Salvation: Season One (2017)

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General		Extras
Category	TV Series	Deleted Scenes-and Extended Scenes x 7 Featurette-What Would You Do? (11:06) Featurette-Science Fact: Technology (6:43) Featurette-Salvation at Comic-Con (13:24)
Rating
Year Of Production	2017
Running Time	?
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (4)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Various
Studio Distributor	ViaVision	Starring	Santiago Cabrera Charlie Rowe Jennifer Finnigan Ian Anthony Dale Shazi Raja Jacqueline Byers Erica Luttrell Rachel Drance Andre Dae Kim Brian Markinson
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	?	Music	John Paesano

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	?
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     M.I.T. grad student Liam Cole (Charlie Rowe) develops a software programme which predicts that in 186 days a large asteroid will crash onto the Earth in the USA, potentially extinguishing life on earth. He manages to get the interest of Darius Tanz (Santiago Cabrera), billionaire inventor and M.I.T. alumnus with contacts in Washington, but they discover that Harris Edwards (Ian Anthony Dale), Deputy Director of the Department of Defence, and the Pentagon have been aware of the asteroid, codenamed Samson, for three months. They have plans to deflect or destroy the asteroid, but have kept its existence a secret to avoid community panic. Darius, however, does not believe that the government’s plan will work and starts working on some options of his own helped by Liam. Grace Barrows (Jennifer Finnigan) Edward’s press secretary and lover, starts to doubt that Edwards is telling the whole truth. On-line journalist Amanda Neel (Shazi Raja) knows nothing about the meteor but suspects that some sort of government cover-up is going on. Meanwhile Liam has to decide whether to live the remaining 186 days of life to the fullest with his girlfriend Jillian Hayes (Jacqueline Byers) or to commit to helping Darius. Other recurring characters in the series include Grace’s 18 year old daughter Zoe (Rachel Drance), Harris’ son Dylan (Andre Dae Kim), presidential advisor Claire Rayburn (Erica Luttrell) and Secretary of State Randall Calhoun (Brian Markinson).

     Darius agrees to collaborate with the government although he disagrees with the options suggested. One is to shatter the asteroid either with nuclear weapons or with a probe currently orbiting Jupiter, either of which might shatter it but the fragments will still hit the Earth in Russia, China and Central Asia, killing over an estimated billion people and maybe still triggering an extinction event. Darius prefers sending a “gravity tractor” into space to deflect the asteroid from its path just enough to miss the Earth, but the technology to do so is yet to be perfected. If all else fails, Darius has a fall back plan to save enough individuals on a space craft named Salvation to regenerate the human race on Mars.

     While the hook of Salvation is the impending destruction of the Earth, this is not really what the series is about. Rather, Salvation is a political thriller where almost everyone has a hidden agenda. There are personal, professional and interservice rivalries, an operation codenamed Atlas that even talking about will get you killed, hidden agendas, conspiracies, cover-ups, shadowy saboteurs, an underground activist group with the ability to hack into the systems of NASA and foreign governments, a coup in the US involving the very top level of the executive and a confrontation with Russia that may result in life on Earth being extinguished in a nuclear war before the asteroid even gets to Earth. And this does not take into account the constantly changing interpersonal relationships between the characters, where eight degrees of separation is an oversimplification.

     Clearly, there is a lot going on in this series but, except for the twists, and there are quite a few, the series is easy enough to follow due to plausible science that is explained, good production values and a solid cast that make things almost believable.

     Salvation: Season One consists of the 13 episodes which aired in the US between July and September 2017, here presented over four DVDs. Episode 13 The Plot Against America ends in a cliff-hanger with the missiles flying, the asteroid nearing Earth and the identity of the person pulling the strings unknown. The last scene does, however, offer a glimmer of hope and I guess that as Season Two was produced (and shown between June and September 2018) there is some life left in the Earth yet.

Video

     Salvation, is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, in 1080p using the MPEG 4 AVC code.

     Detail, both close-up and wide is clear, the sets at Tanz industries chrome, glass and tile, US government offices wood panelled and book and portrait lined, the Salvation rocket white and pristine. Exteriors with parks and trees are a natural green, sky and water a nice clean blue. Skin tones are natural. Shadow detail and blacks are solid.

     A number of scenes are lit behind the actors producing glare and softness and there is occasional minor motion blur but otherwise marks and artefacts were absent.

     English subtitles for the hearing impaired are provided.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a choice of English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps or Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo at 192 Kbps.

     This is a series with a fair amount of dialogue which, thankfully, is always clear and easy to understand. There is not a lot of action so the rears and surrounds mostly feature ambient sounds such as rain, voices in bars and restaurants and the music by John Paesano. The subwoofer boomed for the meteor hit at the start of the first episode and rocket launches but mostly supported engines, some effects and the music.

     I did not notice any lip synchronization issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     There is an extended / deleted scenes on each disc. The featurettes are all on disc 4.

Disc 1

Extended Scene (0:47)

     An extended scene for the Pilot episode.

Disc 2

Extended Scene (0:37)

     An extended scene for the Chip Off the Ol’Block episode.

Disc 3

Deleted Scene (1:45)

     A deleted scene for the Patriot Games episode.

Disc 4

Deleted Scene (1:09)

     A deleted scene for the All In episode.

Deleted / Extended Scenes (3:06)

     Three scenes for The Plot Against America episode.

What Would You Do? (11:06)

     This featurette is not really a question, but a look at the moral and ethical choices made, and the lines crossed, by the principal characters in the series. It uses a lot of footage from the show plus short comments by showrunners Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro, cast Charlie Rowe, Jacqueline Byers, Ian Anthony Dale, Santiago Cabrera, Jennifer Finnigan, Shazi Raja and Rachel Drance.

Science Fact: Technology (6:43)

     Showrunners Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro, executive producer Stuart Gillard and Charlie Rowe talk about incorporating realistic technology into the show and persuading the audience that the show is science fact, rather than science fiction.

Salvation at Comic-Con (13:24)

     Showrunners Liz Kruger and Craig Shapiro and cast Charlie Rowe, Ian Anthony Dale and Santiago Cabrera front an audience after the showing of an episode at San Diego Comic-Con talking about the genus of the show, the technology, the relationships between characters.

     As far as I can tell our Region All, NTSC release of Salvation: Season 1 is the same as the US version.

     I would not say that Salvation is compelling TV or essential viewing. But it does build momentum as it goes along and with plausible science, good production values and a solid cast Salvation is a decent political thriller where governments and individuals all have hidden agendas and where trying to expose secrets and cover-ups can get you killed.

     The video and audio are good. The extras are minor, but there is some.

     Salvation: Season 1 was supplied for review by Via Vision Entertainment. Check out their Facebook page for the latest releases, giveaways, deals and more.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall