“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is an entertaining, thrilling TV series that manages to take on various storyline plots from the big screen and bring it to audiences on television. The characters, the chemistry and the action are all-well done but I’m hoping writers will be able to take some risks and have something new and exciting planned for the second season. An action-packed series that I highly recommend on DVD!
TITLE: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season One
YEAR OF TV SERIES: 2013-2014
DURATION: 22 Episodes (946 Minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: Widescreen (1:78:1), English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, French
RATED: TV PG
COMPANY:Â Marvel
Released Dated: September 9, 2014
Directed by Vincent Misiano, Bobby Roth, Milan Cheylov, Roxann Dawson, Bill Gierhart, David Straiton, Jesse Bochco, Holly Dale, Jonathan Frakes, Josss Whedon, Paul A. Edwards, Kenneth Fink, Kevin Hooks, John Terlesky
Written by Jeffrey Bell, Monica Breen, Daniel J. Doyle, Brent Fletcher, Shalisha Francis, Rafe Judkins, Jack Kirby, Lauren LeFranc, Stan Lee, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, Joss Whedon, Paul Zbyszewski
Produced by Garry A. Brown, Samantha Thomas, Rafe Judkins, Lauren LeFranc
Co-Producer: Chris Cheramie, Shalisha Francis
Executive Producer: Jeffrey Bell, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Jeph Loeb, Robert Parigi, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, Joss Whedon, Joe Quesada
Co-Executive Producer: Paul Zbyszewski, Monica Breen
Music by Bear McCreary
Cinematography by Feliks Parnell, Jeffrey C. Mygatt, David Boyd
Edited by Paul Trejo, Joshua Charson, Debby Germino, David Crabtree
Casting by Sarah Finn, Tamara Hunter
Series Production by Gregory Melton
Series Art Direction by Roland Rosenkranz, Alex Hajdu
Set Decoration by Melissa M. Levander
Costume Design by Ann Foley, Betsy Heimann
Starring:
Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
Brett Dalton as Grant Ward
Chloe Bennet as Skye
Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz
Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons
J. August Richards as Mike PEterson
B.J. Britt as Antoine Triplett
David Conrad as Ian Quinn
Bill Paxton as John Garrett
Ruth Negga as Raina
Saffron Burrows as Victoria Hand
Maximiliano Hernandez as Jasper Sitwell
Cullen Douglas as Edison Po
Patton Oswalt as Eric Koenig
In the wake of The Battle of New York, the world has changed forever. An extraordinary landscape of wonders has been revealed! In response, mysteriously resurrected Agent Phil Coulson assembles an elite team of skilled agents and operatives: Melinda May, Grant Ward, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons and new recruit/computer hacker Skye. Together, they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. But every answer unearths even more tantalizing questions that reverberate across the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe: Who is “The Clairvoyantâ€? What is Hydra’s sinister master plan; what dark secret lies behind Skye’s puzzling origins, and most importantly of all, who can be trusted?
From Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Angel”, “Firefly”) comes “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”.
An American TV series airing on ABC, the television series was co-created with Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen and focuses on the organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division).
With a second season now in production, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in Sept. 2014.
For fans of the Marvel films “Iron Man”, “The Avengers”, “Thor” and “Captain America”, the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. featuring Director Nick Fury (portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson), Maria Hill (portrayed by Cobie Smulders) and Phil Coulson (portrayed by Clark Gregg), there were questions from fans of Agent Coulson (who died in “The Avengers”) if Marvel would bring him back.
And sure enough, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” features the return of Agent Coulson, who is unaware of his demise during the Battle of New York (when the Avengers fought against the aliens in the film, “The Avengers”) and thinks he went to vacation in Tahiti.
Agent Coulson along with Maria Hill are trying to put together a small team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to handle strange cases, especially those revolving with Project Centipede and its mysterious leader.
