IT: Welcome to Derry The Complete First Season 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

You just can’t keep that dancing clown down for long. Six years after It: Chapter Two, writer/director Andy Muschietti rebounds after his time in the Speed Force with the eight-episode first season of It: Welcome to Derry. Did we need a prequel series that expands on the backstory alluded to in the two films? Probably not, but we got one, it’s worth every second of the 481-minute runtime. 

Things just happen in Derry. Every 27 years or so, people just go missing. Kids, just disappear. The town just goes a little mad. But it’s been quiet…until now. As the good citizens of Derry will soon learn, a force of unrelenting evil will wake up, and it’s very, very hungry. Major Leroy Hanlan (Jovan Adepo) has been assigned to a top-secret military project under Lt. General Shaw (James Remar) and has brought his wife, Charlotte (Taylour Paige), and son, Will (Blake Cameron James). Young Lilly Bainbridge (Clara Stack) is still reeling from the grotesque death of her father. Little Marge Truman (Matilda Lawler) is desperate to fit in with the in-crowd. Rich Santos (Arian S. Cartaya) may be small, but he’s got a mighty wit. If adolescence were all these kids had to deal with, that’d be enough. But as the town’s children start disappearing, horrible accidents occur, and as the entire town seems to go insane, it’ll be the kids who will have to face their worst nightmares in the flesh.

When this project was announced, I wasn’t sold on it. I really enjoyed Muschietti’s It: Chapter One film, I thought that it hit all of the best notes of King’s novel. I thought It: Chapter Two was pretty good, but like the novel and the original television film, the latter adult story just wasn’t as compelling. I felt like the idea of a television series that wound the clock back to tell an earlier Pennywise story was threading the narrow needle of just being a cash grab. I resisted watching, but as each episode came out, and more of my closest friends started talking it up, I gave in - and I’m glad my assumptions were wrong. 

Even if you feel this is nothing more than a cash grab to mine more gold out of an established IP, at least it’s a good cash grab! One episode to the next, we learn a little more about Derry’s unfortunate history, we learn a little more about the madness slowly gripping the town, and we learn a lot more about our favorite dancing clown, Pennywise. Now I don’t normally binge shows. I don’t like to dive through a series in rapid succession; if for no other reason, I like to ruminate and enjoy the moment. But It: Welcome to Derry made me glad I was behind on the series, so I could plow through the episodes; one after the next, I just needed to see how things resolved and what windows would be left open for future episodes.

And all credit to Muschietti and his creative team, they did a hell of a job. Not just with giving us another horrifying story about an evil creature murdering children, but also how well it dovetailed into the greater Stephen King universe of characters. One character from one of King’s best novels, which was made into one hell of a film and directed by one of the best filmmakers of all time, has an exciting backstory in this show. We get mentions that tie this series into everything from The Dark Half to Misery to even something as tangential as The Running Man with a few overtures to the Dark Tower series for good measure. Most importantly, the series expands the lore in such a way that it leaves the door wide open for future seasons (or even films) to play around in Stephen King’s dark and twisted little universe.

I may not love the show’s trade of practical effects for CGI monsters for a lot of sequences - it was an issue that stuck for me harder with It: Chapter Two - but where it counts, it delivers the frights. More than anything, this series is steeped in an unpleasant atmosphere as it pings off of Red Scare paranoia and the bitterly divisive Jim Crow era. Using those tense thematic elements, the series creates a hell of a stage for Bill Skarsgård’s return as Pennywise, and he's just as spritely and messed up as ever. I hope It: Welcome to Derry Chapter Two doesn’t take too long to arrive, but at least we won’t have to wait 27 years, that’s for sure. If all things go well, we’ll get back into this grim, creepy series in time for Halloween 2027. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
We all float when It: Welcome to Derry The Complete First Season comes to 4K UHD from Warner Bros. and SDS. A three-disc BD100 set, the episodes are spread out three episodes on each of the first two discs, with two episodes and the bulk of the extras reserved for the third disc. The discs are housed in a standard multidisc case with individual trays, so no worries of stacking. The discs load to a static image main menu with standard navigation options. A digital copy slip was not included, but there is an insert slip with an episode rundown for each disc. A SteelBook is also available to order, and it has thankfully been well stocked and should be readily available on street date.

