House of the Dragon: Season 1 [DVD] [2022]

Great dvds, 2 parts , 1 @ 2 dvds. Good story and a good watch over a couple of nights. I enjoyed it, worth a watch.

Bought this together with the second box set and had a great evening binge watching both box sets.

Good quality and arrived as expected and on time

A five disc dvd box set containing all ten episodes of season one of 'House of the Dragon.' This is a fantasy show. And a prequel to 'Game of Thrones.' On the vague offchance you haven't seen the latter, you might be able to get into this. But I think the odds are you most likely have.This is based on George RR Martin's book 'Fire and Blood' which is the history of the Targaryen family. Rulers of the fantasy kingdom of Westeros at a point in his story. Said book is all about them. I've not read it so can't compare.Set over one hundred and seventy years before Game of Thrones, when dragons were still around, opening narration implies that it's going to end in war.The story sees a power struggle begin when the King names his daughter as heir. A Queen? It's never happened in Westeros before! As said Princess and another girl grow up, the struggle for power goes on. It all comes to a head in due course....That's a quick summary. This has a fair few main characters. I can't say I remembered all their names off the top of my head by the end of the season. But I did remember who they were. As you do. So it's not desperately hard to follow.It does have some time jumps. There are gaps of years between some episodes. Which do result in some recastings at various points. This is initially jarring. You do get used to it though.This has excellent production values. They look a lot better than 'the Wheel of Time.' And it's an eighteen certificate. As with the previous show there's strong language violence gore and adult moments.At the heart of this is quite an interesting story about two girls who start as friends but get sent down very different paths. That's not the sole story though, as each of the main cast does manage to be very three dimensional. Matt Smith as the rather unpredictable Daemon is the highlight. He offers a very compelling portrayal of a chaotic man whom you can never be sure about.The dragons are very well rendered.This is worth bearing with, as it does come to a head in due course. The last two episodes in particular are pretty gripping stuff. Not being familiar with what source material there is on this occasion does mean I found myself wanting to know how it would turn out. Since the season ends with a lot up in the air, I will definitely be back for season two.Good and decent fantasy drama. I am glad I got into this.Each episode run fifty five to sixty seven mins [approx].Language and subtitle options on the dvds are:Languages: English, French, German.Subtitles: English, Dutch, French, German.Extras:Spread across the first two discs, the box promises an hour or so of these.Disc one:Welcome to Westeros. A five min overview of the whole thing.A new reign. A three min long overview of the start of production.Returning to Westeros. Three mins of largely the same as above.Before the dragons. An illustrated history with George RR Martin. A mere four mins of backstory of the world building of the setting.Height of an empire. Three mins on the cast and the characters.Noble Houses. Three mins on the noble houses of the story.Familiar places. Four mins on recreating locations from the previous show.The above do get very repetitious. One particular quote from one production staff member crops up four times across them. I don't think any are essential or important viewing.Disc two: return to the seven kingdoms. Twenty four mins that starts as a general overview, then gets into a lot of production details. This is the only extra I would say is worth watching, as the later production stuff in it is quite interestingIntroducing the characters. Nine features that can be watched in a row or all at once. Each is the actor talking about their character. Each lasts about ninety seconds. And won't tell you anything you've not already learned if you're watched the season before you watch this.

Great dvd Thanks Tob

DVD set of HoD season 1. Great to see JRR Martin's fantasy feudal world again and it looks fabulous and familiar (thank God, as it's usually impossible to get different/later showrunners to keep with the original style and aesthetic of a show because they absolutely positively must put their stamp on it and impulsively pathologically change everything for no good reason at all). The story is set over a century before the events of GOTs and follows the Targaryen dynasty on the Iron Throne. It jumps forward several years between the start of the series and the middle part but does not lose the story thread. The actors cast look a little weird (compared with the pretty faces in GOT) and there's plenty of representation for woke-ers. There's some bonus content on disc 1 and 2, but none 3 and 4. Overall a great return to the most watched tv show on earth. I hope the excellent quality and standard is maintained throughout the run of this show and we don't get a dumpster-fire ending like the universally despised season 8 of GOT. I also hope the showrunners will treat us to one or two flashback episodes set in Valyria before the Great Doom destroyed it, that place would be cool to see (beyond the scaled model that Viserys was making in his bedroom!).

Quick delivery. Good value for money.

Enjoyed this