20th Century Fox | 2010 | 77 min | NR
Glee is officially a juggernaut. Have some doubts? As of February, the Fox TV musical’s fictitious New Directions show choir has placed 113 songs in the Top 100, beating out Elvis Presley’s previous record of 108. All of this has happened in less than two years, and shows no signs of letting up. Glee is a veritable cash cow for Fox, and the studio’s marketers plan to milk it dry, issuing iTunes singles, CD compilations, and other merchandise whenever possible. “Gleeks,” as the show’s fans have come to be known, eat this stuff up. Their latest offering: Glee Encore, which consists of thirty-six musical performances from the first season, back to back, without any filler.
If you already own season one on Blu-ray, this set is somewhat redundant. Each disc in the season one includes a “Music Jukebox” mode that allows you to play the songs independently of their associated episodes. If there is an advantage to this set, I suppose it would be that you can shuffle through the songs without changing discs.
Glee Encore: includes the first season musical numbers listed below. Songs can be played back individually, shuffled or in order.
On My Own
Don’t Stop Believin’
Gold Digger
I Say A Little Prayer
Alone
Somebody to Love
It’s My Life/Confessions Part II
No Air
You Keep Me Hanging On
Defying Gravity
I’ll Stand By You
Don’t Stand So Close to Me/Young Girl
Lean On Me
Imagine
True Colors
Smile
Don’t Rain on My Parade
You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Gives You Hell
Hello
Vogue
Like A Virgin
Like A Prayer
Fire
One Less Bell to Answer/A House Is Not A Home
Beautiful
Run Joey Run
Total Eclipse of the Heart
Jessie’s Girl
Rose’s Turn
Bad Romance
Beth
Faithfully
Any Way You Want It / Lovin’ , Touchin’, Squeezin’
Glee Encore probably isn’t a must have for fans , who probably already own the season one set and —thus—already have all of these songs and more spread across four Blu-ray discs. Still, there’s something to be said for the concept of a “greatest hits” style compilation, and I can see some Gleeks putting Encore on while they’re throwing a party or just puttering about the house. Since some retailers are selling the disc for as little as $12.99, you might just want to give it a spin.
The feature is correctly framed at 1.78:1 and presented in 1080p with the AVC codec. Like Glee’s first season on Blu-ray, Glee Encore features bright and bold colors, accurate skin tones, stable blacks, and pleasing contrast levels. Fine object detail holds up in both close-ups and wide shots, with a sometimes grainy veneer that is free of noise.
There are no special features here, just a couple of different ways to play the songs.
