Kevin Williamson (Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, TV’s The Vampire Diaries) created this engaging drama, which chronicles a group of young friends’ passage from adolescence to young adulthood in the small coastal town of Capeside, Massachusetts. Based on Williamson’s own experiences growing up, Dawson’s Creek focuses on fifteen-year-olds Dawson (James Van Der Beek) and Joey (Katie Holmes), who have been friends since they were five and are trying to cope with the way their friendship is changing now that their hormones are raging. Add to the mix their friend Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and the new girl in town, Jen (Michelle Williams), and you can count on extra twists to the drama and their already turbulent lives.

For thoughts on Dawson’s Creek: The Complete Series, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

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Video Quality

Dawson’s Creek makes a very strong debut on Blu-Ray with a digital AVC encoded 1080p transfer in remastered 16×9 widescreen aspect ratio that frames the show with respect to the original vision. Mill Creek releases usually suffer from some form of compression issues, and this release is no exception with 128 episodes on 20 discs. Nevertheless, this series is more gorgeous than we would have imagined as the 16mm source has been lovingly maintained without obvious DNR or other serious digital anomalies. Clarity and detail is quite impressive, and skin tones are natural and consistent with subtle facial features easily noticeable in closeup. Elements of the production design are textured and well defined in a way that reveals so much previously unseen nuance.

This series remains amazingly stable throughout its six season run with earlier seasons looking equally fetching as the later episodes. Every episode shows off the natural beauty of the setting with rich elements to analyze in the background. There are moments where you will spot some blocky compression issues in the bright skies or dark nights, but this release holds up very well compared to some examples on the format. Colors are well saturated in a way that makes the scenery spring to life, and instances of print damage have been cleaned up tremendously in this high definition master. Black levels occasionally falter with some crush popping up. This new presentation from Mill Creek Entertainment is not flawless, but it is an unbelievable upgrade from the ancient DVD sets.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray disc comes with a potent audio upgrade in the form of a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that opens up the series in a lovely way. The iconic theme song has been re-recorded to by Paula Cole herself to ensure she gets better compensation for her work. The slight difference is a bit noticeable at first, but you soon get used to the new version, and once again it beats the old DVD sets which required several seasons to insert a different opening theme song altogether. There are still some songs throughout the seasons that remain substituted on this release because of music clearance issues, but there are many more that have been cleared than were on the original DVDs.

The audio quality itself presents with unwavering fidelity which allows every element to come through clearly. The music is a pivotal element of the series, and each song fills the room with enough power to conjure the appropriate emotions. There is never a moment where the music in the series threatens to overwhelm competing sounds, and it maintains a good balance so that dialogue comes through clearly. Atmospheric sounds such as the capeside weather and wildlife are rendered well alongside everything else. This track does not go creating new effects to bolster activity; this presentation simply expands some of the original elements to make the world feel more fleshed-out. The low end support adds some nice texture to moments that need it. There does not seem to be any noticeable instances of age-related wear and tear. Mill Creek has given this series a mighty fine audio presentation that fans should appreciate.

Special Features

Season One

Audio Commentaries

- Dawson’s Creek: Creator Kevin Williamson and Executive Producer Paul Stupin

- Breaking Away: Creator Kevin Williamson and Executive Producer Paul Stupin

Dawson’s Creek – From Day One: A nearly nine-minute piece in which Williamson and Stupin discuss the origins of the series, getting the greenlight to make a presentation film for The WB, finding the right cast members for these roles, finding the shooting locations, the inspirations from their lives injected into the series and more.

Time Capsule: A seven-minute featurette featuring the cast members giving their thoughts on the series near the end of filming the first season.

Original Pilot Ending: A minute-long alternate ending is provided which closely matches the actual ending with some different music and an additional character seeing a shocking betrayal.

Deleted Scenes: Nearly five minutes of alternate takes are provided including an entirely different actor playing Dawson’s dad, different sets and more.

Season Two

Audio Commentaries

- The Kiss: Executive Producer Paul Stupin

- Parental Discretion Advised: Executive Producer Paul Stupin

Season Three

Audio Commentaries

- First Encounters Of The Close Kind: Executive Producer Paul Stupin and Actor Kerr Smith

- True Love: Executive Producer Paul Stupin and Actor Kerr Smith

Season Four

Audio Commentaries

- Coming Home: Executive Producer Paul Stupin

- The Graduate: Executive Producer Paul Stupin and Consulting Producer Alan Cross

Season Five

There are no special features included for this season.

Season Six

Audio Commentaries

- All Good Things…: Creator Kevin Williamson and Executive Producer Paul Stupin

- …Must Come To An End: Creator Kevin Williamson and Executive Producer Paul Stupin

Entertainment Weekly’s 20th Anniversary Reunion: A really great 55-minute reunion special which features a centerpiece conversation between James Van Der Beek (Dawson), Katie Holmes (Joey), Joshua Jackson (Pacey), and Michelle Williams (Jen), Busy Philipps (Audrey), Kerr Smith (Jack), Meredith Monroe (Andie), and Mary Beth Peil (Grams). There are additional interviews with creator Kevin Williamson, EW staff members and more great guests. There are some really funny and heartfelt anecdotes that fans will not want to miss.

Creek Daze – A Conversation with Kevin Williamson: An 18-minute archival conversation with Kevin Williamson in which he discusses the personal nature of this story, the dynamics of the characters, some of the major storylines in the series, returning for the finale and more.

Final Thoughts

Dawson’s Creek is a defining entry into the pantheon of serialized teenage dramas. The show often wrote characters to be wise beyond their years, but the series never pretended to be anything different than what it was. Even in the midst of the occasional pretentious monologue, there would always be a light of authenticity shining through these characters which made you fall in love with them (even when you wanted to scream at them). Each cast member plays their character to perfection, and their bond throughout these six seasons was something truly special. It is a series that wears its sentimentality on its sleeve, and we love it for that reason.

Mill Creek Entertainment has delivered a Blu-Ray collection that destroys the DVDs on all fronts. Not only do we get the entire series on 20 discs at a price that is pretty reasonable, but the A/V quality is quite a bit stronger than average for this label. That is not even mentioning a decent amount of special features that sweeten the deal. It seems like a sweet dream that this show made it to Blu-Ray, and we are going to enjoy every minute of it now that it is here. Highly Recommended

Dawson’s Creek: The Complete Series is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Mill Creek Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.