A brief report on the Universal Blu-ray releases of 12 Monkeys season 3 & 4

** Update 29 Sept – a fault has been found on the season 4 Bluray in the final episode – Universal are currently working on fixing this **

The newly released season 3 and 4 blu-ray sets for 12 Monkeys have been produced as Manufacture on Demand (MOD) by Universal, which primarily means they are produced in small quantities, and in this case at least, with minimum features. While there had been early suggestions that this release would come with heaps of extras, that hasn’t eventuated. Read on to see what you’ll get for your $35-40 per set. (See this post for details of where you can buy them)

Tech specs

As I’m watching the discs on my PS4, I can’t evaluate the picture or audio in any depth, and any screenshots are photos off a computer monitor, so shouldn’t be used to evaluate picture quality. The details below are taken from the disc covers. Disk: MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-Ray No. of Disks: 2 (season 3), 2 (season 4) Video: 1080p High Definition 1.78:1 Audio: English DTS HD Master audio 5.1 (verified) Runtime*: 7hr 32min (season 3) 8hr 2min (Season 4) *from blu-ray cover Subtitles & Language Tracks: Nil Region coding: Region free

Packaging

Both sets come in cellophane wrapped narrow form factor blu-ray cases . These are narrower than the previous releases (season 1 & 2 and the Australian season 3). This may bother some collectors who like their sets to match. The artwork on the cases also differs in style to the season 1 & 2, both the cover and spine. There is nothing printed on the inside of the covers (case slicks), and no other inserts. The discs themselves are nicely printed in a single colour using the season graphic.

Menus

The menus of the two sets are basic, with a copy of the cover artwork, and a list of the episodes on the left. Rather than a seperate extras menu, ‘deleted scenes’ is listed under each related episode. The menus have no audio. Further evidence of the very basic authoring is seen in the lack of any graphic or identification for the discs when viewed on a PS4.

Contents

Unlike the Season 1 and 2 releases of 12 Monkeys which came with a host of extras (multiple language options, cast commentaries, webisodes, bloopers etc.) the new Universal MOD Season 3 & 4 have a very limited range of extras. As previously reported there are no subtitles on the discs (English or other) which is a pretty significant oversight. (There are hard coded English subtitles for the French and German dialogue)

*update 23rd Sept 2018* – I did not watch all the episodes in writing this report. I have just been made aware there is 1 minute missing at the start of an important scene in the final episode of season 4 (though there is no dialogue in the missing section). This seems to be an authoring error.

In total the contents of the discs includes each episode, season trailer, and a selection of deleted scenes. While the season 3 set has 16 minutes of bonus material in the form of deleted scenes, the season 4 set has a more generous 40 minutes of deleted scenes included. To help you decide whether you want to buy these sets, a very basic and largely spoiler free description with approximate length of the deleted scenes is listed below:

Season 3 deleted scenes (total dur.16:34)

Guardians (2:20)

Extended sequence – Cole and Jones in Paris

Additional scene – Deacon and Mallick In Titan

Enemy (0:50)

Cole flashback

Brothers (3:44)

Extended sequence – Cole and Ramse as young scavengers

Extended sequence – Cassie and Deacon after escaping Titan

Causality (2:51)

Additional scene – Jones Whitley and Hannah, Raritan 2047

2047 Additional scene – Cole in reflection after death of Ramse

Nature (1:57) (plus additional copy of Causality deleted scenes)

Extended scene – Cassie and Zalmon Shaw 1953 – cemetery monologue.

Nurture (1:25)

Additional scene – Cole/Deacon/Jennifer 1953 Raritan

Thief (1:37)

Additional sequence – Athan/Eliza

Witness (1:50)

Additional sequences – Cole and Cassie in Athan’s Library 1899, The Pallid Man in Titan

Season 4 deleted scenes (total dur. 39:57)

The End (2:46)

Cole and Deacon Raritan 2046

Whitley and witness soldier hand to hand fight

Ouroboros (1:46)

Additional scene – Cole and Ramse

45 rpm (3:40)

Additional scene 1971 Olivia and Sharon at the squat

Extended scene Cole, Jennifer and Bonham in the ouroboros museum.

Legacy (5:28)

Jennifer talks to the splinter time stream

Additional scene – team in Blackleaf

Extended scene – Elliot Jones with the Pallid Man, Blackleaf

Additional scene – Katarina Jones and Hannah at Raritan

After (6:21)

Additional scene – team at the splinter facility at the Emerson

Extended scene Cole and Cassie at the rise n shine motel

Deacon and the Tall Man at the Emerson.

Jennifer, Cole, Cassie and Agent Gale debrief at the Emerson

Die Glocke (1:59)

The splinter facility – Jones and Cassie discuss Hannah after she is sent away

Daughters (5:20)

Extended scene – Hannah and Brian at the Emerson bar x 2

Extended scene – Hannah mental monologue to Jones.

Demons (6:23)

Additional scene Andrus monologue

Extended scene – Cole and Deacon at Nicodemus castle

Additional scene – Nicodemus leads the team to the steps

One Minute More (1:40)

Additional scene – Jones and Adler at the facility

Additional scene – Cole and Cassie at the Markridge lab

The Beginning (4:34)

Extended Scene – Planning invasion of Titan

Cassie extended scene – the future for Gale and Whitley.

Season 3 release comparison

Season 3 was also released as a region free Blu-ray and region free PAL DVD in Australia in May. At that time I wrote a brief review, and expressed disappointment at the lack of any extra features, or English closed caption. With this release also not having any subtitles or closed captions, the key differences between the two releases are: Universal release 14 minutes of deleted scenes and trailer included Australian release More attractive menus lower cost

Summary

If you are a serious fan of the show you’ll want to buy these for the deleted scenes alone, as this is the only place to watch then. If you are someone who prefers the quality of Blu-ray over streaming/digital, for season 4 this is also your only option. The lack of any other features, especially any subtitles/CC is likely to put off some potential buyers. Season 4 is also missing at least a minute of footage in the final episode. Hopefully there will be a release in another region in the future that will rectify these issues.