Product Details

• Actors: James Gandolfini
• Directors: Daniel Attias, Jack Bender, Peter Bogdanovich, Henry Bronchtein, Martin Bruestle
• Format: Widescreen, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Dubbed: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: HBO Home Video
• DVD Release Date: November 7, 2006
• Run Time: 720 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (155 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BO7DWI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,136 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 1" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Sopranos, Season 6, Part 1 is the most contentious release yet in the acclaimed series' history. While many fans think it jumped the shark at the exact moment Vito said "I love you, Johnny Cakes" , this season also contains some of the series finest moments and plumbs new depths of character, while continuing to add to the body count. Things get started with a bang, literally, that unexpectedly sends Tony (James Gandolfini) to the hospital and into a coma where he experiences an alternate reality while in limbo. At one point he awakes and asks "Who am I? Where am I going?" encapsulating this season's central theme in a moment of desperation wrapped in a fever dream. But it's not all existentialism. With Tony and Uncle Junior both of the picture, the capos in the Soprano crew try to take advantage of the situation and begin jockeying for position while a reluctant Silvio (Steve Van Zandt), acting in Tony’s place, struggles to keep everyone in check. Things aren’t going much better for Tony’s family, as A.J. (Robert Iler) confesses to Carmela (Edie Falco) that he flunked out of school, and while at Tony’s bedside, swears revenge for his injury. The stress of the situation finally gets to Carmela, who takes up Dr. Melfi’s (Lorraine Bracco) offer to help and finds herself in the strange position of confiding in her husband’s therapist, revealing for once that she feels some guilt over making the kids complicit in how Tony makes his living—plus there’s the issue of whether she really loves him. Christopher (Michael Imperioli) continues to provide much of the comic relief for the series, culminating in one of this season’s best episodes when he flies out to L.A. in a bumbling attempt to get Ben Kingsley to sign on for his fledgling movie (Saw meets The Godfather), and ends up mugging Lauren Bacall for her goodie basket at an awards ceremony. Sowing further discord in the ranks, Vito (Joseph Gannoscoli) finally gets outed as homosexual, and is forced to flee for his life up to New Hampshire where he meets "Johnny Cakes." Finally, even with New York boss Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni (Vince Curatola) in prison, Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) makes plays against Tony and eventually sets in motion a hit against someone on Tony’s crew, and now a larger war with Johnny Sack's crew seems to be looming.

Series creator David Chase seems to be saying with this season that character is destiny. If so, then Season Six, Part 1 is taking the necessary time to flesh out who these people really are, and is leaving the destiny part up for Part 2. The fact that the series’ writers have been able to maintain such a strong show with so many interweaving storylines for so long is a feat not to be taken lightly. That said, this season of The Sopranos does deserve some of the criticism it's received: the Vito storyline would have been better served by resolving it in fewer episodes, and the season ending is the most unsatisfying one yet, leaving many fans wanting more. But the bottom line is that this season deserves more praise than criticism, proving that even at its weakest, The Sopranos is still the strongest show on TV.--Daniel Vancini

Product Description

Several crises threaten Tony and his crew; for starters, rival boss Johnny Sack (Vince Curatola) is in prison, and the always-tense relations between the New Jersey and New York families are strained through the unpredictable behavior of Sack?s surrogates. Then there are the inevitable power struggles that ensue when certain family members are eliminated, by natural and other causes.

DVD Features:
3D Animated Menus
Audio Commentary
Featurette

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A review from someone who has actually seen the product - who would have thought it? January 2, 2007

By Momaw

Format:HD DVD

As someone who has actually bought this set I thought I might offer some real opinions as opposed to those of some idiot who's only contribution is he hates HD.

(note: at this time I have only watched the first two episodes)

The Audio

Audio is in Dolby Digital Plus and is sublime. As a drama series, dialogue is paramount and every syllable can be clearly discerned. Tony's signature laboured breathing comes through crystal clear. Background dialogue adds atmosphere and sounds like actual conversation, not just noise.

Surround information is not a strong point of this series, however, when needed it is there. In episode 2 the helicopter (of Tony's subconscious) utilizes all channels to great effect.

