We brought you Warner Home Video's
press release last this past month for the 62-DVD release of
Smallville - The Complete Series...which the studio still hasn't nailed down a specific release date for. We presume it will be available on the same street date as
Smallville - The Complete 10th Season on
DVD and high-def
Blu-ray Disc, but that hasn't been formally announced either.
We
mentioned in March that VideoETA, a site produced by the retail distribution arm of Ingram Entertainment, had shown a November 8th date for
Season 10, but they've since removed that date. Also, Amazon.com's pre-order listings for
Season 10 show an image which looks like it could be a DVD box cover, but our sources tell us that Warner has not finalized the product packaging and that what you see at Amazon may or may not turn out to be what ends up on store shelves. So at this time we're waiting for the official studio distribution of that package art.
Where
Smallville - The Complete Series is concerned, though, we've got an update for you. In late 2005 and early 2006, the producers of
Smallville put together a pilot called
Mercy Reef, later called simply
Aquaman. It starred Justin Hartley as "Arthur Curry/Aquaman," but the pilot didn't get picked up so Hartley ended up on
Smallville playing "Oliver Queen/Green Arrow" (and eventually meeting
Smallville's version of "A.C./Aquaman," played by Alan Ritchson). Because of the various ties to
Smallville, fans have been asking us whether Warner would possibly include the
Aquaman/
Mercy Reef pilot on the
Smallville - The Complete Series set. After all, it was available on DVD
exclusively as a Best Buy bonus disc in a special
Smallville promotion in 2007, at a time soon after the sixth season came to market. Later, it was also
included on Blu-ray format, in the general release of the DTV title
Justice League - Crisis on Two Earths, in that title's BD version.
Now we're informed that Warner Home Video will indeed include the
Aquaman/
Mercy Reef pilot on the
Smallville - The Complete Series package's on-disc bonus materials. So, for the first time ever, this item will be available in a widely-distributed DVD release. We're glad Warner could make that happen. And we know that they are still looking for other cool material to include on this set, so stay tuned and we'll let you know if they find anything else. On the other hand, Warner has had to address one other thing that the fans have brought up. A few weeks ago, we
passed along word from the studio that the reason
The Complete Series would not be available in a Blu-ray Disc version, is because the special effects created for the earliest seasons is not at a resolution high enough for that format. Since then, fans have accused Warner of fudging the truth in this matter, because they note that those first few seasons of
Smallville are available in HD at some places. This has caused the studio to revise their earlier statement, addressing the differences between 720p HD downloads, and the 1080p quality that consumers look for in a Blu-ray Disc purchase. Here's their official statement, revised with that information:
"At this time, Warner Home Video does not have plans to release SMALLVILLE: THE COMPLETE SERIES on Blu-ray due to technical issues present in the first seasons. These differences include standard definition technical aspects, most notably within special effects, that do not format suitably to Blu-ray 1080p standards. These episodes are available for download in 720p high definition."
And so that is that. I think many studios have taken note of the fact that a number of fans for
Highlander: The Series haven't been completely satisfied with the Blu-ray Disc quality of that show, which was created with special effects for standard-definition quality broadcast and was upconverted to 720p levels for BD releases. And that's certainly not a knock on the folks behind those items: they have worked hard to bring fans the best quality possible. However, if Warner chooses not to go that route with
Smallville, then we kind-of understand. And here we've gotten some hate e-mail from a couple of fans for passing along that word from the studio. Hey, don't shoot the messenger. We call 'em like we see 'em. In the future, if reruns of
Smallville can turn into the kind of money-maker that the first two seasons of
Star Trek have, then maybe the "
TNG" remastering
rumored to be in the works won't be the last time that happens!
Stay tuned, Super-fans, and we'll update you further about
Smallville - The Complete Series AND
Smallville - The Complete 10th Series, once Warner Home Video releases their finalized plans!
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