CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Season 1

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!

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:

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