With The Vampire Diaries returning for Season Two on Thursday, September 9th at 8/7c vampire fans everywhere are rushing out this week to relive and catch up on The Vampire Diaries The Complete First Season on DVD which is available now. I’ve got my copy, have you got yours?

For over a century, I have lived in secret. Until now. I know the risk, but I have to know her. Dark, brooding, pulsing with bloodlust and transcendent with romance, The Vampire Diaries, which started as a series of must-read novels by L.J. Smith has become a must-watch television hit. Season One offers unforgettable characters, living and undead. They are vampire brothers Stefan and Damon, one good and one evil; Elena, a double for the beauty both brothers loved some 150 years earlier; plus Jeremy, Bonnie, Matt and more denizens of Mystic Falls, VA. All are caught up in a spellbinding web of secrets, passion and terror.

Release Date: August 31, 2010
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 925 minutes

As someone who has not read The Vampire Diaries series by L.J Smith (but plans to) and as someone who loves television, I am happy to say that I was more than satisfied with the first season of the television series. Each episode truly became more intriguing than the next. The writing is superb. The dialogue is witty and smart and gets better as each episode goes on. The plots are interwoven so well. Though the show is modern, as the episodes go on, it seems that this show is timeless. Not just because there’s a love story but this show is just as much character driven as it is vampire driven. There are tons of complicated relationships, involving love and dysfunctional families.

The ensemble cast and beautiful setting make this show come alive in more ways than I could have ever imagined. It’s dangerous, fun, and full of surprises. There’s action, there’s comedy, there’s drama. There really is something for everyone to love in this series…no wonder it is The CW’s #1 show. So much goes on in season one, it boggles my mind just thinking about the possibilities for future seasons. I would highly recommend that you go out and buy The Vampire Diaries The Complete First Season because it will become your new favorite show! Don’t rent, buy!

Prepare yourself for a marathon weekend with your family and/or friends, because you will get hooked to this show. The actors take you into this new world of Mystic Falls and will leave you with the most incredible cliffhangers in the season finale. You’ll be taken on one of the most thrilling television rides you’ve been on in quite some time. There are so many twists; your jaw will drop in every single episode. This show doesn’t compare to the other vampire hits we’ve seen in the past few years. It is in a league of its own. There are also some incredible guest stars including Gina Torres and Arielle Kebbel. Really, there is no reason not be watching this show. There is so much passion in every aspect of this show…job well done to the cast and crew because this is one television series that I will be talking about for years to come.

Bonus Features:

Into Mystic Falls (25:01 minutes) – Executive producers, Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson begin this feature talking about the evolution of the television series. The two wrote the Pilot in 2 weeks and made history from there! The cast and crew talk about translating from book to television, the theme and tone of the show, Kevin’s dialogue, and so much more. Behind the scenes footage is shown from the Pilot as everyone talks about working on the Pilot with director, Marcos Siega. Next, everyone begins to praise the Director of Photography, Paul Sommers as well as production designer, Garreth Stover. It doesn’t end there though! The cast and crew talk about the pros and cons of shooting in Atlanta as opposed to Vancouver, Canada where the Pilot was shot and also discuss night shooting and shooting flash backs. One of my favorite parts of this feature though has to be when Nina begins to talk about the fangs and contacts that are to be put in when the characters turn into vampires as viewers see both the fangs and contacts being put on/in by Ian. Both Nina and Ian talked about the contacts being a bit of a pain and that just makes me appreciate the cast even more. Not only are they working all hours of the night, but they are sometimes in a bit of physical pain all to make a fabulous show. I couldn’t appreciate this cast and crew any more! This is definitely a must see feature. Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Sara Canning, Candice Accola, Katerina Graham, Steven McQueen, Michael Trevino, Matthew Davis, Zach Roering, executive producer, Bob Levy, and co-executive producer/director, Marcos Siega all appear in this feature.

When Vampires Don’t Suck (18:47 minutes) – Executive producer, Julie Plec opens this feature, talking about the loyal fan base of the book series. This leads to finding out that Candice Accola and Nina Dobrev were roommates in Los Angeles in the beginning stages of the show and the girls would check out Vampire-Diaries.Net for show updates! Heather Cordova from Vampire-Diaries.Net also has a few words to say about the success of the show. The cast, crew, and fandom discuss the craze of the vampire culture and transformation of vampires over the years, as well as the fandom growing for the show. Since the cast appearance at San Diego Comic Con in 2009, the show has blown up to become The CW’s #1 show. Footage from the wildly successful Hot Topic meet and greet tour is shown. There is also talk about winning the People’s Choice Award and connecting with the fans via Facebook and Twitter. This is the feature made for the fans with quite a few of the fans, so thank you cast and crew for making such a wonderfully edited and produced feature. Cast mates, Matthew Davis, Sara Canning, Katerina Graham, Steven McQueen, Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, Zach Roerig, and co-executive producer, Marcos Siega appear in this feature. LA Times critic, Carina MacKenzie, Historian, David Skal, and Film Historian, Angela Aleiss also appear in this feature.

