CARNIVALE
SEASON ONE

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Released: Dec 8th 2004
Amazon Price: $69.99
MSRP Price: $99.98 
Costco Price: $68.99

All 12 Episodes
Format: Widescreen 
Studio: HBO 
Run Time: 720 minutes 
Number of Discs -  6

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Carnivale Season 1 Rating: A

STARS: Michael J. Anderson, Adrienne Barbeau, Patrick Bauchau, Clancy Brown, Debra Christofferson, Tim DeKay, Clea Duvall, Cynthia Ettinger, John Fleck, Carla Callo, Toby Huss, Amy Madigan, Diane Salinger, Nick Stahl, Karyne Steben, Sarah Steben, and Brian Turk

This was one of my favorite series in the 2003/2004 season. If your a suspense fan this is a complete package. 

HBO has improved on the material a bit more with anamorphic widescreen and Dobly Digital 5.1 surround. The series turned some heads with the shows premiere and continued through the entire season. The five Emmy winner is slated for even greater things in season 2. 

Carnivale happens during 1934 in the dustbowl - during the last great age of magic. Here's the narrative from the back of the boxed set. In a time of titanic sandstorms, vile plague, drought and pestilence - signs of God's fury and harbringers of the Apocalypse - the final conflict between good and evil is about to begin. The battle will take place in the heartland of an empire-called America, where a travelling carnival harboring Ben Hawkins, a troubled healer, will clash with an Evangelical ministry led by Brother Justin Crowe. And when it's over, man will forever trade away wonder for reasons.

Carnivale is a deadly sin to your senses gripping your attention in a sort of stranglehold of your senses refusing to let go until the end of each show. Each week tiny pieces of the shows real plot are fed to the viewers like their some caged animal. We become consumed by the lives of carnival characters stuck in a private hell unaware of the battle that looms before them. 

If you enjoy the storyline and plots of ABC's "LOST" you will be intrigued with Carnivale and it's interesting carnival characters. HBO's has become the king of Pay Per View series. With the hits Deadwood, the Sapranos, The Wire, and Six Feet Under the network is on a role. 

PACKAGING: 
The boxed set slides into a beautiful slip case with an image of the cast. Inside the sleeve is another well laid out package that looks like a hard back novel. HBO is using a simple book style Digipack fold holding the six discs - twp episodes per disc. Inside the folds beautifully illustrated with the episode titles, the writer and producer with synopsis of each episode. This packaging is one of the major reasons the boxed set has such a high price tag of nearly one-hundred dollars. 

VIDEO: 
The video already looked incredible in HBO's digital and high definition broadcasts.  The DVD looks every bit as good now. The show is filmed in a dark setting with lots of browns and blacks and  The blacks are pitch and the colors are properly saturated. The colors

AUDIO: 
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sounds very nice. There's nothing to really push the envelope of the sound system but voices at the center channel are crisp and clear and the effects sound very good.

BONUS FEATURES: 
The boxed set only contains mild Bonus Features. There is a behind the scenes featurette detailing how set and costume designers collaborated to achieve the look of the dust bowl in the 1930's. The only other bonus is three audio commentaries with series creator Daniel Knauf, executive producer Howard Klein and more.

SUMMARY: 
I can't say enough to get you to want this boxed set as part of your collection or the even get you interested in the series.  This is a wonderfully packaged boxed set inside and out.  it's packed with anamorphic widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1, a wonderful story and some awesome performances. There's no downside to this series

Smallville Season 3 Rating:  A  

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