CSI: Crime Scene Investigation-Complete Season 3-Episodes 3.1-3.23 (2002)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

    This box set of the entire season is basically the two half season box set combined together in one box. If you want the whole season this is certainly the best buy. The show itself is a high quality television production with excellent production values and interesting storylines. The video and audio are both of high quality. The Region 1 release is exactly the same.

    Recommended.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation-Season 3-Episodes 3.1-3.12 (2002)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Menu Audio Audio Commentary-Filmmakers - 4 Episodes Featurette-CSI Moves Into Season 3 Featurette-The CSI Tour: Police Station Booklet
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	501:08
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Rob Bailey Bill Eagles Nelson McCormick Lou Antonio
Studio Distributor	Imagine Entertainment	Starring	William L. Petersen Marg Helgenberger Gary Dourdan George Eads Jorja Fox Eric Szmanda Robert David Hall Paul Guilfoyle David Berman Wallace Langham Archie Kao Skip O'Brien Joseph Patrick Kelly
Case	Gatefold
RPI	$89.95	Music	John M. Keane Avril Lavigne

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is moving into its sixth season in the US and doesn't look set to pack up its microscopes and test tubes just yet. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who must be one of Hollywood's most prolific producers, it has spawned two spin-offs; CSI: Miami and CSI: NY; yet it remains (in my opinion) the best of the CSI franchise. Bruckheimer's list of productions is not only long, it is filled with well-known and high-rating titles. On the big screen he has brought us Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean and National Treasure, while on the small screen he has produced the very successful The Amazing Race, Without A Trace, and of course CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. These are just the tip of his production iceberg, the IMDb crediting him with 55 TV and movie titles, with six more currently in production.

    For those who may not be familiar with the series, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation revolves around the men and women of the Las Vegas Police Crime Lab night shift. CSI is called on to attend crime scenes, gather evidence and interpret the clues to help police solve the crimes. More often than not the crime scenes are suspicious deaths.

    The series stays pretty much to a formula that, if ratings are anything to go by, works well. Usually the team are investigating two crime scenes in each episode, and each will overlap during the characters' interactions. The mysteries are unravelled slowly as the CSIs collect evidence and piece together the events leading up to the murder. Along the way the viewer is treated to views of high-tech forensic equipment, sometimes graphic medical examinations, and special visual effects where the camera will follow a bullet into a body, or some other item is tracked through its movements during the crime. This is the same effect that was first pioneered in Three Kings and has become something of a signature of the CSI series, to the point that sometimes the effect is used to show something that is rather obvious and you wonder why the producers ever put them there - such as following water pumped from a swimming pool through the pump pipe and into a filter.

    The concept of solving murder mysteries through the eyes of forensic investigators is not new. Back in the 1970s Jack Klugman starred in the TV series Quincy M.E. as a gruff medical examiner who would solve murders by examining blood stains and conducting post-mortems. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation puts much more glitz around this idea, gives us lots of high-tech goodies to see and generally makes forensics sexy, but is essentially the same formula.

    This three disc set comprises the first twelve episodes of season three of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Disc 1

Revenge Is Best Served Cold (40:20)
    A man dies suddenly during a high-stakes poker game and, despite the whole game being caught on security video, the killer remains elusive. The CSI team are drawn into the world of illegal street racing when a body is found on a disused desert airfield.

The Accused Is Entitled (42:06)
    A film star is the prime suspect when a girl is found in his hotel room with her throat cut following a night of passion, and CSI finds it is their methods and evidence are on trial.

Let The Seller Beware (42:05)
    The CSI team have too many potential suspects when they investigate a double murder at a house that is listed for sale on the internet. A schoolgirl is found on the school football field horribly mauled and the bite marks appear to be human.

A Little Murder (41:56)
    A dwarf is discovered hung in the auditorium of a convention centre during a dwarves' convention, but is it suicide? Catherine is attacked while processing a home invasion crime scene.