A New Breed of Vampires (12:42 minutes) – This feature opens up with executive producers, Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson, as they open up about the casting process for the show. It was interesting to find out that the network was not concerned about getting an all star ensemble cast. They made their own all star ensemble cast! Not only that but all of the females auditioned for Elena regardless of the role that they were after and all of the males auditioned for Stefan or Damon regardless of the role that they were after. Zach Roerig originally read for Damon but of course we all know that he got another role. The search for the main three was tough! Nina was cast first and the fans of the novels were outraged since Elena has blond hair in the series. Though the network was behind the casting choice and from there, Nina read with dozens upon dozens of guys for Stefan. Casting Damon was easy once Ian walked in the door, but it took awhile for Julie Plec and others to realize that Paul was the guy to play Stefan. Throughout the feature, Michael, Sara, and Paul mention how they began reading the series immediately while others did not want to series to affect how they played their character. My favorite parts of this feature was seeing audition footage from Katerina Graham, Michael Trevino, Matthew Davis, Steven McQueen, Sara Canning, Nina Dobrev, Zach Roerig, and Michael Trevino. Also appearing in this feature are Paul Wesley, Candice Accola, Matthew Davis, Ian Somerhalder, and executive producer, Bob Levy. If you own this DVD, you are doing yourself a disservice if you do not watch this feature. To see how far these characters have come from the moment the actors auditioned to the season finale of season one…it’s quite a phenomenal journey to see.

Vampires 101 (6:42 minutes) – This feature also opens up with executive producer, Julie Plec, as she opens up about the vampire rules for the show. Executive producer, Kevin Williamson, and cast mates Candice Accola, Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, Sara Canning, Zach Roerig, and Steven McQueen all give viewers insight into The Vampire Diaries‘ definition of who vampires are. After sharing 10 interesting facts, the cast and Williamson answer the question asking if they ever would want to be a vampire. The answers are fun to hear and worth checking out. This feature was very well edited and the music that went along with this feature made it all the more fun to watch. Don’t skip over the feature…don’t skip any of these features!

The Vampire Diaries: A Darker Truth – webisodes (7:39 minutes) – There are 4 episodes in the web series which follows a young man named Jason who attempts to prove that Stefan killed his sister. He starts off visiting the Mystic Grill and then makes his way to the Salvatore home. He spots two corpses in the woods and makes his way back to the Salvatore home, to burn it to flames. But before he can, Damon, the one who killed Jason’s sister ends up taking a stab or bite of Jason. So Jason’s curiosity killed him and it’s a shame because his video diary entries were quite interesting. He was on a mission for revenge, not justice. Revenge only gets people hurt, so he should have just let it be. Ah well. This was a well written, well produced, and well acted web series. I wonder if a new batch will be made following another young innocent in season 2. Only time will tell.

Second Bite (3:57 minutes) – The gag reel opens up with Nina Dobrev…she seems to have a few problems getting her lines right, as does Ian Somerhalder. Paul Wesley and Nina laugh about his drooling during a romantic scene. The whole gang gets quite a laugh when Nina falls over her skirt from the 1800s. That’s not all! Nina manages to break a prop but is as calm as can be when she’s in the car and meets a grasshopper. There was so much to enjoy in this reel and I wish it had been longer. This reel caught some amazing moments that I played over and over again and will do so in the future every time I put in the last disc.

The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening – Owners of this DVD can play or download the audio book “The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening” which is the first of the six books in the series by L.J. Smith. I highly recommend that all listen to this audiobook and then go buy the rest of the series to read! The book series is just as entertaining as the television series.

Commentary – The commentary for the Pilot episode is conducted by executive producers/episode writers, Kevin Williamson & Julie Plec and director, Marcos Siego. This was such an amazing commentary and I wish that these three conducted more commentaries for this DVD. Right away, fans are given some pretty cool fun facts about filming the Pilot. The three discuss everything viewers would want to know about casting, continuity, tough sequences to shoot and edit, the struggle finding the tone of the show and more. Throughout the entire commentary, the three weave in and out of the topic of music. The CW never fails to deliver good music, so it is nice to see the three acknowledge this factor. I also really appreciate the three discussing the elements that didn’t quite work in the beginning and have been taken away since. For instance, the crow and the fog that are seen in the Pilot are not seen continuously throughout the rest of the season. What is seen though is the high school that was also used on Smallville and Kyle XY. What I found most interesting in this commentary was when Kevin and Julie brought up how one hates the diary entry voice overs and the other loves them. The show is titled, “The Vampire Diaries,” so it was incredibly interesting to hear their points of view on the inclusion of the diary entries. What I do wish had been more discussed…the dialogue. In the first few episodes of the show, the slang amongst the teenagers seems out of place and makes those episodes not so timeless. This was something I noticed right away when the show first aired and wished would be talked about on the DVD. Even though that wasn’t discussed, but I still loved every moment of the commentary and definitely see myself watching it over and over again. Hopefully there will be more commentaries on the Season 2 DVD because this has been one of my favorite commentaries to listen to this year.

