DISC 1- VIVA LAS VEGAS, DOWN TEH DRAIN, HARVEST, CROW'S FEET
DISC 2- SWAP MEET, WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRISSOM?, FORMALITIES, CH-CH-CHANGES
DISC 3- MEA CUPLA, NO HUMANS INVOLVED, WHO SHOT SHERLOCK?, SNAKES
DISC 4- NESTING DOLLS, UNBEARABLE, KING BABY, BIG MIDDLE
DISC 5- COMPULSION, SPARK OF LIFE, 4 X 4, HOLLYWOOD BRASS
DISC 6- COMMITTED, WEEPING WILLOWS, ICED
DISC 7- GRAVE DANGER VOLUME 1 and VOULME 2, featurettes
Many shows are in for a bumpy ride when they hit the fifth season. The writing may hit some bumps as the writers try to
keep it fresh. CSI had those hurdles during the fifth season. Despite some great episodes and interesting new character (Sophia),
I do think the shake-up of Grissom's team being spilt up was a creative misfire. The two part season finale, GRAVE DANGER
(which aired as a two hour episode) with a story written and directed by Quentin Tarantino comes off with mixed results where
KING BABY has to be the worst episode of season 5. The best episodes tend to focus on one of the cast members (HOLYYWOOD BRASS,
COMMITTED, and WEEPING WILLOWS) or come up with a great concept to explore (CH-CH-CHANGES, NESTING DOLLS). The fifth season
isn't my favorite season, but it still has grit.
VIDEO: 1.78:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)
The episodes have a big advantage over how they aired on TV, the episodes are in the way they were originally filmed and
look better than they could ever look on broadcast TV (or even Spike TV reruns). Image detail is sharp with a little softness
in evidence, but the colors and blacks are good.
AUDIO: English 5.1 Dolby Surround, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Surround
Subtitles: None on episodes (but they are close captioned), Spanish subtitles for featurettes
Dialogue is crystal clear, but the 5.1 mix tends to be atmospheric favoring the music with some surround action from the
sound effects.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Audio commentaries were recorded for nine episodes-
VIVA LAS VEGAS with Danny Cannon and Carol Mendelsohn
DOWN THE DRAIN with Ken Fink and Naren Shankar
FORMALITIES with Dustin Lee Abraham and Naren Shankar
WHO SHOT SHERLOCK? with Rich Catalani, Ken Fink, and David Rambo
SNAKES with Richard J. Lewis, Dustin Lee Abraham, and George Eads
SPARK OF LIFE with Ken Fink and Allen MacDonald
4 X 4 with David Rambo, Dustin Lee Abraham, and Naren Shankar
COMMITTED with Richard J. Lewis and Jorja Fox
WEEPING WILLOWS with Marg Helgenberger and Ken Fink
The best audio commentaries of the set are WEEPING WILLOWS and SPARK OF LIFE. It is nice to see some of the cast doing
the audio commentaries with the writers, directors, and producers. FORMALITIES does have a funny story of the writers coming
up with a stupid reason for why someone kept silent (it involves a dog named Jelly) which didn't make it because they came
to their senses. Marg Helgenberger gives the best commentary of the three cast members involved where George Eads is the weakest.
Too bad William Peterson or Quentin Tarantino didn't do any audio commentaries for season 5.
Several featurettes are on disc seven-
CSI: SEASON 5- A POST MORTEM has the cast and crew talk about various episodes of the season including the break up the
team story arc.
THE RESEARCH OF CSI: MAINTAINING THE ACCURACY goes into how much research and who they consult for the CSI science used
in the show.
CSI: TARANTINO STYLE is how they got Quentin Tarantino to write a story and direct the two part season finale with a behind-the-scenes
look at the making of GRAVE DANGER VOLUME 1 and 2. features interviews with cast, crew, and Tarantino.
CSI FORENSIC PROCEDURES ON THE SCENE VS. ON THE SCREEN goes into how eight different CSI techniques and effects (Spatter
Up, Photo-Realism, IBIS, a Star Shaped Wound, Printing A Bird Feather, Identifying Tire Treads, Giving The Third Degree, and
A Ninhydrin Print) were created for the various episodes in season five with former Los Angeles CSI (consultants for the show)
Richard Catalani and Larry Mitchell talking about how they did it including the time cheats and real techniques they used.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Even though, I still don't like the way they package the discs, CSI The Complete fifth season is a top
notch DVD set with great extras.
this DVD Review is (c)11-28-2005 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission (except for excerpts and a
link to the review). Look for additional content at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia and send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com
