Game of Thrones Season 4 DVD Extras reviewed

Season 4 of Game of Thrones came out on DVD/Bluray this past week, bringing along with it behind the scenes extras, histories and lore, and a documentary special on Episode 9, “The Watchers on the Wall”. But being the costume geek on staff,  I had to go and get the version that Target was selling, because it comes with a bonus disc: Silk, Leather, & Chain Mail: The Costumes of Season 4.

Am I ever glad I did too. This deep dive into the costumes doesn’t just go inside the Purple Wedding (though it does spend a goodly amount of time there, discussing not only the wedding, but the Lannisters, the Tyrells and Oberyn Martell.) We also travel across the Narrow Sea and discuss Dany’s evolving silver and blue outfits, up to The Wall, and get a look at both the Night’s Watch and the different Wildling tribes, plus stopovers with Stannis, Braavos, the Boltons, the White Walkers and a discussion of (what the producers admit they even call) Dark Sansa.

The full special is below, plus discussion of the other features…

Charles Dance, for me is the delight of this special, complaining how the Lannisters are all dressed in this thick heavy brocade in the Croatian heat, and how he should be wandering around in silken robes with “the wind up his skirts.” Likewise, Indira Varma, being the only one in silken robes, admits she’s probably the most comfortable in this heat. But their complaints have nothing on those at The Wall, who are filming in August, dressed for below freezing temps. I love all the close ups of the outfits, for details we might not otherwise have ever seen. Clapton also teases how Oberyn’s look will inform the rest of Dorne this upcoming season.

My other favorite extra from the package was one that comes with every copy of Season 4, whether DVD or BluRay. “The Fallen: A Roundtable,” is a special where GoT writer Bryan Cogman gathered together most of the actors who died this season and had them talk about their experience on the show. (One notable exception is the missing Pyp, though we do have Grenn, so The Wall is represented.)

Again, the delight for me was having Charles Dance talk about his experience with the series. Some of the stories I had heard before–like the deer skinning, or how he found out Tywin dies. But hearing him tell it first hand is wonderful. (Also, I had no idea Jack Gleeson was so full of bad puns.) I also found it interesting that both the women at the table had their death scenes scheduled so it was the very last thing they filmed, whereas Pedro filmed his death scene, and then got to go hand out with Cersei by the seaside.

The big special that’s included in the regular DVD package is the “Behind the Battle for the Wall” documentary. At nearly 40 minutes long, this special runs double the length of any other DVD extra. It was interesting, especially for the CGI versus what is actually real. (The giants are actually the tallest men in the UK they could find, who are then scaled up twice as large, for instance. Meanwhile, the mammoths they ride are a bucking bronco style set up.)

We already mentioned the Histories and Lore segments when the DVDs were released earlier this week, but I just want to mention them again as one of the major reasons to get the Blu-Ray version instead of the regular DVD. These, for me, fill in so much of the extra coloring of the Westerosi world that get lost in the translation from book to show. I know most people probably aren’t as into them as I am, but I loved every last one of them. There’s also an extended version of the Bastards segment, entitled “The Bastards of Westeros,” where George R.R. Martin discusses how the naming of Bastards works. It also features the most in depth discussion of Ramsey Snow, and how he functions as kind of a “bastard counterpoint” to the honorable Jon Snow.

My least favorite extra from the DVD is the “Politics of Power” segment, which is basically a “Here’s what you missed on Game of Thrones Season 3.” I mean, it’s nice to see Michelle Fairley again, as well as Richard Madden. And I’m certain for some, this “here’s where we left off, if you forgot” is a useful feature. But I found myself skipping ahead about halfway through.

Likewise, we’d already seen both deleted scenes prior to the DVD coming out, and was rather disappointed to discover there weren’t more.

The final item in my DVD package was another “Target only” item. Along with my DVDs and bonus disc there was the “Beautiful Death Photo Book.” It’s a collection of all the artwork created by Robert M. Ball as part of the promotional push for last season, with the Beautiful Death website. I already had the poster version of Season 4 episode 10 from when I went to see GoT in IMAX last month. Now I have all of them. My personal favorite?

• Published on 02/23/2015 at 8:00 AM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:06 PM CDT