HD High Resolution with 5.1 channels - 16 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 41.3 GB used and is coded for All Regions.

An optional feature on the discs allows you to view the episodes with only the music.

Each episode features a behind the scenes Life On Location segment included on the same disc as the episode.

Additionally there is a ‘Making of’ documentary on the last disc that is the same length as the episodes to form the 11th part of the series.

There is also a selection of deleted scenes on the last disc that runs roughly 20 minutes.

As an alternate to the Discovery Channel versions of the show, the original BBC version of Life is also available.

The obvious difference is that the BBC version is narrated by David Attenborough.

The BBC airings were also several minutes longer than the Discovery Channel episodes since the BBC does not run commercials.

This adds up over the 10 episodes, with the Discovery Channel version being listed at 440 minutes and the BBC version listed at 550 minutes of content.

The downside is that, while the retail pricing is the same, usually the BBC version is more expensive at the various outlets.

Life is an excellent TV series that is a must see, especially for fans of nature shows.

The Blu-ray release is nicely packaged and another great release from BBC Home Video to add to your collection.

The retail price is $69.99, or order it right now at Amazon for $48.99, saving 30%!

Extras:

• Life On Location
• Deleted Scenes
• Music Only Viewing Option

Synopsis:

From the BBC and the Discovery Channel, producers of Planet Earth and The Blue Planet: Seas of Life, comes the newest landmark natural history series, Life. In Planet Earth, we brought you the world as you’ve never seen it before. Now, get closer with Life. Four years in the making, filmed over 3000 days, across every continent and in every habitat, with breathtaking new high definition filming techniques not available for Planet Earth, Life presents 130 incredible stories from the frontiers of the natural world, 54 of which have never been filmed before. Packed with excitement, revelation and entertainment, this remarkable 11-part blockbuster, narrated by Oprah Winfrey, captures unprecedented, astonishingly beautiful sequences and demonstrates the spectacular and extraordinary tactics animals and plants have developed to stay alive.

After a few slow weeks, the Blu-ray market share hit 16% on a strong revenue of $31.71M for the week ending June 6th, according to Home Media Magazine.

Alice in Wonderland from Disney took first place on the chart, with five times the sales of second placed The Wolfman from Universal and ten times third placed Avatar from Fox.

New release Life from BBC/Warner was close behind in 4th place, ahead of last week’s True Blood: The Complete Second Season from HBO in 5th.

Last week’s releases The Road and Dear John from Sony Pictures took 9th and 10th place respectively.

Some very strong per title marker share numbers with week with the top three all above 30% market share.

Alice in Wonderland  had a great first week with 37% on Blu-ray Disc, while The Wolfman took 32% and Avatar maintains a very strong 40% market share on Blu-ray Disc.

Life stole the show this week though with an amazing 54% market share for Blu-ray Disc, one of the few titles to outsell the DVD in the first week of release.

Dear John shows how genre matters, with only 10% of sales on Blu-ray Disc.

Burn Notice: Season Three was only notable from the lack of release on Blu-ray Disc - I guess Burn Notice: Season Two didn’t sell so well.

BBC Home Video released something a little different this week with the Blu-ray release of Hamlet on May 4th, 2010.

This is a recent production of Hamlet, perhaps Shakespeare’s most famous play, that was shot for a film version last year.

Shakespeare is naturally one of the most revered playwrights of all time and even today it is impressive how much of the commonly used English idioms can be tied back to his work.

The production was produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company, perhaps the most respected source for Shakespearean performances.

The scene setting is recent if not modern and shot on location rather than on a stage, though the dialogue for the film remains true to the script.

This version of Hamlet also uses a number of modern devices and imaging techniques to add intrigue to the story, including footage from ’security cameras’ and a hand held film camera that Hamlet holds in some scenes.

Another point of interested for many is the science fiction oriented cast.

David Tennant, most famous for his recent run as Dr Who takes on the Hamlet character and adds his quirky style to the role, while Star Trek’s Patrick Stewart plays Claudius.

All things said though, this is still Shakespeare - Hamlet runs just over 3 hours so it is not something that everyone is going to get into.

If you like Shakespeare though, this version of Hamlet is a great choice that will offer something new.

Hamlet was directed by Gregory Doran, who has also directed Macbeth for the screen.

This version has been well received by audiences, earning an IMDb score of 8.2/10.

The video on the disc is an AVC 1080i encode at 24.5 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

The image quality while not reference is pretty respectable, obviously shot on HD cameras.

You will find full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc at the details page for Hamlet.

The main audio is lossless Linear PCM with 2.0 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 42.8 GB used and is coded for All Regions.

The supplements on the disc are on the light side - there is an audio commentary with director Gregory Doran, along with Sebastian Grant and Chris Seager.

There is also a half hour ‘Making Of’ mini documentary covering the production and the artistic choices made for this version of Hamlet.

