Amazon.co.uk Review
The latest in a long line of successful US police dramas, the forensic cop show Crime Scene Investigation varies the formula by focusing on a team of civilian scientists who work the night shift in Las Vegas, poring over crime scenes for fingerprints, blood spatters, DNA-laced mucus and (especially) maggots.
Star William Petersen plays a variation of his role from Manhunter, the cool puzzle-solving genius who can rattle off mystifying speeches with aplomb, while his contrasting partner is Marg Helgenberger, cast as a single mother/ex-stripper who is as concerned with the emotional as well as the physical mess left by crime.
While most US cop shows (witness NYPD Blue) tend towards soap, neglecting the cases in favour of personal crises, CSI gives its regulars enough life to make them human but is essentially puzzle-based, with individual episodes following two or three cases à la Homicide: Life on the Street. The occasional special focuses on a major job with the team investigating the slaughter of a whole family ("Blood Drops") or a death in first class on a plane over Vegas ("Unfriendly Skies"). A few continuing threads are laid down, with a recurrent villain who gets away, but will inevitably return, but on the whole these shows play pretty well as one-offs. Very high-tech in style, with lots of zooms into microscopic examinations of hair follicles or stomach contents and distinctive visualisations of the different stories told by witnesses and evidence, this is one of the best shows currently airing.
On the DVD: CSI's first DVD box set contains the show's first 12 episodes: the pilot followed by "Cool Change", "Crate & Burial", "Pledging Mr Johnson"; "Friends and Lovers", "Who Are You?", "Blood Drops"; "Anonymous", "Unfriendly Skies", "Sex Lies and Larvae"; "The I-15 Murders" and "Fahrenheit 932". In addition to inventive menus, the three-disc set offers character profiles, a trailer, some B-roll on-set footage, a subtitle option, and snippet-like interviews with the cast and creatives. --Kim Newman
Customer Reviews:
By far the best of the CSI series.......2007-07-17
Isn't it great when you discover a programme yourself without any hype and end up really liking it. Love it or hate it, I don't think that there is anybody on planet earth that hasn't heard of CSI, but when I first saw this one Saturday night on channel 5 in either 2000 or 2001, I had never heard of it and I don't think many people had, this was one of those programmes that I accidentally watched by channel hopping and I just really enjoyed and thought how fresh it felt.
It is not always true that original is best but in my opinion it is definitely true with this because CSI: Vegas is by far the best of the CSI series, I still like CSI Miami but I have tried and now completely given up on the extremely boring and shallow CSI: New York, I just find it more like a fashion show plus everybody has to be good looking, even the main cop, I wouldn't mind so much but most of the characters are so wooden that I am suprised that they don't get attacked by woodpeckers. I know that people will disagree and some people will obviously prefer either Miami or New York but I am only saying what I think.
This is where it all began but it is still as good as ever. I just find it much more enjoyable, yes this does have good looking people in it but at least they have got some charisma and I find all of the characters in this likeable plus the chemistry overall between the actors is much better in this. I also think that there was a very good reason for filming this in Sin City because to me it just adds to the enjoyment and gives it a much more darker feel and it also makes good use of atmospheric music.
Nobody ever said that this is a believable programme but who gives a flying circus, it is enjoyable and that is all that matters.
Consistently high quality drama........2007-04-19
CSI is a series set in Las Vegas which centres around a team of Crime Scene Investigators. Each week sees various different crimes committed, some of which are very disturbing, that are solved by some very interesting methods of investigation.
The Forensic science of the show is truly fascinating and at times is so absorbing it feels as though you are watching a documentary. The characters in the show are very well written, and although each episode centres mainly on the crimes being investigated, there are small details which emerge about them to actually make you care about them all. We see very little of their private lives so to have such strong feelings about each character is an exceptional acheivment. Some viewers may not like this but It is interesting that after 7 seasons the main focus is still on solving crimes and not turning the programme into a soap opera about each characters life outside of work. For such are dark programme there is quite a lot of black humour throughout the show which adds to the overall enjoyment. Some scenes are very graphic (especially on the autopsy table) but are not gratuitous and only help to enhance how shocking some of the crimes are.
The programme is very entertaing and educational (without being boring) and I would highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of 'whodunnits'.
A passable crime thriller series, but not the best.......2007-01-29
I am a fan of finding a good tv show, then watching it at my own pace on DVD. I have done this with a number of shows in particular Without a trace which is another Jerry Bruckheimer project and I have to say that is alot better.
