The Show
FBI agent Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) is dispatched to the quaint burg of Haven, Maine in order to track a dangerous fugitive, and a long string of unexplained phenomena begins before she can even park her car. Fortunately, she arrives armed with a dry sense of humor and a taste for the weird in addition to her semi-automatic, and she winds up sticking around town for longer than expected, investigating weather anomalies bordering on disasters, super-powers, strange "coincidences" and dark secrets. At least some of the quirky locals are friendly: It helps to think of Haven The Complete First Season sort of like The X-Files meets Northern Exposure.
This SyFy weekly series, set to begin its second season shortly, is based upon the 2005 pulp novel by Stephen King, shaken up (by the folks who brought us the long-running Dead Zone) enough so that it lends itself to an ongoing, serialized format.
The Picture
The 16:9 frame is laden with ample close-ups, and the faces reveal excellent, lifelike detail. The special effects are of the digital, TV-quality variety, some not half-bad and most sufficiently convincing at 1080p/24. Blacks however are seriously mushy, and the video bitrate varies, often down to single digits, and the resulting compression introduces severe ringing in some shots. There's also significant noise in the image.
The Sound
There's a real delicacy to the instruments in Shawn Pierce's musical score, which is creatively, generously mixed across the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundstage. There are some fine--sometimes discrete--rear-channel effects, although the low-end could definitely be stronger, particularly on the seismic-level events. Thunder, as another example, cracks but doesn't boom.
The Extras
Creator audio commentaries are provided on 10 of the 13 episodes here, with an extra-generous two each on the pilot and Episode 5. Participants include executive producers Sam Ernst, Jim Dunn and Shawn Piller, co-executive producer Jose Molina (most of them writers, too), director Adam Kane, and stars Emily Rose and Lucas Bryant.
Three "making of" featurettes totaling about half an hour give a series overview in addition to a look at the visual effects and the background mythology of the town. We are also invited into the writers' inner sanctum for a five-minute preview of Season Two. Both of these segments are in HD.
The half-dozen video blogs (19 minutes all told) are rather eclectic, including one all about the Stephen King references in the season finale. The three young leads are also interviewed individually (seven minutes). These extras are in standard definition.
Final Thoughts
"Come for the fugitive, stay for the mysteries!" should be the motto of this fictitious corner of the Pine Tree State, resplendent with smart writing all building toward a whopper of a season-ending bombshell. While not reference-quality, the HD audio/video will suffice for our 13-week visit.
Product Details
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