Unaired Scenes – In the unaired scene for 2.02 The Night of the Comet (53 seconds), Matt grills Vicky at the bar about her relationship with Jeremy. I found this to be a great scene, so I can only imagine that it was cut for time and that we see Matt’s disgust for this relationship much more throughout the season. In the unaired scene for 2.05 You’re Undead to Me (36 seconds), Elena and Stefan are walking through the woods as Stefan reassures her that he will tell her everything after they give Damon the ring. There are 2 unaired scenes for the episode, 2.06 Lost Girls (3:08 minutes). Both display the sibling dynamic really well and I wish both had been included in the episode. At home, Jeremy tells Elena that Vicky is safe at home after the forest incident. Jeremy attempts to leave the house to see her but Elena stands guard to protect him. I love this scene and wish it had aired. Even though Jeremy is bigger than Elena, Elena is the older sister and he listens to her. I love it. In the next scene, Vicky and Matt have quite an emotional brother-sister talk (after Vicky has been bit, unbeknown to Matt) and I am clueless as to why this scene was deleted from the final cut. Vicky breaks down and Matt consoles her and it is just beautiful. In the unaired scene for 2.07 Haunted (48 seconds), Bonnie and Damon argue over who is the rightful owner of Bonnie’s crystal necklace. Viewers see enough of this in the show, so a few seconds of it cut out was a smart move. There are 3 unaired scenes for the episode, 2.10 The Turning Point (2:32 minutes). In the first scene, Bree (Guest star, Gina Torres) talks to Damon at the bar about a possible vampire in town. This is just the beginning of Bree digging for dirt and Damon doesn’t give in. Though we see this play out in a much more entertaining way in the final cut of the episode, so this unaired scene is no big deal. In the second scene, Jenna bumps into Rick at the bar while she waits to meet up with Jeremy. Rick asks about how Elena is doing since she missed class. I appreciate the fact that this was deleted from the final cut because it would have been too early for Jenna to worry about Elena. In the next scene, Bonnie and Stefan are in the woods. Bonnie admits that she is scared about what she is and what Stefan is. She then begins to talk about Emily and making sure that the tomb never gets open. I like this scene and hope to see more bonding moments between Stefan and Bonnie…moreso on Bonnie’s part since Stefan is an open guy once the curtain is pulled open. There are 2 unaired scenes for the episode, 2.14 Fool Me Once (2:15 minutes). In the first scene, Matt guides his drunk mother, Kelly (Guest star, Melinda Clarke) into the house as the two briefly discuss why she left, before she heads to sleep. In the second scene, Kelly makes out with bachelor number 3 outside of the bar before her kisses kill him. Oh how I wish this had been included! We all knew Kelly was shady and the discovery of this moment is important…I like this scene just as much as what was shown in the final cut. In the unaired scene for the episode, 2.15 A Few Good Men (24 seconds), Jenny talks to Elena at home about leasing out Elena’s dad’s empty office space. This scene doesn’t push any story line further, so I am glad that it was deleted from the episode. In the unaired scene for the episode, 2.16 There Goes the Neighborhood (2:22 minutes)…tied up and suffering in the basement, Stefan is talking to another vampire prisoner about the hunt and not feeding on humans. The only issue that I see with this scene is the slow pace. Otherwise, I love it. In the unaired scene for the episode, 2.17 Let the Right One In (12 seconds), Elena goes to Jenny to let her know that she cannot find Stefan while at the same time asking if she has seen him. Jenna is no help, so Elena moves on. I can understand why this was unaired. If there were more time, sure it could have been included but this doesn’t push forward the story line so it can be cut when time is of the essence. Overall, I enjoyed these deleted scenes the most out of all of the deleted scenes that I have seen from various television shows all year. My only suggestion is to include commentary as to why the scenes were deleted because it seems all but two could have really been beneficial scenes to have been included in the final cuts. Definitely watch the unaired scenes!

Own The Vampire Diaries The Complete First Season on DVD today.