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| Special Features: |
Complete miniseries on five discs with remastered sound
"The Making of Shogun" a 13-segment documentary
3 historical perspective featurettes
Commentary by director Jerry London on select scenes
Number of discs: 5
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| Video Format: |
Widescreen (4:3)
[SS-DL]
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| Languages: |
English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English Mono
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| Subtitles: |
English
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| Captions: |
Yes
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| Casing: |
5-Disc Fold-out Case
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John Blackthorne, an English ship pilot, whose vessel wrecked upon the Japanese coast in the early 17th century is forced to deal with the two most powerful men in Japan. He is thrown in the midst of a war between Toranaga and Ishido, who struggle for the title of Shogun which will give ultimate power to the one who possesses it.
A HUGE epic mini-series that debuted at the beginning of the 80s. Richard Chamberlain offers his best performance, despite the sometimes over the top story. Overall, 547 minutes of epic story telling, battles, romance, etc. Known as being very faithful to the book that it was based upon.
The series can be a bit overblown at times, with everything from storms to earthquakes mixing in with the central story. Melodrama ensues as well, but the performance from Chamberlain, and many of the Japanese actors make this DVD worth the buy for fans of epics.
The disc offers just enough for fans to cherish. Some behind the scenes action, along with a great transfer, makes this set well worth its costs.
Picture Quality: 9/10
Most old miniseries debuting on DVD are unfortunate in teh fact that the source material is aged almost beyond repair. Meaning that the look of grain and soft textures is not escapable. But for Shogun, the colors are rich, the blacks are well repped, and the cinematography shines. It's not as good as a recent film DVD release, but can easily be given the prize for best miniseries transfer thus far.
Sound Quality: 8/10
Almost equally as good as the picture transfer, although some of the dubbing is a bit poor. Pretty good seperation overall, with some fantastic effects during action moments in storms, quakes, and sword battles.
Easter Eggs:
No Easter Eggs found during review.
Extra Features: 8/10
The documentary is fantastic... giving us a true sense of all the work that went into this fine piece of work. What could have been a boring anf light behind the scenes look, turns out to be a learning experience. The smaller featurettes about the Geisha and more importantly the Samurai, are short but a true treat.
The direcotr commentary can be a bit boring after watching the fine documentary... but there are some good view points that the director offers.
The Final Word:
This release comes on the heels of Chamberlain's recent announcement of his outing. Coincidence? Who knows. Who cares? The miniseries deserves that treament that it received. A fine DVD set for any Shogun fan!
Ken Miyamoto
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