CSI is ok, the biggest problem is the main character, he is often spouting cheesy lines which are meant to comes across as deep/intelligent/mystical or something of that ilk, but they just sound stupid. I find it hard to believe him, let alone muster any kind of interest in what happens to him, or most of the other characters.
I can't see myself getting the 2nd series!
human nature at its worst - storytelling at its best.......2006-09-09
I'm not someone who generally likes programmes about crime but these first 12 episodes of CSI are a joy to watch.The discipline and ingenuity with which the forensic scientists do their jobs is only equalled by the discipline and ingenuity that all the writers,directors,editors and production staff bring to CSI.
It never ceases to amaze me how the fast moving episodes manage to tell an interesting and convincing story and to give the characters such deep and involving personalities.
Extremely original.......2006-07-14
The original C.S.I (as there are as you probably know two spin off shows) is a series based around the work of crime scene investigators - hence the title. It is based in Las Vegas and includes the characters of Gil, Catherine, Sara, Warrick and Nick who all work the graveyard shift in forensics dealing with anything from kidnapping to murder trying to find even the tiniest piece of evidence left behind by the perpetrator. Each episode is usually self contained and rarely interacts with the next with the investigators looking for clues to solve sometimes several crimes in one episode.
The series automatically starts off with a surprise with someone that you think is going to be a regular as a new intake on the C.S.I team only to get killed off by the perpetrator of a crime she's investigating. That's what C.S.I is about. The element of surprise as usually the least obvious explanation is the true one. C.S.I always keeps you guessing and that can be down to nothing more than clever writing by the creator Anthony Zuicker.
I actually bought this first part of the series without having actually ever caught an episode on it despite having Sky and it being on a lot, but I'd heard so many good things about it and something which can create two other successful spin offs has got to be worth a look. Also, I have an avid interest in true crime so this seemed like the perfect series for me and I was not wrong. The cinematography is incredible and the way in which the crimes are re enacted even to the point of showing a bullet piercing a body as the camera acting the part of the bullet is an incredible idea. Lets be honest though. This series was never going to be amateur with Jerry Bruckheimer on board.
The only reason I took a star off this is due to one of the characters - well the main character to be exact. Gil Grissom (played by William Peterson) I do not think is written as a likeable character. I don't know whether it's just me but he does appear to be incredibly smug and the way in which he quotes random literary lines and other little cheesy references like how the dead person told him who killed him by the evidence to name one of many really got under my skin. I know it's done for TV sake and a lot of American shows are guilty of cliched responses but I find him annoying. There is also very little about the lives of the C.S.I team outside of the job and I don't know as yet whether this avenue is explored in later seasons. Those are the only things that stopped this series getting the big 5. Be prepared to listen carefully as the forensics side can get a tad complicated with a lot of jargon. If you don't concentrate you could miss easily how they worked out who the perpetrator was.
One last thing. These box sets are brought out in two parts and then released in a complete box set. For some reason in most places it's still cheaper to buy the two parts but if you're prepared to wait a while the full box set may come down in price and be cheaper than buying separately.
Amazon.co.uk Review
The second half of CSI's first year takes Grissom and his untiring team down some darker paths than before. Nick finally gives in to his urges and sleeps with the hooker who has a crush on him in "Boom"--with predictably disastrous consequences. Sarah is badly affected by the rape and attempted murder of an unknown woman in "Too Tough to Die"; and even Grissom is shaken when dealing with the sudden death of an infant in "Gentle, Gentle". The final episode of the year, "Strip Strangler", is a real shocker, as the team track a brutal serial killer.
Elsewhere, the morbid business of investigating corpses and crime scenes is enlivened with flashes of welcome humour: when a horse is found dead with packets of uncut diamonds concealed in its uterus, Grissom deadpans "This horse is a mule". Throughout, the show remains focused on its scientific remit, only revealing enough of the characters' private lives to provide added piquancy to each investigation: Sarah's complete lack of a life outside her work; Warrick's old gambling habit; Catherine's attachment to her daughter and troubles with ex-husband Eddie; Nick's over-eagerness to please. Grissom, meanwhile, like the Dalai Lama, is the model of inscrutable wisdom. The show itself, like a millennial antidote to a decade of X-Files, is relentlessly empirical: everything that initially seems mysterious--from spontaneous human combustion to an apparent case of vampirism--is always explicable and explained by the team's scientific dedication.