Disc 2

Abra Cadaver (47:04)
    A stage magician's trick goes wrong and the CSI team must sort out illusion from reality. A rock star is found dead from an apparent heroin overdose - but was it really suicide?

The Execution Of Catherine Willows (40:10)
    A serial killer, who Catherine's evidence helped sentence, receives a stay of execution pending new evidence. When a new murder with the same modus operandi as this 15 year old case is committed, CSI must revisit the original case and determine if an innocent man was convicted.

Fight Night (42:05)
    A boxing match leads to a busy night for the CSI team. The death of one of the pugilists amidst suspicions of fight-fixing, a gang-land shoot-out in a casino carpark and a snatch-and-grab robbery in a jewellery store stretch the resources of the Las Vegas Crime Lab.

Snuff (39:42)
    The CSI team investigate the world of adult movies when a snuff movie is passed on to the police and they must find out who committed the filmed murder. A body, almost completely eaten by fire-ants, is found in a toolbox dumped in the desert.

Disc 3

Blood Lust (40:49)
    A taxi driver is the victim of vigilante justice when a mob attacks him after he runs down a teenager, but the case is more involved than expected when the evidence leads to a murder in a nearby park.

High and Low (41:37)
    A man jumps from a building in what appears to be a suicide, but the case takes an unusual turn when the evidence shows he died before he hit the ground. Investigating a shooting in a car park involves CSI in a neighbourhood dispute.

Recipe For Murder (40:59)
    An arm is found in a meat grinder and the investigation leads to a restaurant where it seems there is more going on than just cooking. A girl is found dead in her apartment in an apparent suicide, but the CSI team suspect she may have had help.

Got Murder? (42:15)
    Bird watchers see a raven with an eyeball in its beak, which leads to the discovery of a body in a tip. A routine autopsy turns anything but routine when the subject is discovered to be still alive.

Video

    CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is filmed in super 35, and this quality shows on these discs. Presented in 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced, this is a transfer that leaves little to complain about.

    Thankfully, shadow detail is excellent, as many of the scenes are quite dark while the teams search for clues with torches - perhaps one day the CSI team will learn to find the light switch at a crime scene. Even the crime lab scenes use dim lighting and harsh, high-contrast side lighting to give the scenes an almost sinister effect, so most of the scenes are fairly dark but well defined.

    Colour saturation is good, especially in the Las Vegas-by-night establishing shots. The neon lights are brilliant and rich, with deep colour saturation and solid black backgrounds. There is no low level noise to be seen. Sin City is shown with its best face on and looks stunning in these scenes.

    There is some graininess in some of the backgrounds of the low light scenes, but only of a very minor nature. This grain is not obvious and in no way spoils your enjoyment, I mention it only for the sake of completeness.

    Subtitles are clear and easy to read and generally follow the dialogue well. Sometimes there are slight differences between the subtitle and the dialogue, but not so much as to alter the context of the conversation. I assume the changes were made to improve readability or to save space.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    A Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is provided, but don't expect gee-whiz audio. The show is predominately dialogue based, so surround sound is rarely used, the rears being used mainly for some ambience and the sub-woofer rarely called upon. This is not a criticism, as the style of this show does not lend itself to acoustic gymnastics. The opening theme gives the audio system its only real work-out and pumps out The Who's Who Are You? at a higher level than the actual programme, and can have you snatching for the remote to drop the volume a little, only to have to put it up again when the theme is over. Of course, if you like your rock 'n roll loud and proud, this won't be a problem.

    There is one audio sync problem at 10:23 in Let The Seller Beware. This only lasts a few seconds on a fairly wide shot and vanishes once the scene moves to close-ups. Other than this, the dialogue is crisp and clear and background noises are rendered nicely and do not intrude on the dialogue. This is generally a good, clean audio transfer that doesn't draw attention to itself and lets you just settle into the show.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

   The menu is animated and moves around the crime lab as each option is selected. Audio consists of ambient lab noises in the background such as computer keys clicking, phones ringing and machines running.

