By Fred Topel

Yes! Universal is finally putting out Blu Rays! And go figure, their first titles happen to be the franchise for their most current new release.

The Mummy series is a fine choice to debut their Blu Rays, the least of which being preview spots for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

The Mummy looks great on Blu Ray. The flashbacks to ancient Egypt are so bright, shiny, vibrant and glowing gold. There are plenty of details in the desert scenes. Small touches like fresh bandages, the varnish in library stacks and the crust and cracks of decrepit tombs are fantastic, and of course the decomposing mummy.

Oddly, there are some unusual artifacts in the sun and wavy line on a sand dune. Can't they fix that? The Blu Ray detail reveals some filmmaking effects too. One shot is clearly a freeze frame, because you can see the film grain, but it's not moving. That's cool, I like those seams.

Surprisingly, because it is slightly more recent, The Mummy Returns does not hold up as well. It's solid but there is rarely any special detail. Even the flashbacks aren't as shiny.

There are a few shots of the mountainous canyon that shine and Lock Na's army of red sashed warriors are vibrant but this should be a lot better. The movie is less than 10 years old, and its predecessor set a precedent. I think that's even why they call it that!

The Scorpion King is a happy medium. Colors pop against the desert landscapes. Reds and greens of various costumes shine though there aren't any really lavish vistas or costumes.

Maybe the movie was lit so flat that nothing can stand out too much. With Blu Ray you can really notice how there's really no darkness. Everything is clear to make sure we see every set dressing or action beat.

Considering this is set in Ancient Egypt, perhaps I should hold it up to the standards of The Mummy. There are no golden pyramid temples. At least it's all clear though. For the guys, Kelly Hu and for the girls, The Rock both look perfectly smooth.

Universal's contribution to Blu Ray lingo is "U Control It" (get it? Because it's U-niversal, but it's YOU, but it's U?) This is a running selection of video clips that pop up during the movie.

There are some good spots in The Mummy where they show B-roll from behind the scenes of the scene you're actually watching. This gives you a real sense of the difference between how things look on set and how they appear on film. Of course they only have those for the times they happened to be shooting behind the scenes. Perhaps for future movies, they can plan for the entire movie to run parallel in this fashion.

For other segments, they'll put together interviews which seems kind of pointless. Why would you play someone's interview over the movie you're trying to watch? Same with visual effects breakdowns. If you're interested in that, you watch it separately. And storyboards are nothing new, they did that on standard DVD.

At least The Mummy has those cool parts. The Mummy Returns doesn't even have the B-roll. Every pop up is a redundant reiteration of the plot from generic EPK interviews, or the basic visual effects.

At least on The Scorpion King, the U Control It features have some B-roll that supports the scene on screen. They are not complete takes, but they found the EPK bites that match the scenes to which they correspond.

The Mummy shows some potential for Universal's Blu Ray. The follow-ups are a bit less impressive but this is just the warmup. I'm waiting for Serenity, Fast and the Furious, Hellboy II, Wanted and About a Boy. What, About a Boy rules.