A strong point in the series is it's use of modern classic music. This is used to great effect and on the HD-DVD release is output evenly through all channels. The music here is better than any SA-CD or DVD-A I have heard and really gets me excited as to the possibility of music through the new format.

The Picture

I am a big fan of television on DVD having collected many series. That said, I am usually disappointed with the transfers afforded television series. Most suffer from artefacts due to over-compression to fit as many episodes on a disc as possible. So with that in mind I'll discuss the bad first.

There is some moiré effect in the background of some scenes. Early in the first episode I had one instance of a freeze which put the audio out of sync. Pausing and un-pausing fixed this and I could not replicate this effect so rather than blame the set, I suspect it is one of those bugs that comes with early technology and Gen 1 machines. There is some grain in the image, however, given the previous season's, this is an intentional decision on the makers part (it will be interesting to see what the advent of HD in the home will do to this practice as it is not very HD friendly). At one stage on the first episode the Picture quality faulted for a period of about Ľ of a second where in a dark scene it became almost SD standard. This was very quick but noticeable.

Now for the good, and boy is it good. The detail is spectacular (almost too good - these guys are getting on in age, and they never were the most attractive people, and that hole in Tony's stomach - I though it looked bad before but this is truly disgusting). I have never seen TV look this good - not even the so called HD broadcasts of these very same episodes on Australian TV came close to this. Most of the action is in the foreground of this series and as such the detail in background shots is not as sharp as some film releases, however, when the background is relevant all that detail comes back. Again I think this is a conscious decision on the makers part to keep the focus up close and on the characters.

Final Thoughts

Is this release perfect - no, it has some slight issues that could be improved upon. Was it worth getting in HD - absolutely. Even at a premium price over the SD release I will happily pick up more of my favourites on HD-DVD. Universal has given a tentative commitment to Battlestar Galactica on HD-DVD, BBC has stated a HD-DVD release of Torchwood is in the works (which means we will probably also see Dr Who as well). MGM has hinted at a release of Stargate: Atlantis on Blu-ray and I would highly suspect the 2 new SG-1 movies (in lieu of Season 11) will be released on Blu-ray around April/May. It is almost inevitable that Paramount will release Star Trek to High Definition (especially the re-mastered and re-worked High Def Original Series).

I collect more Television series than movies these days (well, television and anime) and I gotta say, if this is the future of serialized programming, then I am happy to have a HD-DVD player and should Blu-ray get their format specific series out, I'll be grabbing one of those machines too (you listening on those Stargate movies and series?).

169 of 208 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "We've been dancing around this topic for years" September 24, 2006

By E. Kutinsky

Format:DVD

It's lonely in the ranks that believe that season 6 of The Sopranos was as good, if not better, than the seasons before it, but I am convinced that the first 12 episodes of season 6 are amongst the bravest, best written, and most telling episodes of the series. The Sopranos has long been a show with the most complex, multi-layered characters on television, but by using the mantra of "Who am I, where am I going" as a rallying point, season 6 probed the nature of what drives its family, and gets in intense focus of who each of them is. The problem, I think, was that it did its job TOO well this season - it's not that there wasn't action (the death count this year was as high as any other, and Tony does, after all, nearly die himself), but that because the show wanted so much to get the specifics of the ordinary right, it's easy to overlook the rather consternated implications of their everyday events. What I mean is that in showing each character at his/her essence, we get what really drives them, but we don't necessarily get that explained to us - we, for example, identify with Carmela's sense of longing and uncertainty staring off at the Eiffel Tower, or we register that Paulie is adrift in guilt and anxiety over his actions in life, but we get it in the details of their everyday action and, these characters experiencing these implications alone, get little of that wrapped up for us. To me, that speaks to a level of characterization and examination that doesn't exist in television and barely exists in film - it probes the specifics of its fictional characters so precisely, it winds up speaking to the heart of what drives Americans and the materialism of American culture that makes things like mobs possible. In that, it brings forth insurance agent, real estate claimsmen and salesmen, actors, and (in one unforgettable shout-out) Dick Cheney - comparisons of the same urges. Yet this season does more than critique the impulses, it allows them to exist, allows all of their very real virtues to be present, and lets them arise from its characters distinct, full-bodied personalities - money helps keep AJ out of jail, gets him laid, repairs Tony's relationship with his sister, keeps Carmela from probing too deeply into Adriana's murder, gets Tony reasonable health care, and nearly spares Vito's life and stops a cross-river gang war. I may be alone in the level to which the Sopranos makes me think, but I do think David Chase's intentions are to use his astonishingly vivid characters to go into depth about the American mentality (or, they're not, and it's just a product of three dimensional writing). However, even if it weren't, the season gives you extraordinary moments to savor - Paulie's confrontation with mortality ("The Ride"), Carmela crying at Tony's bedside ("Join The Club"), Christopher's gut-shaking relapse ("Kaisha," with a fearless guest turn by Juliana Marguilles), AJ's inability to carry out his "big plan" against Junior ("Johnny Cakes"), and, unforgettably, Philly's cold stare as his machinations to kill Vito are achieved ("Cold Stones"). They're moments of magnificent acting that fulfill characters even as it surprises you with their humanity and personality. And, in the premiere, "Members Only," it gives you it all in an hour - a suicide, heart attack, and gun shot that seem to tell you everything you've ever needed to know about the mob life, about why they - if not you - do what they do.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Season 6 shows "the life" controls Tony, not vice versa January 23, 2007