While not for everyone, this new release of Hamlet from BBC Home Video is a pretty strong presentation of the play and as such should be of great interest to home theater enthusiasts with a Shakespearean leaning.

It might also be worth a rental if you just have a casual interest.

The retail price is $24.99, or order it right now at Amazon for $16.99, saving 32%!

Extras:

• Audio Commentary With Gregory Doran, Sebastian Grant And Chris Seager
• The Making Of

Synopsis:

David Tennant and Patrick Stewart star in this critically acclaimed production of Shakespeare’s masterpiece from Britain’s renowned Royal Shakespeare Company. No recent stage production in Britain has attracted the excitement and nearly unanimous critical praise as this Hamlet. Tennant’s interpretation was recognized as defining the role for a generation, and Stewart’s complex Claudius won the Olivier award, Britain’s highest stage honor. In this specially-shot screen version, filmed on location rather than in the theater, Tennant and Stewart reprise their roles. Dynamic, exciting and contemporary, it breathes new life into Shakespeare’s greatest play.

Dr Who fans got a real treat this month with the Feb 2nd release of Doctor Who: The Complete Specials from BBC Home Video.

This collection includes four special episodes from David Tennant’s turn as Doctor Who, one of which is split into two parts.

Each hour long special gets its own disc.

The first special in the set is called The Next Doctor, where The Doctor arrives in London in 1851 and finds another man who claims to be The Doctor.

Assuming that this is himself from a future regeneration, The Doctor quizzes the new Doctor and over time finds that his sonic screwdriver is just a regular screwdriver and his TARDIS is a hot air balloon.

It turns out that the Cybermen are behind the mystery and together the two Doctors work to defeat them.

Currently this collection is the only way to own this episode on Blu-ray Disc.

The second special in the collection was previously released individually on Blu-ray - Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead has been previously covered, see details here.

The third episode in the set is The Waters of Mars, where The Doctor encounters the first human colony on Mars in 2059, where he quickly realizes that he already knows how this plays out and that he has arrived the very day that the colony is destroyed.

While he knows that he needs to get away from the events that are about to unfold, he finds himself compelled to at least try and help the people there who inevitably all die in ‘future history’.

This episode is certainly one of the darker episodes in the collection and Doctor Who: The Waters Of Mars is available separately, also released Feb 2nd.

The last special comes in two parts - The End of Time Parts I and II - each on a separate Blu-ray Disc.

These episodes aired at the end of 2009 and round out David Tennant’s run as The Doctor.

The Master gets resurrected on Earth by a cult, though things don’t quite work out as planned and the Master has unusual powers as well as a ravenous hunger.

The Master is brought in by billionaire Joshua Naismith to repair an alien device Naismith recovered from Torchwood in the hope to grant his daughter Abigail immortality.

Needless to say things go horribly awry, and in addition to that the Time Lords are trying to take advantage of these events to make a return.

This episode is also the last story for David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and we see his character regenerate into the eleventh incarnation played by Matt Smith.

I hope that we will also see Matt Smith’s episodes presented on Blu-ray Disc in the future.

Doctor Who: The End Of Time is also available individually.

Overall I find the new Doctor Who episodes to be pretty enjoyable and the mix of strong writing and relatively low budget special effects to be a worthwhile watch.

The episodes in The Complete Specials were largely directed by Euros Lyn.

The video on this release features VC-1 1080i encoding at around 30 Mbps, and are presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

Full resolution PNG screen captures can be seen at the details page for Doctor Who: The Complete Specials.

The main audio is DTS-HD High Resolution with 5.1 channels - 16 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The discs are dual layer BD50 discs and are coded for All Regions.

Each episode comes with a making of documentary they call the Doctor Who Confidential.

Extra footage is included with deleted scenes introduction from Russell T Davies.

An interesting supplement is Doctor Who at the Proms, where the music from Doctor Who is played along with illustration and effects from the show, along with many special appearances.

The set also has segments with the David Tennant Video Diaries, Doctor Who BBC Christmas Idents and Doctor Who at Comic-Con.

Doctor Who is a great choice for people who are fans of Science Fiction, but it comes with a British leaning.

Certainly though the Doctor Who: The Complete Specials from BBC Home Video is an excellent choice for fans of the show.

The retail price is $59.99, and it is available at Amazon for $44.99, saving 25%!

Extras:

• Doctor Who Confidential
• Doctor Who at the Proms
• Deleted Scenes with Introduction from Russell T Davies
• David Tennant Video Diaries
• Doctor Who BBC Christmas Idents
• Audio Commentaries
• Doctor Who At Comic-Con

Synopsis:

The Next Doctor, Planet Of The Dead, The Waters Of Mars, The End Of Time, Part One and Part Two

Cover Art Gallery for the week of the 25th of October 2009:

Click on any cover to see the details for the title.