The Office: The Complete Series (Super Fan Extended Episodes) - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Office: The Complete Series (Super Fan Extended Episodes)



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
While I wasn’t a fan of the show in its original run (I don’t know why. I just couldn’t get into it when I was in my 20s) I grew to love The Office's syndicated reruns, and eventually it won me over completely when I was able to binge the series in full with the 2020 Blu-ray box set that Universal put out during Covid 19. And even better, the show turned me on to the original Ricky Gervais variant of the show, which I find wildly better, even though Steve Carell is an absolute gem in the American version. And judging from what I’ve mentioned about Universal releasing a complete box set of the series on Blu-ray in 2020, you’d expect this to just be another reprint of the show, right? Well, in that case you’d be wrong. Around 2020/202,1 Universal released batches of what was known as “super fan episodes” of the first season, which were basically just extended or director’s cut variations of each episode. And instead of just releasing a few, Uni dropped super fan episodes for each season, up until January of 2026 when they finished with season 9 to give the ENTIRE series a full extended cut variant. That’s what this box set is right here. A conglomeration of the entire series redone with the super fan tweaks, sans extras, making this an interesting compendium to the broadcast episodes.

The show itself needs almost no introduction. A 9-season series of near-absolute nothing (ala Seinfeld), featuring the fictional Dunder Mifflin paper company set in Scranton, Pennsylvania. There, the branch is headed up by the moronic Michael Scott (no relation, and yes,s this is my real name), as he bumbles his way through corporate life, along with his underpaid, undervalued, and under-caring staff who just want to get through the day and get on with their lives. And while I wasn’t a fan of the show back in the 2005-2015 era when it aired, there was absolutely no mistaking its popularity. The show was utterly massive, with a fanbase in the millions and a world that wanted more and more of the crazy hijinks. Heck, not only is it a spinoff/reboot of the U.K. show featuring Ricky Gervais, but it has also spawned an Australian copy, as well as a few minor attempts at making it work in other countries as well (with little success).

Five years ago Universal released a MASSIVE boxset of the complete series, including some very hefty extras. This go around is less of an update of that boxset (meaning it’s all that same content PLUS the Super Fan extended episodes), but rather a compendium boxset that supplements the previous one. Gone are the broadcast episodes, and gone are the treasure trove of extras as well. In its place is a whole series of the extended cuts with no trimmings or extra fat. All those episodes, nothing else. And in a normal look at a series being released, I’d take issue with the lack of extras. But in this case, I actually am not that perturbed. This is an alternate take of the series, with almost 50%-60% more runtime, and it’s designed to be a standalone “thing” in The Office universe. And with the existence of the broadcast version of the show WITH extras, I see this as more complementary rather than the core version of the show.

Don’t get me wrong, I love that this box set exists. They add a cool new dimension to watching the series, as it adds over 50% more run time to each episode, filling them up to nearly 40 minutes long each. And in a lot of ways, I find the episodes superior. They’re filled with more jokes, more gags, and some of the deleted material that made its way back in is REALLY fun. That being said, the pacing and tone of the series gets altered just enough to where I probably prefer the broadcast editions if I was to go back and watch the series again. BUUUUUT (once more), there’s a LOT of content in here that fleshes out some story points and jokes that work way better than they should be.




Rating:

Rated TV-14 by the MPAA




Video:

Pulling out the 2020 Blu-ray release and A/Bing side by side,e it looks like the digital source material for the extended bits are indistinguishable from the broadcast discs in just about every way. I had to turn on my second player and switch between them side by side to see where the new material began and the old ended; it is that seamless picture-wise. Which means that it’s a solid-looking encode, with nothing major going on. The digital shoot looks nice, with a slightly neutral tone that leans towards gay more often than not. Fine details are impressive, especially when things get a bit brighter, and the skin tones garner a pinkish hue to them (sometimes that gray push can push itself into skin tones)







Audio:

It’s not a surprise after my findings with the video that the audio appears to be direct clones of the previous boxset (just longer naturally) and are about on the same tier. Good audio mixes that do the job well, but not something that’s going to blow you away. The nature of the show never lent itself towards large, spacious mixes. But rather llaid-backtracks that deal heavily in dialogue and some ambient surround activity throughout. A good comedy track that isn’t shying away from its simple roots.








Extras:

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Final Score: ​

So my final conclusion is that this is a great box set, but it’s not the original show. To purists, that may seem like blasphemy, but I find that with the inclusion of the original box set, this just adds extra content to an already near-perfect broadcast box set, and they should be judged as separate things. This is more of an alternate take of the show, but the fact that Universal released not just a few episodes altered, but the ENTIRE FREAKING SERIES, is an insane accomplishment that most studios wouldn’t bother with. So, yeah, I find this a complementary boxset that can work on its own merits, but benefits the most by being an ADDITION to the broadcast boxset rather than replacing it. Add in the fact that Universal does a great job with the encode, means I’m actually giving this one a thumbs up (despite my purist nature originally poo-pooing the release when it was first announced). The 3.5/5 rating for this is simply due to the lack of extras pulling down the average for the scoring. Otherwise, this is a solid 4/5 all the way across the board.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Ed Helms
Created by: Greg Daniels
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH (All Seasons), Spanish (Seasons 5-9)
Studio: Universal
Rated: TV-14
Runtime: 6080 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: June 14th, 2026

Recommendation: Great Watch


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