Before I get too far into the weeds for the 2160p Dolby Vision HDR (HDR10 too) transfers for each episode, I want to give a shout-out to the production design team for delivering an impressive piece of work for a period piece show like this. The devil’s in the details, as they say, and they had their work cut out for them to bring the early 1960s back to life. It’s also a testament to the transfer quality that we can see and appreciate all of these fine details in product packaging, clothing, furniture, and makeup, and gore visuals all get plenty of time to shine. Encoding is strong on each disc, with only three episodes per disc (on the first two discs), and I didn’t spot any unsightly visual anomalies or issues. The Dolby Vision grade is appropriately focused on letting those creepy, inky black spaces and shadows have their moments, while colors are appropriately vibrant, given the time period. Red, obviously, gets plenty of attention! CGI effects can be a bit hit or miss, depending on the moment in question. Think back to their over-usage in IT: Chapter Two as a comparative. When the obvious effects shot looks good, they’re great; when they’re iffy, they stand out. While I gripe about the CGI, there are some excellent practical effects and makeup F/X to celebrate in each episode. 

More effective than the visuals is the intense sound design of each episode. At eight episodes, I loved the pacing of the series, letting intensity and tension ramp up within the soundscape so by the time we get to the big climax, it’s full wall-to-wall immersion. The opening scene is a heck of a benchmark as a speeding car whips through town with a creature crashing around inside, and some seriously creepy voices chant away at a hapless passenger. It’s quite the moment to start a series on, but it sets the town up for what’s to come. The horizon channels, front/center, side, and rear, get plenty of attention with all of the activity happening on school grounds or at the army base. Height channels enjoy their time when a certain character uses his “abilities” or whenever there’s any distinct overhead activity, like a heavy Chinook transport helicopter flying around, or when stuff just gets really insane with Pennywise doing his thing. Throughout, the dialogue is clean without issue. Music cues fit nicely within the series - the opening credits music is justifiably creepy - while Benjamin Wallfisch delivers another excellent horror score to accompany the devilishly ghastly and very entertaining visuals.  

At just under 90-minutes, we have a fairly decent selection of extras. Obviously, I would have loved to see more extensive, deep-dive materials, but what’s here is pretty good and informative. Short, but informative. Collectively, the Inside the Episode featurettes give us the most information for the who/what/where/why of various creative decisions. The subsequent making-of featurettes on Disc Three are interesting looks at how the sausage is made, but not altogether extensive. They could have spent half an hour or longer just on Skarsgård becoming Pennywise and what goes into his physical performance. Overall, not bad, but neither exhaustive nor exciting. 

Disc One

• Inside Derry Extended - Episode 101 (HD 10:21)
• Inside Derry - Episode 102 (HD 5:39)
• Inside Derry - Episode 103 (HD 6:21)

Disc Two 

• Inside Derry - Episode 104 (HD 6:12)
• Inside Derry Extended - Episode 105 (HD 9:43)
• Inside Derry - Episode 106 (HD 6:02)

Disc Three

• Inside Derry - Episode 107 (HD 5:04)
• Inside Derry Extended- Episode 108 (HD 12:36)
• Welcome to Derry (HD 5:44)
• Becoming Pennywise (HD 3:11)
• Fear the Other (HD 9:30)

Going into this series, I hoped for the best, but truly expected the worst. Jaded, maybe more than a little cynical, I just didn’t have faith that a prequel series had much potential for Stephen King’s killer clown beyond the clanging bell of a register drawer. One episode after the next, I was proven wrong. I ended up doing what I hate the most to do with any show, and that’s binge-watch the beast as fast as I could. I just didn’t want to stop watching. Now that we’ve got the series on disc, I got to take my time a little and watch through for all of the King Universe tidbits I’d missed while also appreciating how well thought out the series was, tying in all sorts of plot points from the novel, but also characters and stories from other parts of King’s demented little universe. 

On 4K UHD, It: Welcome to Derry The Complete First Season dances away with an excellent Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos A/V presentation for each episode. Just like the suspense and scares, each episode’s visual and sonic intensity increases, and they never fail. Bonus features may not be exhaustive, but they’re at least interesting to browse through. I didn't expect to be impressed with this series; at best, I hoped for passing entertainment, and now I’m left eagerly waiting for Season Two to arrive late next year. Until then, I'm calling this set - Highly Recommended