With yesterdays release of the start date for season seven of Game of Thrones, I felt that this article which I had written back on December 12th of last year seemed appropriate to post for today. I would also like to half-assedly apologize for the whiny tone I take throughout most of this article. The more I wrote and the more I thought about this lack of quality that went into the production and distribution of this season of such an otherwise well made show, made me more and more irritated.
This article is regarding the presentation and quality of the Blu-ray for season six of Game of Thrones which I purchased through Amazon.com; my issue is not with Amazon.com, but with the product developed and released by HBO and "sold" by Amazon, so my complaint is not with them, but with HBO.
I am not happy with the decline in quality with the season six Blu-ray for Game of Thrones. The physical discs are fine, but their presentation in the box, the quality of the box and case, and the presentation of the digital media on the discs is lacking from what I come to expect from an HBO product and is considerably less quality than previous seasons. I actually do like how the discs clip onto the case and how there is a physical divider between the top and bottom disc so as to prevent scratches on either disc, but it seems like nearly everything else with the production of this boxed set I have a problem with; which I know comes across as potentially petty.
First off, the outer case is flimsy paper-board which only covers a portion of the box which causes the edges and sides to pucker and pull away from the box. Also the areas where the outer case was perforated from the pieces that were removed stick out and while is purely cosmetic, still comes across as an unsightly blemish. What you can see in the picture, is after only a few months of sitting on the shelf amongst all of the other Game of Thrones Blu-ray boxes, as well as occasionally taking the box off of the shelf to play the enclosed discs.
Secondly, the inner box which has the plastic holder that holds the discs has begun to pull away from the case. While I do not mind the plastic holder specific to this seasons box set (as opposed to the ones that were used in every previous season), whatever the glue that was used appears to be of not as high a quality as previously used.
Thirdly, there was no booklet produced for this season unlike the booklet that was included with each previous season. What you see pictured is the extent of the materials inside the box. What I liked about this booklet that was included in the previous five seasons was that it said which specific episodes had commentaries and who was a part of those commentaries, as well as the writers and director of that specific episode. And to date, I still have not finished rewatching the season with or without the commentaries for the sole reason that I do not know which episodes have commentaries, who is on them and it is mentally harder to track. Yes, I know, first world problem, but where else to complain but on the Internet.
Compare, if you will, the difference in episode information between season six, and season five.
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| This is the extent of the information, as part of the physical cover, for each episode for season six of Game of Thrones Blu-ray box set. |
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| [Sorry for potato quality] This is the separate booklet with episode synopsis, writer/director, and commentary listings for season five of Game of Thrones Blu-ray boxed set. |
As far as the production work done on the Blu-ray discs, I was disappointed to find out that there is no information on the discs for who is on a specific episode's commentary. While the episode does say that there is a commentary, there is no information about who is present unless there are multiple commentaries for a single episode, unlike previous seasons discs where it says who is on the audio commentary when you select that you want to listen to a commentary. As previously stated, this makes tracking which commentaries I have already listened to difficult, although I am not against listening to commentaries more than once, otherwise I probably would not have been so annoyed.
I am sure that my complaints could be chalked up to minor issues, but having purchased each previous season of Game of Thrones (except the first season which was a gift, and our introduction to the show) and been more than happy with the physical and digital presentation of the discs and the media on the discs, I wanted to let you know that I am unhappy with the corners that were cut by either HBO or the production company involved in order to either save on money (while still charging the same cost as previous seasons) or to have the product shipped earlier than previous seasons. For the following seasons 7 and 8, I am considering waiting until the product has been released before I purchase my copy rather than be surprised and disappointed again by a product that I have come to love and be excited to watch and display.
At this point, I am not looking for a credit, a refund, or compensation in anyway. I just want to let HBO (see P.S. below) that I am unhappy with a sub-par quality product that they, at the very least, put their stamp of approval on.
~Jack Wright
P.S. I did contact HBO through the HBO Online Shop site, but was told that because they do not distribute the Blu-ray boxed sets there was nothing they could do. The woman who emailed me back, did suggest I try "HBO Consumer Affairs," which was where I was able to find another email address, so I sent the same complaint (most of the text taken from this article). That email exchange happened between December 7th and 12th and I have not heard anything back from the message I sent to HBO Consumer Affairs.
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