Genre: Sci-Fi | Horror | Drama

Writer: Jeff Davis, Jeph Loeb, Matthew Weisman, Jeff Vlaming, Daniel Sinclair, Monica Macer, Jonathon Roessler

Directors: Russell Mulcahy, Toby Wilkins, Tim Andrews

Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Number of discs: 3 (12 episodes)

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: MTV

DVD Release Date: May 22, 2012

Run Time: 522 minutes

Synopsis:

Discover the story of how one strange night forever transformed one teenager’s life, when MTV‘s hit show TEEN WOLF Season 1 comes to DVD May 22 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. Nominated for six Teen Choice Awards ®, Season 1 is a must-own for every fan, with an exclusive never-before-seen extended season finale, deleted and extended content and behind-the-scenes extras with the sizzling, breakout stars of the show. TEEN WOLF stars some of young Hollywood’s finest, including Tyler Posey (Scott McCall), Crystal Reed (Allison Argent), Tyler Hoechlin (Derek Hale), Dylan O’Brien (Stiles), Holland Roden (Lydia Martin) and Colton Haynes (Jackson Whittemore). The series will return for a second season this summer on MTV.

MTV‘s TEEN WOLF is a sexy, suspenseful drama about transformation set against the backdrop of contemporary teen life, with a forbidden, romantic love story at its core, making it a fresh and different take on the iconic movie. Always an outsider and often unnoticed, Scott McCall yearns to be recognized in some small way that takes him out of his typical state of high school anonymity. When his best friend Stiles convinces him to go into the woods one night to join a police search for a dead body, Scott encounters a creature in the darkness. Narrowly escaping an attack with a vicious bite in his side, the next day brings strange surprises for Scott at school and his life will never be the same.

IT’S NOTHING LIKE THE MOVIE. It’s also, I’m happy to report, not like most “teen” shows currently on the air. THIS IS A GREAT SHOW. It is actually on my very short “A” list, and that’s because it has chemistry and heart and twists and monsters and I cannot look away. And okay, it’s a beautiful cast. But each one of them owns his or her role and acts his or her socks off with such charisma that you can forgive them being startlingly gorgeous. There are deaths and maulings and kisses and laughs and the balance is rarely precarious. It’s fresh and it isn’t whiny.

The two leads are charming and believable. They are strong characters who don’t overpower the show. The snarky popular couple go through some changes and have some depth, given some time. Not always knowing who the good guys are and who the bad guys are is one of the things that keeps the story interesting. Likewise, the “adults” – mostly parents – hold their own beautifully without being caricatures. They’re allowed to have faults but they aren’t the butt of anyone’s jokes, including the audience’s.

But as terrific as all of them are, the show overall would fail without the character of Stiles as played by Dylan O’Brien. The pace of his snarky comments tempered with the absolute believability of his good heart saves the show from ever being too angsty or drowned in the real horror of high school torment. Kudos to the writers and to young Mr. O’Brien.

The first season has a nice arc to it, with some cool mysteries and reveals and cliffhangers, and with only 12 episodes none of them feel like fillers. This DVD collection includes all of the episodes, along with commentaries on selected episodes, as well as other special features listed below, along with my comments in italics. By the way, parents, yes the season premiered on MTV, so there is some groping and some language, but no more than, say, The Vampire Diaries.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Extended Version of Season Finale episode “Code Breakers” – It is an extra-long episode, but I am certain I remember all of it from the broadcast premiere of the finale last year, so I presume that after the first run it was shortened to regular length when repeated
• Deleted, Alternate and Extended Scenes
• Gag Reel Not a big production number, but good for a chuckle
• Special Featurette: Season 1 Shirtless Montage – which makes it so clearly an MTV-type production, but it’s pretty entertaining
• Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes – Following The Pack – A meet-the-cast featurette, gives the background of casting. Love Bites – Yes, kissing. Teen Wolf cast on the Red Carpet – For the premiere party. Cute seeing how very young-adult they are; Tyler Posey admits he is wearing his very first suit.

I sampled the commentaries by checking out the cast commentary on episode 10, “Co-Captain,” and what they call the “behind the scenes” commentary of the finale, “Code Breakers,” by director Russell Mulcahy, and showrunner Jeff Davis. The cast commentary was not unusual; it was the cast chatting, and tweeting, and chatting about tweeting. Happily, they also had information to impart about the episode, so it wasn’t only a gabfest. Whether they were given the talking points or they came up with them on their own, I’m appreciative of a cast commentary that actually gives some insight into the episode, and this did that, as well as revealing something about their off-screen personalities.

The “behind the scenes” commentary, however, gave exactly the kind of thing I want in creatives’ commentary. Technical things about how the scenes were shot, info on scripts, what the actors bring to each scene, funny stories about props, etc. Never chatty, never off-topic, technical terms are explained, and it’s very much all about the episode.

The packaging is standard, but happily, the index sheet is under plastic on the inside, so it won’t get lost, and lists each episode per disc (4 on each), and special features per disc (commentaries on discs 1 and 2, commentaries and all the other special features on disc 3).  The discs themselves don’t have lists, only identifying the disc number, with a different cast member’s picture on each. There was one interesting bit of info on the back of the case, along with some of the specs and the promotional information: “This series is musically edited,” which usually means that some of the songs in the soundtrack may differ from the songs used in the original broadcast, for licensing reasons.

Mentioning the presentation of the DVD set does bring out the one glaringly bad thing about the packaging – the cover art. Please don’t look at the cover art and think that you are seeing anything approaching what anyone actually looks like at any point in the series. Sorry. But don’t let that one element throw you, because everything else makes up for it.

So, packaging and presentation, not unusual but well done. Special features, also not unusual, but very well done. Episodes, beyond the usual, and very, very well done. Ok, yes, it is a teen show, but it is a smartly written, extremely enjoyable, charismatic teen show and a perfect summer watch, and a great rainy-weekend-marathon watch, whether or not you have any teens watching with you. I love this show.

I give Teen Wolf: The Complete Season One Five Out of Five Stars.

 
 
 
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