Wynonna Earp-Series 1 (Blu-ray) (2016)

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General		Extras
Category	Western Fantasy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2016
Running Time	560:44
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Ron Murphy Paolo Barzman Brett Sullivan Peter Stebbings
Studio Distributor	Seven24 Films Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Melanie Scrofano Shamier Anderson Tim Rozon Dominique Provost-Chalkley Katherine Barrell Michael Eklund Greg Lawson Rayisa Kondracki David LeReaney Joris Jarsky
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Robert Carli Peter Chapman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     A female gun slinging descendant of Wyatt Earp battling a bunch of resurrected outlaws forms the back bone of this series. At face value this hints at yet another ho-hum zombie fest but the use of interesting individual episode plots interwoven with a clever overall plot takes this series to a higher level. The entire first season is based in the modern day town of Purgatory, ancestral home of the legendary gun slinger Wyatt Earp and his descendants. Owing to the ‘Earp Curse’ the outlaws killed by Wyatt Earp are periodically resurrected as revenants. Despite having special powers the revenants are trapped in the ‘Ghost River Triangle’ where they cause murder and mayhem until they are sent back to hell by the rightful Earp heir using Wyatt’s gun ‘Peacemaker’.

     Melanie Scrofano plays the lead character Wynnona, the great granddaughter of Wyatt Earp, who returns to Purgatory after many years on the run from her own upbringing and the law. Once back in Purgatory Wynonna realises she is the only one who can use ‘Peacemaker’ to send the revenants back and avenge the murder of her father and older sister. In her quest she is aided by her younger sister Waverly (Dominique Provost-Chalkley), an ageless Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon), and Agent Dolls (Shamier Anderson) of the secret government agency known as Black Badge. Michael Eklund gives a great performance as Bobo Del Rey, leader of the revenants while special mention should also go to Rayisa Kondracki as the witch Constance Clootie.

     Great characterization of the protagonists (human and resurrected) combined with good acting and camera work definitely makes this series fun to watch. The writers have cleverly incorporated human attributes and emotions to the revenants in a way that sometimes leaves you feeling sorry for them (well... some of them). There is light humour throughout the series, however a couple of scenes would have been better without the humour. The ongoing character Nicole Haught (Katherine Barrell) does not contribute to the main plot and seems to have been written into the script purely for the purpose of providing another love angle. All things said and done the plot wraps up nicely in the final episode of season one and introduces a last minute twist to keep viewers in anticipation of season two.

Video

     The video transfer is good however there are some instances of aliasing throughout the entire series. Given the video is 1080p it seems likely the source material was interlaced. The aliasing was not frequent enough to cause continual distraction and in many cases the area of the screen affected was so small that most viewers would not notice. There were several instances of edge enhancement but again these were not sufficient to detract from the overall viewing experience.

     There are English for the hearing impaired subtitles available which are clear and easy to read although there is often a noticeable loss of resolution to the image behind the subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio is delivered via DTS HD-MA 5.1 and makes good use of the range of frequencies to provide an overall satisfactory experience. The surround channels are not used to create any mind blowing effects but this is no surprise given the show is a series produced for broadcast to homes rather than a blockbuster movie for cinemas.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu features music.

    At the time of writting this review this series was only available in the U.S. via streaming.

     An entertaining mix of zombies, magic and old west characters set in modern times.

     The video quality is good.

     The audio quality is good.

     There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall