Site icon 615 Film

Game of Thrones Season 6: Groundbreaking TV Accompanied by Groundbreaking Special Features [Blu-ray Review]

Keven Skinner

Game of Thrones is an adaptation of the epic dark fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire from writer George R.R. Martin and showrunners  David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. The series airs exclusively on HBO and stars Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Harrington and Emilia Clarke. Season 7 debuts summer 2017.

Set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos Game of Thrones weaves several plot lines with a broad ensemble cast. The first narrative arc follows a civil war among several noble houses for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms; the second covers the attempts of the exiled last scion of the realm’s deposed ruling dynasty to reclaim the throne; the third chronicles the rising threat of the impending winter and the legendary creatures and fierce peoples of the North.

[Click Image to Expand]

Review:

Game of Thrones has wrapped what has to be their finest season yet in a fiery curtain call of death for several major characters. This would be the moment of truth for several novel fans who have been waiting and wanting to know if Jon Snow truly did die at the hands of the Night’s Watch, as season five ended with his dead body, so too did George R.R. Martin’s fifth novel when it came out six years ago. Season six not only answered that lingering question, but many more that have yet to be revealed in the Song of Ice and Fire book series in which the show is adapted from. Martin took too long to write the books, so the TV series is marching full force ahead towards an inevitable end instead. I’d be more pissed off as a novel fan, but when the show is so damn good it’s hard to get angry at a work of genius.

Game of Thrones went all out for season six. The Red Wedding has officially been topped – yes – they topped the Red Wedding and they did so in a MASSIVE way. I’m still reeling from the finale and The Battle of The Bastards… Hell I’m still feeling the hangover from episode five over here. Season six is the best yet and without a doubt some of the finest television ever produced. Ever. (Read my full review HERE)

Special Features :

Before I talk about how amazing, as always with their home releases, the special features are for season 6 on Blu-ray, let’s talk about that packaging. I like the idea of using the dead skin mask poster, but it was tough following up that shiny gold dragon/Tyrion image from the fifth season’s home release. The packaging is also thinner than usual, as HBO opted to utilise this cool new disc stacking function which is quite clever because the discs don’t rub against each other. That being said – it’s going to look tinier than your other stack of standard Blu-ray cases. So be prepared for that.

Now the important stuff – the behind-the-scenes stuff is astounding. The always present Histories and lore segments are so good…. You’ll get tidbits on everything from the Kingsmoot, the children of the forest fighting the first men, the brotherhood without banners, Robert’s rebellion and more… All narrated by the season’s stars mind you with wonderful animation. I would rebuy another blu-ray release after this series is officially over which just compiled all of these into one disc. They’re amazing for all of us nerds who like that kind of geeky additional background info.

The behind-the-scenes feature on the Battle of The Bastards was stunning as expected. The fact that we learn 40 horses were charging towards Kit Harrington was bonkers to me. They utilised 80 real horses for that episode and they were actually charging towards the cast. Yes there is CGI – but the filming crew went above and beyond to make great use of practical effects.

The 18 hours at Paint Hall was also quite intriguing because it was the first time Game of Thrones had EVER needed to use all three filming teams at the same place, during the same time. Several different storylines all being done in various sets and sound stages – in the same building. It was chaotic. Also – loved seeing the Mountain’s death make-up being applied in this feature… It was gross lookin.

HBO’s greatest show continues to produce the greatest TV home release year after year and season 6 is no different. Buy it – add it to your Xmas wish lists – do whatever you can to get a copy. This is groundbreaking television and it is accompanied by groundbreaking special features.

Rating: [star rating=”5″]

Check out the breakdown of all the special feature segments below. There are a lot of them..

Exit mobile version