Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season [Blu-Ray] 
Cast: Noah Wyle, Moon Bloodgood, Will Patton
Release Date: Now Available On Blu-ray & DVD
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Disc Rating: 9/10
Plot Summary:
The chaotic aftermath of an alien attack has left most of the world completely incapacitated. In the six months since the initial invasion, the few survivors have banded together outside major cities to begin the difficult task of fighting back. Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers work to protect the people in their care while also engaging in an insurgency campaign against the occupying alien force.
The fourth and penultimate season of ‘Falling Skies’ begins with the 2nd Mass arriving back home to Charleston as they are suddenly ambushed and separated by the Espheni, a number of their own imprisoned in a futuristic prison barrier (or wall) that eviscerates anyone who comes into contact with it. Following the ambush, the series quickly jumps ahead four months and picks up with the separated sections of the 2nd Mass. Tom, Weaver and others remain imprisoned within the alien barrier, while Anne and more of the group continue along the road in search of her and Tom’s daughter Lexi who she has yet to locate. Meanwhile unbeknownst to Anne, Lexi herself has created a mysterious and unexplainably peaceful camp elsewhere and has also miraculously grown to near adulthood in only a few brief months.
The penultimate season of ‘Falling Skies’ continues to build on the ongoing battle between humanity and the Espheni, once again taking advantage of time jumps to remove any dull points, while also more sufficiently portraying the place and mindset in which we find the characters post-jump. Fans of ‘Falling Skies’ will certainly want to make sure to pick up a copy of the Complete Fourth Season Blu-Ray to add to their collections. The Blu-Ray release delivers high definition video and audio presentations that are not only impressive, but far superior to the original HD broadcasts, in addition to the usual solid collection of bonus content including behind the scenes Featurette’s and more (more detailed information regarding the bonus content can be found in the special features section of the technical specification coverage below) making this a definite must own, especially for those who already own the previous season releases.
VIDEO:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the show’s original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio on all of the fourth seasons episodes. The video presentation looks quite fantastic as a whole, delivering a sharp and detailed presentation on each episode that looks wonderful and containing no notable faults to be found within; even the numerous dark and action-oriented sequences so frequent in the series hold up impressively throughout and never falter. Overall, this is another top notch high definition video presentation that will easily please fans of the show.
AUDIO:
The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtrack on all twelve season four episodes. These lossless multichannel soundtracks sound wonderful, providing a clean, discrete and fairly active surround experience. It frequently utilizes all five available channels to their fullest potential and never disappoints, surrounding the viewer with the score and numerous action oriented auditory effects, in addition to a number of natural sounds, and never causing any dialogue that may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or negatively affected in the slightest. Overall, just as with the video presentation, these 5.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtracks hold up in every way required of them and sound fantastic while doing so, they shouldn’t disappoint in the slightest.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Blu-Ray release of ‘Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season’ once again includes a solid collection of bonus content spread out between the two discs. Included on the Blu-Ray release is a Behind the Scenes Featurette titled ‘Tom Mason: A Man of Tomorrow’ which runs approximately 20 minutes in length and explores in detail the character of Tom Mason with some perspective from actor Noah Wyle who portrays him. ‘Inside the Episode’ Featurettes for all of the season’s episodes are also included and feature behind the scenes footage along with comments and interviews from members of the cast and crew; they run approximately 2 minutes in length apiece. Numerous ‘Character Interviews’ with members of the cast (running approximately 8 minutes altogether) are also included, along with a number of ‘Episodic Prequels’ which run approximately 18 minutes in length combined and follow various characters and their activities prior to the season in a Documentary filming style. Last, but certainly not least we are treated to the 2014 Comic Con Panel featuring the cast which runs 53 minutes.
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.
Disc Rating: 9/10
‘Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season’ is now available to own on Blu-Ray & DVD from TNT & Warner Bros Entertainment.
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