MovieFreak.com - "CSI - The Complete Second Season" DVD Review

Paramount presents CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. This is a great improvement over last season’s video presentation. The most obvious reason is the “widescreen” presentation for all 23 episodes. Pretty much the same kind of quality is present here, except for a bit more clarity and sharpness in the transfer. In fact, the widescreen presentation adds certain freshness and coolness to the viewing experience. Colors are bright again, and most are also very well-saturated. Compression artifacts or pixelation does not occur, but there are instances of specks and a bit of grain in the darker scenes. Shadow detail is pretty good, too. Overall, this widescreen presentation is pretty cool.

Paramount presents CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. The soundtrack spreads to all the channels, but sticks to the front speakers most of the time. Surrounds come alive during the many music cues and sound effects in the soundtrack. Rear speakers are effective in this presentation, although much of the soundtrack nevertheless comes through the front speakers, which do a pretty good job of reproducing sound to the two front channels. Dialog scenes remain clear and easy to understand. Overall, this video presentation is pretty good and creates a reasonably smooth auditory experience.

An improvement over the Season 1 release is the special features area. You don’t get a featurette here, but four of them! The first one is Make-up, Music, and Special Effects (10:00), which breaks down into three parts as suggested by the title. The make-up artist fixes up an actor to look all bloody and dead, and later the actor gets to play dead on the operating table with Robert David Hall and William Peterson going over the autopsy. The next part deals with the show’s score composed by John M. Keane, and despite a comparison reel with and without music, this segment is the weakest of the three. The Special Effects segment is pretty neat. Footage of the artists creating the effects is an interesting look at the making of some of the show’s most innovative shots, such as the larynx closing up or a body affected by electrocution, for example. This is not really a making-of per se, but the information and footage within this featurette is pretty neat.

Next up is CSI Shooting Locations (6:30) where viewers will find out the show is actually shot in and around the Los Angeles area. For example, shots of Las Vegas suburbia are actually Santa Clarita homes. Exterior shots of the Vegas strip is shot on location, of course, as are other specific scenes. But most of the show is produced in and around Los Angeles. It’s a nice little featurette with some interesting tidbits.

Production Designer Richard Berg takes you through the various labs and rooms in The CSI Tour (8:30). He explains the use of most of the labs, as well as how the production changed the sets to make them more accessible to filming (i.e. Grissom’s office) and seem more hi-tech (i.e. ballistics lab). Clips are used to visualize activity in the various labs. This tour is pretty basic, but informative nonetheless.

Tools of the Trade is divided into three sections, the DNA lab, Ballistics, and Trace Fingerprint. Select various types of equipment with your remote and you will be taken to brief clips hosted by Technical Advisor/Writer Elizabeth Devine explaining equipment usage and their importance. I noticed Spanish subtitles are available for this special feature, leading me to assume the rest feature them also.

The last featurette, entitled The Making of a Hit (11:35), is comprised of interviews with the crew and various clips from the show. Anthony E. Zuiker explains the process of selecting ideas for individual episodes, and Carol Mendelsohn discusses her three favorite episodes of the second season, which include Chaos Theory and The Hunger Artist. Ann Donahue also speaks about one of her favorite episodes, as well as other things. Danny Cannon speaks about his process and Jerry Bruckheimer provides a few comments also. It is a good idea to finish the season before watching this featurette as some clips give away episode conclusions and plot points. This is a pretty good featurette, at least ten times better than the single featurette available on the Season 1 release. However, the disappointing thing about it is the actors didn’t participate or show up in any of the interviews. I would have loved to hear from them, to hear/see what they think and what their process is in terms of preparing for work.

Last, but certainly not least, is optional episode Commentary on 3 Episodes. Burked features commentary by Carol Mendelsohn, Anthony Zuiker, and Danny Cannon. Then, Alter Boys features Ann Donahue and Danny Cannon, and Anthony Zuiker and Gary Dourdan discuss episode 210, entitled Ellie. These tracks are pretty good. Some slight pauses exist, but the flow of information is generally interesting and worthwhile. It’s good to have at least one cast member participate in this DVD release, namely Gary Dourdan.

Again, the most noticeable and appreciative improvement over last season’s release is the widescreen presentation. Here the widescreen adds a cool dynamic to the presentation. However, in my Season 1 review I pointed out a couple of flaws about the 6-disc set. The Season 2 release also omits English subtitles and Scene Selections. Some of the technical dialogue can be tricky, and having subtitles on during those scenes can be a helpful tool. Despite five chapter stops, you can’t access any of the scenes because there is no menu available. For some reason, an odd one I should suspect, Paramount again failed to pay attention to these two things. Perhaps they should take notes from Fox on how to produce TV DVD sets properly.

The DVD’s main menu is animated. Each episode runs approximately 43 minutes and is organized into five chapters. The approximate total run time of all 23 episodes is 16 hours and 46 minutes.

Terrific show. Great cast. Splendid writing. What more can you expect from a TV show? I don’t know, but I do know CSI comes highly recommended. Widescreen presentation is a great improvement over last season’s release, and audio is pretty good. Special features are admirable and informing, a great amount of behind-the-scenes. Fans of CSI should purchase this 6-disc set at retail price if available. Anyone else might want to rent it, but buying is probably easier (getting through the episodes and special features might take longer than a rental permits).

THE SHOW/SEASON	10
THE VIDEO	8
THE AUDIO	8
THE EXTRAS	8
OVERALL (not an average)	9