Serenity

4. Serenity

Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Release Date: December 30, 2008

Serenity may not have the eye-popping special effects that you might expect in a sci-fi film such as this, but what filmmaker Joss Whedon has going for him here are integrity, heart, soul, and a cadre of rich and memorable characters. Much like the old-school Star Trek, which is an obvious influence, Whedon overcomes the lack of epic space battles and other genre trappings by creating genuine tension and emotion via the time honored tradition of actually scripting interesting, intriguing, and real characters, characters you not only identify with, but end up caring a great deal for.

The widescreen 2.35:1 image is clean and rich, with standout background details that give a sense of the film’s complex production design, especially within the confines of the ship herself. This kind of impressive depth simply couldn’t be delivered in standard definition. Whedon’s high-contrast style is preserved, from the dark blacks of space to the blooming whites of the desert locales. This release boasts a DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio soundtrack in 5.1 surround. The HD DVD came with a Dolby Digital-Plus track, and this improves up on that with full, dynamic audio that really livens up the room. Extras are plentiful with Whedon commentary, documentary featurettes, and deleted scenes. It’s nice to see that there are some great new features here as well, produced just for this release.