Reviewed By Jason LockardMany may known Michael Chiklis as Nathaniel Barnes on Gotham. Some may even remember him from the classic TV Drama The Commish. Others may know him as The Thing from The Fantastic 4 and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Some may not realize he was is a gritty, raw, tough cop drama entitled The Shield. The great folks at Mill Creek Entertainment took time for the 10th Anniversary of this series to put together a great anniversary box set of the complete TV series of the Shield.
The show follows Vic Mackey a rogue cop at an experimental division of the Los Angeles Police Department, willing to sink to the criminals' level in order to take them on. The problem is his misdeeds eventually come home to roost. He breaks the law. But in his mind, it is for the greater purpose of bringing some semblance of order to a chaotic world.
Michael Chiklis is at his toughest and best as the lead in this series! The supporting cast is top notch as well! The show is shot in a gritty real life matter. So it is a very adult show, not for the kids at all. The stories take you right into the real life struggles of cops, even the the dirty ones. It's no wonder the series won Emmy, Golden Globe, Satellite, Peabody, ALMA and AFI Awards and was nominated for many many awards.
This series lasted seven seasons and 88 episodes. On this DVD set these episodes are presented in Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) and the audio is Dolby digital 5.1. The audio video quality of this DVD release is stunningly gorgeous! There is Audio commentaries on select episodes and English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired. All 88 episodes are stretched across 16 discs. It ranges 6 or 7 episodes per disc. There is no loss of quality I can see. These is how it's laid out.
Disc 2: Cupid & Psycho / Throwaway / Dragonchasers / Carnivores / Two Days of Blood / Circles
Disc 2: Scar Tissue / Co-Pilot / Coyotes / Inferno / Breakpoint / Dominoes Falling
Disc 2: Posse Up / Safe / Cracking Ice / Slipknot / What Power Is...
Disc 3: / Strays / Riceburner / Fire in the Hole / All In / On Tilt
Disc 2: Cut Throat / Back in the Hole / A Thousand Deaths / Judas Priest / Ain't That a Shame
Disc 2: Man Inside / Kavanaugh / Smoked / Of Mice and Lem / Postpartum
Disc 2: Exiled / The Math of the Wrath / Recoil / Spanish Practices
Disc 2: Animal Control / Bitches Brew / Parricide / Moving Day / Party Line
Disc 3: Petty Cash / Possible Kill Screen / Family Meeting
Now as amazing as this is to have the complete series 88 episodes in one box set. Mill Creek Entertainment went above and beyond with this release and gave us 2 more discs of bonus features. They include;
Bonus Features Disc One
- Crossing the Line
Behind The Shield Featurette
The Sheild FX Featurette
Rampart Documentary
I.A.D. Featurette
- Framing Farmington
Raising the barn
Making a scene
The Editing room
Sound Surgery
A place we call home - Strike Team Only!
Cast Auditions
Director's chair
Panel discussion with Micheal Chiklis, Forest Whitaker and Shawn Ryan - Scott Brazil Tribute (Producer who passed away from Lou Gehrig's disease in 2006)
Bonus Features Disc Two
- 2018 Cast Reunion with Shawn Ryan
- ATX Television Festival: The Shield Writers room panel
- Beyond The Badge Retrospective
As for the packaging, the entire DVD collection comes housed in a hard cardboard case a definite upgrade from thinner cardboard cases that house a lot of the complete series collections. Two discs are found in cardboard sleeves. There is also a booklet in this box which includes episode titles on each disc with synopsis of each episode! I love that a lot!
This 18 disc set is something truly special! Now for those that don't like the DVD and want to upgrade to Blu-ray. This series is also on Blu-ray as well! That packaging is in digi-book format and is really awesome as well!
So if you love The Shield, Michael Chiklis or cop shows. This collection is the biggest and the best! I highly recommend this release for your collection. Head over to MillCreekEnt.com and this set on DVD or Blu-ray today.
Audiences: Adults
Objectionable Material: Violence, Profanity and Nudity
Length: Almost 70 hours
Genre: action, drama
DVD Rating: A+
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