Coulson’s group includes Grant Ward (portrayed by Brett Dalton), a S.H.I.E.L.D. black ops specialist; Melinda May (portrayed by Ming-Na Wen) who is known as “The Calvary” and is haunted by her memories of being a field agent; Leo Fitz (portrayed by Iain De Caestecker) who specializes in engineering and weapons technology; Jemma Simmons (portrayed by Elizabeth Henstridge) who specializes in life sciences and works closely with Leo; and civilian computer hacker Skye (portrayed by Chloe Bennet).
And as the group takes on a variety of cases, what happens when they find out that HYDRA has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season One” is presented in 1:78:1 anamorphic widescreen and English 5.1 Dolby Digital. Picture quality on DVD is very good as the series is broken up in five discs. Audio quality is good with clear dialogue. I did not notice any artifacts or any problematic issues during my viewing of the series. But it’s important to note that if you want the best picture and audio quality available, the Blu-ray release is the way to go!
Subtitles are in English SDH, Spanish and French.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season One” comes with the following special features:
DISC 5:
- Journey Into S.D.C.C. – (13:13) The cast discuss promoting Marvel’s “The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” at San Diego Comic Con
- Field Reports – Featuring five field reports (about three minutes long) in regards to the making of various scenes from different episodes.
- VFX Progressions – Featuring two visual effects progressions and the modeling and compositing that were utiled in the visual effects scenes.
- Bloopers of S.H.I.E.L.D. – (6:31) Outtakes from the first season of “The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”.
- Deleted Scenes – Featuring eight deleted scenes.
As a long time comic book fan and having read many stories that involved Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., and following how the organization has been utilized in animated series and effectively in the Marvel live action films, suffice to say, I was excited about the series.
For one, you have Joss Whedon putting his stamp of approval as he is one of the executive producers of the show. You have several people from the film making an appearance in the series such as Samuel L. Jackson as Director Nick Fury, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill and the return of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) who died in “The Avengers” film.
So, there was a lot of excitement built up for the live action series, there was that side of me not knowing what to expect. While I was familiar with Clark Gregg’s work as Coulson, Ming-Na Wen having appeared in many TV drama series and film, I was not too familiar with the other main characters of the series.
Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, Chloe Bennet (Chinese pop star – Chloe Wang) as Skye, Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons and Iain De Caestecker as Leo Fitz, I was not familiar with these actors but having watched the entire series, one thing you will notice is how the crew gelled. The chemistry was good, the characters were enjoyable to watch and if anything, they made “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” a series worth paying attention to.
As the series takes place after “The Avengers” film and continues during “Thor: The Dark World” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” ends, we get to see characters from the film and storyline plots make its way to the series.
In episode 6 titled “F.Z.Z.T”, what happens when an alien virus found on a Chitauri helmet savaged from the Battle of New York is found.
In episode 15, the group confronts Lady Sif (portrayed by Jaime Alexander) from the “Thor” films is seeking Lorelei.
And the ongoing storyline left over from “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” involving Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. plays a big part in the series.
So, there is consistency with the live action films and if anything, what helps the series is its share of action and the fact that the production quality makes you feel that you are watching a TV series. Everything about the series meshed well, when it came to the characters, the connections to the films and the various talent who took part in the series. It made, “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” much more enjoyable and exciting.
Was there anything about the series that I had problems with? Aside from Deathlok being a bit different from its comic book counterpart, the series while entertaining and exciting, does need more to it. I wouldn’t mind seeing more characters and letting Joss Whedon taking the reigns much more closely to make the series become much better.
There were certainly a good amount of plot twists but I do want to see how perilous life as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent really is and that writers are willing to take on a few risks with the characters.
As for the DVD release, it’s important to note that if you want the best picture quality, the Blu-ray version is the way to go. But as far as the DVD goes, overall DVD quality is very good when it comes to picture quality and sound. But expect much more vibrant colors, detail and better use of the surround channels on the Blu-ray version. You also get a few interesting special features, especially the cast visiting San Diego Comic Con, which was great to see!
Overall, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is an entertaining, thrilling TV series that manages to take on various storyline plots from the big screen and bring it to audiences on television. The characters, the chemistry and the action are all-well done but I’m hoping writers will be able to take some risks and have something new and exciting planned for the second season.
An action-packed series that I highly recommend on DVD!