On the DVD: CSI, Series 1 Part 2 contains 11 episodes on three discs. Extra features consist of a brief promo featurette, production notes and a series of on-set interviews with the cast. Oddly for such a cutting-edge show, picture is old-fashioned 4:3 with basic Dolby stereo sound. --Mark Walker
Customer Reviews:
Just as good as the first 12 episodes.......2006-07-14
This is the second part of season 1 so if whoever's reading this is thinking of buying the second part I would assume that you've got the first 12 episodes. I have already done a review on part 1 but just as a recap, C.S.I is a show based around the graveyard shift of the Las Vegas Criminal Investigations unit following cases they come across and how they solve those cases using forensics.
The second part of this season has 11 episodes instead of 12 like the first part. There are some extras these being interviews with the stars of the show. Don't get too excited though. The majority of them are just extended versions of the interviews already included as extras on part 1 of the season. There is some new stuff though so it's not a complete rehash. I would like to state another problem with C.S.I though which I did not mention too much on my first review. I noted that there was very little incorporated into the storyline regarding the characters life outside of work. This is still true of the show but I have noticed that sometimes when things are mentioned in the show it seems to have been completely forgotten about in the next episode. For example, one of the characters Catherine was referred to child welfare by her ex-husband after she had been late picking their daughter up from his house due to work duties. That storyline never came to fruition and it was barely mentioned again. It seems to me that the writer tries to put some of the characters personal life into the show but then doesn't bother following up on it. What's the point of including it at all?
Despite this as I've said before C.S.I is a great series that deserves to be as successful as it is. Perhaps these are just teething problems as the writers find the right formula for the show. I'll find this out as I watch the later seasons.
csi what more need i say.......2005-03-14
This is a fantastic show and the second part of the first session was no dissapointment. It was fantastic. The starnge thing about csi is the fact that it aint so packed with imformation that its hard going but there is enough there to still keep you on your toe's. great show
Beware - CSI is dangerous.......2003-12-11
CSI is the most addictive TV programme I have ever encountered. We hungrily wait for the release of each new DVD collection and have become very sad CSI bores, arguing about the merits of "classic" CSI versus "CSI Miami" (Classic is much better)
It is beautifully produced, gory, fascinating and grips totally for each 40 minute episode. Are we now the only family in London who, when something is spilled and wiped up, shout "Where's the Luminol?" I doubt it.
Buy them, but remember, you have been warned
CSI - Exhilarating, heart stopping viewing.......2003-10-18
When I discovered this programme on Channel 5 (thank you programmers!!!), I was blown away. The storylines draw you into every crevice of the crime, the acting is fantastic and each character brings their own dimension to the show. Season One totally rocks.... and as for Season Two!!! Awesome viewing!
Absorbing, exciting, dark, funny... everything you need for an enjoyable night in front of the TV!
If the first was good then this is even better!.......2003-01-24
God this is good! Starting of with the acclaimed and well rounded episode of Boom & never stops.
The last episode of this season Strip Strangler, gives the best & worst of each of the characters and what makes this series so good.
Eric Szmanda gets by far the most hilarious scene in the whole show so far in Table Stakes great acting!
Which is what makes this show work & we're not even at season 2, this has the right mix, With Grissom & Catherine at the helm, the ever cool but nice Warrick, the sometimes outspoken Sara & the gorgeous sometime vulnerableNick Stokes (need I say more) as the humanity check & people's person, relationships are everywhere but this sticks to the book and keeps us guessing!
When is season 2 available, its dark but with its humour and highly talented cast, this takes some beating & this first season is a classic, plus the DVD is great just get the original music back aka TV version!
Amazon.co.uk Review
Now firmly established as the top-rated US drama, by its third year CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a show positively glowing with confidence. Even when individual cases seem either too contrived or too easily resolved, the indefatigable night shift at the Las Vegas PD crime lab always look the part, solving conundrums and discovering microscopic damning evidence while, apparently, never shedding their own loose hair or skin cells all over the supposedly quarantined crime scenes. In reality, Catherine Willows' flowing blonde locks would contaminate any evidence she collected, but in the world of CSI only the bad guys leave body parts behind--the CSIs themselves are so good they're positively pristine.