By calvinnme HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

I seem to have a different opinion from so many other viewers, since I really enjoyed the first half of season six. Seeing Tony get shot, not by season one's physically and mentally vigorous Uncle Junior, as I had kept anticipating that season, but by the toothless demented Uncle Junior, believing he was shooting someone else entirely was priceless irony. I loved the part with Tony in the coma in our world, while -wherever he was - he was exactly what he had always dreaded being - a nobody. Worse, he's a traveling salesman who is "trapped" and unable to get home. When Tony comes out of his coma, he vows to change and take every day as a gift, but later he is gradually pulled back into his old ways, since his position as boss really gives him no alternative.

Lots of people didn't like the Vito mini-arc, but I loved it. After being outed in the most conspicuous and non-ambiguous way imaginable, Vito finds it necessary to leave town to avoid Phil's wrath. He arrives in small-town New Hampshire, and there he winds up luckier than he deserves to be. He finds love in the Morgan Spurlock look-alike cook "Johnny Cakes" at the local diner, and the two move in together. Vito's new love is even able to overlook Vito's obvious moral failings, such as his lies about his true occupation. Johnny Cakes hooks him up with a job, and Vito has escaped the death sentence that awaits him back home, with a pretty Norman Rockwell-ish life in his current situation and a shot at genuine happiness. The problem is - Vito is still Vito. To him what 99% of people face every day - rising early to go to a job that is genuine hard work for average pay - is purgatory to him. He misses the all-night card games, the big city life, and the fact that making a living there just involves sitting around a construction site and making collections. Thus Vito runs out on Johnny Cakes and goes back to New Jersey, thinking he can make things right and get back into "the life". Just in case we have any doubt Vito has changed, there is a little incident on his way back home that lays our doubts to rest.

I think the Vito arc superimposed on Tony's shooting and recovery just drive home the fact that even though these guys think they're king of all they survey, "the life" really owns them all, not vice versa. They're kidding themselves to think otherwise. Tony believed he could make things different, and Vito believed he could make things the way they had been before. Both were wrong.

There are also lighter moments. The scene with Christopher brainstorming his movie project with the "help" of his kidnapped and beaten AA sponsor is hilarious, as is his mugging Lauren Bacall just to get her gift basket. Then there's the matter of Paulie finding out he is not who he thought he was. All-in-all a worthwhile and thought-provoking 12 episodes.

However, I still think I'll wait until after season six has completed airing to buy. The series will definitely be over by then, and I am anticipating some kind of "Collector's Edition" for the whole series. I just don't want to wind up with buyer's remorse like I did with the separate seasons of "Homicide" that I bought, only to have the entire series come out in a collector's edition that was much cheaper than the individual seasons with all kinds of bonus footage to boot.