Extras: Trailer, Character Profiles, Featurette, Interviews
Directors:
Danny Cannon, Michael Watkins, R.J. Lewis, Lou Antonio, Kenneth Fink, Michael
Shapiro, Thomas J. Wright and Oz Scott
Producers:
Tina Albanese, Cynthia Chvatal, Bernie Laramie, Ron Mitchell and William L. Petersen
Screenplay:
Anthony E. Zuiker, Ann Donahue, Josh Berman, Andrew Lipsitz, Carol Mendelsohn,
Eli Talbert and Jacqueline Zambrano
Music:
John M. Keane
Cast:
Gil Grissom: William L. Petersen
Catherine Willows: Marg Helgenberger
Warrick Brown: Gary Dourdan
Sara Sidel: Jorja Fox
Nick Stokes: George Eads
Captain Jim Brass: Paul Guilfoyle
Greg Sanders: Eric Szmanda
Dr. David Robbins: Robert David Hall
Eddie Willows: Timothy Carhart
With the good word that's spread about C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation
I looked forward to taking a look at this series and, for a TV show, I wasn't
disappointed.
I say 'for a TV show' because there are different expectations in that you're
not waiting for a pay-off after two hours invested, but in that things move
along more quickly and, especially at the start of a new series, you need to
be introduced to the characters and to be involved in their lives quickly.
The CSI team are led by Gil Grissom
(Manhunter's
William L. Petersen) and, like other shows such as NYPD Blue and
Homicide: Life on the Street, his gang are made up of different
individuals from varying backgrounds who either spark off or against each other,
rather like real life sometimes.
They solve the apparently unsolvable cases by inspecting the most minute
pieces of evidence and although each episode generally sticks to its own
storyline, the first two in this series (the DVD boxset contains the first half,
ie. 12 episodes) link together as a fate befalls rookie recruit Holly Gribbs
(Chandra West), thanks to a slip-up by Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan).
Nick Stokes (George Eads) and Warrick are both looking out for their 100th
case to solve so as to be promoted, with only one winner, while Grissom
starts by taking on the case of a murder which has been staged to look like a
suicide.
Air Force One's
Paul Guilfoyle also appears as beleagured Captain Jim Brass.
When the investigations take place, we get to see flashbacks of what really
happened in each incident, but first in the way it was alleged to have happened
before the truth is revealed.
CSI is the sort of programme you'll watch once a week when it's on. It's
entertaining enough, but can be rather contrived and cliched at times so
isn't a series you'd want to collect in full, particularly because of its
presentation here - more of which comes later.
Warrick found himself on the E.R. set by mistake.
There's one series problem with this programme though and it's not the fact
that the print is quite grainy, since that looks to be an intentional part of it,
but it's the fact that the series was shot in 16:9 and has been cropped to
4:3. Even Channel 5 show it properly! (well, the second series which has been
on recently)
There's no problems with the sound, which is used to serve as atmosphere as the
team go about their daily business. It's standard Dolby Surround though, not
that that's a hinderance.
When buying a DVD of a series I feel it's the programme that comes first and
any extras are a bonus, although I did expect more than what we've got here.
There are four episodes to a disc, with the extras just containing a Trailer,
brief Character Profiles, an also-brief 5½-minute featurette
that goes behind the scenes and Cast and Crew Interviews. Nothing to make
you go back time and time again then.
There are three chapters per episodes, subtitles come in English and the
main menus are quite cool as the 'camera' glides around the CSI office to
reveal the selection chosen.
Sadly, it's not a DVD I can recommend given the cropping of the picture. If
Momentum had got hold of the 16:9 transfers then it would've been worth a look.
Perhaps they can resolve this for the other half of this series?
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