The first 12 episodes of season 3 on this three-disc set present more deliciously bizarre situations for the problem-solving sleuths: cannibalism, snuff movies, dwarfs, death while drag racing, bodies falling from the sky, and various dismemberments all tax the team's acumen. These are all double or multiple-case episodes, though in a characteristic trick of the writing sometimes apparently unrelated murders turn out to be connected (or vice versa, as in "Blood Lust", where a road accident victim is not what he seems, and the death of the driver at the hands of an angry mob is made all the more tragic.) The mix of genuine forensic science with the glossiest Jerry Bruckheimer production values, plus the virtues of a good ensemble cast headed by William Peterson's modern-day Sherlock Holmes, remains as compelling as ever. --Mark Walker
Customer Reviews:
Who are you.......2005-03-15
CSI was one of those show's I'd heard of but never watched. Then that magazine came out and bought the first issue and watched the pilot episode and the following one. After that I was hooked. 2 weeks was too long to wait for the next episode so in a strange fit of confusion (desperation?) I bought the first part of Season 3 and proceeded to sit down and watch all the episodes over the course of a month.
Each episode is gripping developing the characters and story with startling pace. The characters are likeable, and Grissom is one of those characters who come along in a series once every decade: Mulder, Captain Picard, Gil Grissom.
This first part of the series is contains the first part of seaon three, but is lacking in the extras department. A couple of commentaries and some extra behind the scenes footage but that's it. I wish these TV series disks had more special features. As it stands though the series is fab and is worth buying for the great storytelling, excellent acting, forensic science and of course the likeable characters.
CSI get better and better.......2004-05-18
As an avid fan of CSI I was delighted when the third series became available.
It is easy watching and just the thing for a quiet night in.
CSI Series 3 Part 1.......2004-05-08
Hey! Well I must admit, my review is biased as I love these series but it's honestly a fab set and I'd definately recommend it! Word of warning though, I wouldn't watch disc 3 while eating. I did and felt a bit sick as it got a little grusome!
Any ideas on when the second series 3 discs are out?
More Goodies From CSI.......2004-04-16
The start of season three isn't disappointing, with all the characters in fine form. Included in this DVD is possibly the best episode so far "The Accused is Entitled" which involves all the cast and concludes in the courtroom - a place we don't often get to see. The other cases range from a hanged dwarf to the search for a body when an eyeball is found. Other highlights(if you're that way inclined) include cannibalistic cheerleaders and bodies in meat grinders. With the usual mix of science and gore a must for any CSI fan.
CSI: Season 3, Part 1.......2004-02-29
Finally the chance to see Season 3 all over again, and part one contains some of the best episodes from this, the very best crime drama in the world! Not only do these episodes maintain the same recipe of cutting-edge forensic science, glamourous locations and exciting cases we know from Seasons 1 and 2, they also give the characters and the world of CSI more depth, looking at the controversial question of Capital punishment, and the dangers of Boxing and Drag Racing, as well as exploring Sara's unresolved feelings for Grissom. The cast once again give a fantastic and realistic preformance, making CSI the huge success that it deserves to be.
Amazon.co.uk Review
These first 12 episodes from the second series of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation consolidate the show's well-deserved popular appeal, while beginning to explore (gently at first) beneath the slickly professional surface of the investigators themselves. Gradually we learn more about what makes Grissom and his astonishingly gifted forensics team tick, beyond merely that they're workaholics who seem to require no sleep at all.
The show's trademark reveals of vital evidence--be it on the autopsy slab or under the microscope--add a fresh spin to what is, at heart, a good old-fashioned whodunit series. William Petersen brings the requisite air of antiquarianism to a character whose meticulous demeanour and love of order consciously inherits the mantle of Sherlock Holmes (whose vast collection of tobacco samples and bottles of chemicals are the ancestors of CSI's high-tech crime lab). This is a series in which scientific evidence-gathering is elevated to the status of a religion. "When a tree falls in the forest, even if no one is around to hear, it does make a sound", affirms Grissom with the calm assurance of a yogi on the path to Enlightenment.
And just when CSI starts to seem a little too pat, just when the trail of clues seems too neat, the show always seems able to throw a surprise or two at us: perhaps there has been no crime after all; perhaps the evidence concerns a completely different crime altogether; or perhaps, as in one brave episode concerning brothers implicated in multiple murders, the evidence simply isn't good enough to convict the right man, even when Grissom knows which one really is guilty. As a result, every episode is simply compulsive viewing.
