DISC 1- LOST SON, PRO PER, UNDER THE INFLUENCE, MURDER IN A FLASH
DISC 2- LEGAL, HELL NIGHT, CRIME WAVE, SPEED KILLS
DISC 3- PIRATED, AFTER THE FALL, ADDICTION, SHOOTOUT
DISC 4- COP KILLER, ONE NIGHT STAND, IDENTITY, NOTHING TO LOSE
DISC 5- MONEY PLANE, GAME OVER, SEX & TAXES, KILLER DATE
DISC 6- RECOIL, VENGEANCE, WHACKED, 10-7
DSIC 7- four featurettes, one 8-part featurette
CSI: MIAMI could have been written off as just an other spin-off show, but it does match CSI in quality and characters
almost. It's not like the very bland CSI: NEW YORK. David Caruso could have faded away with owning a clothing store until
they picked him to be Horatio Caine, head of the Miami Crime Lab. I liked Caruso in movies like JADE and the short-lived TV
show MICHAEL HAYES (I wonder what is taking so long for Sony to release that one to DVD). Caine's team follow the evidence
and even have to deal with the death of one of their own in the first episode of season 3. Did I really care for Speedle (the
character who died)? No. I think his replacement, Ryan Wolfe (Jonathan Togo), is a better character. Horaito Caine even have
to deal with the possibility that his dead brother may actually be alive. Season 3 of CSI: MIAMI was a show that continued
to develop and season 4 (currently airing on TV) shows that the show hasn't lost any steam. Two extended 65 minute episodes
are part of season 3 (CRIME WAVE and NOTHING TO LOSE) which aired in 90 minute time slots, but they do feel a little long.
It was nice to see Eric Roberts guest star in WHAKCED. Calliegh DuCane (Emily Proctor) unfortunately doesn't exit after the
end of season 3 (much to the disdain of a fellow CSI fan who won't watch CSI: MIAMI due to her character).
Is this more of the Horaito Caine show instead of the team atmospher of CSI? Yes. Too bad one good character exits the
show in 10-7, but maybe the new blood in season 4 may prove that CSI: MIAMI can develop more interesting characters like the
CSI bunch. I do think MIAMI's cast is better than the woeful cast of CSI: NY.
VIDEO: 1.78:1 (Aanamorphic Widescreen)
AUDIO: English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, Spanish 2.0 DDS
Subtitles: English Close Captioning, featurettes have Spanish subtitles option.
CSI: MIAM like the CSI Season 5 DVD set looks better on DVD than it ever could on broadcast TV. It is the same deal with
the sound. Dialogue does come in very clearly.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Audio Commentaries were recorded for six episodes:
LOST SON with Elizabeth Devine
UNDER THE INFLUENCE with Marc Dube, Corey Miller, and Scott Lautanen
CRIME WAVE with Elizabeth Devine and Karen Gaviola
AFTER THE FALL with Marc Dube, Scott Lautanen, and Ildy Modrovich
SHOOTOUT with Corey Miller and Sunil Nayar
WHACKED with Ann Donahue
The only complaint about the commentaries is that they didn't feature any of the cast members, but the producers, writers,
and director who do contribute manage to make for some interesting listening with details on the production of the episodes.
The following 1.33:1 Full Frame featurettes are on disc 7:
CSI: MIAMI: DELIVERING THE GOODS- The first half of this 13 minute featurette focuses on the first episode (LOST SON) and
the second half deals with the rest of the season including the new cast member. Not as good as the featurette covering CSI
season 5 in the CSI Season 5 DVD set.
CSI: MIAMI: LOCATIONS: COAST TO COAST- 90 to 95 percent of the show is filmed in and around Los Angeles. They have to find
locations to look like Miami and sometiem seven do compositing (and rotoscoping) to replace the backgrounds to make a location
work
CSI: MIAMI: DEEP BLUE SEA- A behind-the-scenes look at the prep work that goes into shooting out on the water, laction
footage, and the tank they use to film underwater scenes back at the studio.
MEDICAL EXAMINER SCHOOL is a featurette divided into 8 parts (INTRODUCTION, CRIME SCENE PROCESS, THE AUTOPSY, GUNSHOT WOUNDS,
BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA, TOXICOLOGY, STABBINGS, ASPHYXIATION) with Tech Supervisor John Haynes. Clips from season 3 episode are
shown to help along Hayne's description of Medical Examiner techinques. However, this is my least favorite featurette due
to Hayne's monotone delivery.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Top Notch DVD set for the Third Season of CSI: MIMAI with great artwork and better interactive menus than
CSI Season 5. I do wish they would do away with the case design and come up with something better to hold the discs. It's
a no-brainer if you're a fan of the show, go buy the DVD set.
this DVD Review is (c)12-4-2005 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