On the DVD: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Series 2 Part 1 comes in a three-disc set with several worthwhile extras. There are cast and crew interviews, an on-set tour, a peek at the workshop where all the bloody body parts are created, and, most informative, selected episode commentaries featuring writer-creator Anthony E Zuiker and director and producer Danny Cannnon among others. Picture and Dolby Digital sound are impeccable. --Mark Walker
Customer Reviews:
Without a doubt the best show on Earth.......2005-07-13
I am a massive CSI & CSI Miami fan, and would recommend these shows to anyone and everyone, it is hugely popular and the actors are great, the Team of Forensic Scientists are brilliant, the way in which they look at the Crime Scenes and unravel the story as to how the the crime ocurred. It truly is one of the best programmes on TV & Sky at the moment.
Fills in the blanks from the channel 5 run.......2003-10-14
I am a massive fan of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Miami but found watching the series on TV (UK Channel 5) could be frustrating!
I remembered seeing episodes ages ago but couldnt remember if these were pilots or not. Then I discovered that series 2 was being released on DVD. A godsend!
My favourite episode of all time, which I know now is called "Scuba doobie doo" appears on Series 2 Box set 1 and is an absolute cracker of an episode.
For people who are not au fait with CSI, I would recommend you watch this episode as Investigators try to figure out how a diver in full scuba gear ended up a tree in the Las Vegas desert, in the middle of a brush fire. An absolute classic. The extras are also compelling for die-hard fans, with set walkthroughs detailling the sheer amount of real equipment contained in the studio set.
William H Peterson gives what I would recognise as his all time best performance as Gil Grisholm and each of the characters has something that endears them to all watchers. You actually find yourself caring for the team.
For those who miss the excellent on screen "will they, wont they" of FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, we now have the "have they, haven't they" frisson of Sara Sidle and Grisholm.
Another fantastic quality of the series would have to be the amount of famous faces who pop up in episodes; look out for appearances from members of the ER team, the Enterprise crew and a few other famous TV and film faces.
I just hope they can keep making enough episodes to satisfy the fans addiction!
Amazing!.......2003-09-13
I have now just started to watch CSI and thought it was fantastic. The show is pure genius and completely different from any other things going to today.
Season Two is no exception. Alot of the episodes are absolutely brilliant like "Chaos Theory" where a co-ed, who was having an affair with a married professor from her college, vanishes into thin air.
"Slaves Of Las Vegas" takes you into the world of the bondage scene when a dominatrix is found dead in a sandbox.
"Ellie" shows the CSI team coping without Grissom and with Warrick in charge. The murder of a casino con man brings one unsuspecting suspect into the equation - Captain Jim Brass' estranged daughter.
The extras on the boxset isn't chocked full of goodies but there are some interesting commeteries and behind-the-scenes features and trailers.
With that and some interesting cases involving the whole team like: Grissom, Stokes, Willows, Siddel,Brown, Brass and funny man Greig. I would definitely recommend this to CSI fans and anyone with spare time to buy this from Amazon now!
As good as if not better than the first series!.......2003-08-02
I've waited and waited and it's finally out!
If you enjoyed the first series then without doubt you'll enjoy this as much as i have. And if you have never seen C.S.I then go buy the first series.
This continues from where the last series left off, Grissom's hearing deteriating, and even more Forensic science packed into each episode, and even more variety of crimes of passion, pre-meditation and accidental. As with the first there are some small but insightful featurettes on the DVD such as 'behind the scenes' and of course all the bonus stuff on the last DVD. well worth the cash!.
I only ever stumbled onto C.S.I by accident, and it will stay in my DVD collection for as long as they keep making it.
CSI Series 2 Part 1.......2003-07-30
A brilliant collection of the episodes, shown in the correct order, with no breaks - which in my opinion always spoils the enjoyment of the series on t.v. An arrangement of excellent extras, which adds interest to the collection is also included. This collection also benefits from the 'correct' The Who music being used - an improvement to the previous DVD releases! Well worth the money, highly recommended.
UK DVD:
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Season 5 - Part 2
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Season 6 Part 1
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Season 6 Part 2 [2001]
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Season 7 Part 1
- David Essex Double Bill - That'll Be The Day / Stardust [1973]
- Dear Frankie [2004]
- Desperate Housewives : Season 2 [2006]
- Donnie Brasco [1997]
- ER: Complete Season 8
- Finding Neverland [2004]
UK DVD List
UK DVD
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