Featurette: CSI Moves Into Season 3 (13:14)

    One of the producers and the cast and talk about CSI, how it has developed and how their characters have developed over the three series. Presented in full screen.

Audio Commentaries: Revenge Is Best Served Cold, The Accused Is Entitled, Fight Night and Snuff

    Two of the production crew for each of these episodes (the director and one of the co-writers or executive producers) discuss the episode, giving details of the inspiration for the stories, technical challenges the production faced or insight into the characters. The commentators don't speak incessantly, only offering information or discussing aspects of the story when they think it is of interest. The commentaries give an interesting perspective on the creative process that goes into each episode.

The CSI Tour: Police Station (9:23)

    The Production Designer (Richard Berg) takes us on a tour of the CSI Police Station set, explaining why elements of the set were designed in a particular way. This extra is also in full screen.

Booklet

    A full colour booklet with a brief synopsis of each episode and some pictures of the cast is included.

    The Region 1 release is a 6 disc set of the entire series. The Region 4 release appears to be the same as the Region 2 release with two separate 3 disc sets.

    Region 1 has a few more extras than the Region 4 volume 1 release, but these are included on volume 2 in Region 2, so will most likely be included on the Region 4 volume 2 when it is released. The Region 2 volumes 1 and 2 together have the same content as the complete series in Region 1, although Region 1 also gets a Spanish soundtrack.

    So, which is better? Region 1 has the full 23 episodes in one volume whereas this version is only episodes 1-12. A second volume will undoubtedly follow and, if the same release schedule is followed for season 3 as for seasons 1 and 2, a 6 disc complete season will be released later, at a price less than the total of volumes 1 and 2, still with all the extras. This is one of those cynical money making release schedules that cash in on the die-hard fans by making those who can't wait for their favourite show to be available on DVD buy the more expensive 2 volume staggered release, then releasing a complete series at a lower cost.

    Based on this type of marketing, I would say the Region 1 offers a better value at this time as it is the complete series 3, not just the first of two volumes. If you must have the PAL transfer and can wait a while, I'd be inclined to wait until the complete series is released as one volume, as they did with seasons 1 and 2. As I couldn't find any reviews of the Region 1 release, I can't recommend it over the Region 4 version but, NTSC aside, I would expect it to be of similar quality. Let's call it a tie.

    CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has become something of a television classic and this set of discs does it justice. The video looks great, possibly one of the best looking TV shows on DVD, and the audio transfer is also excellent.

    The extras are not really of must-see quality, but do give some interesting background to the series.

    The only question is whether to buy this release, the Region 1 complete series or wait until a Region 4 complete series is released. If you want PAL and want your CSI: Crime Scene Investigation now, you won't be disappointed by this package. If you can wait, a future Region 4 complete series will probably be better value than buying volume 1 and volume 2.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation-Season 3-Episodes 3.13-3.23 (2002)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	475:35
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Lou Antonio Rob Bailey Matt Earl Beesley Danny Cannon
Studio Distributor	Imagine Entertainment	Starring	William L. Petersen Marg Helgenberger Gary Dourdan George Eads Jorja Fox Eric Szmanda Robert David Hall Paul Guilfoyle
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Ian Astbury Billy Duffy John M. Keane

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	No Audio Data available for this title
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.75:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    This set is the second half of the third season of CSI from 2002/2003. Glen Randall did an excellent job of laying out the concept of the show in his review of the first half season of Season Three.

    To my mind, this half season (and possibly this program generally) lacks strong character arcs for the recurring characters and therefore each episode feels very freestanding. There is really only one such character arc in these episodes, one relating to Grissom's health problems, and even that is only mentioned sporadically. Although this is an excellent TV show from a technical perspective, I believe that the writing could be stronger, allowing the viewers to see more dimensionality within the recurring characters.

    11 episodes are included here (spread over three discs) as follows:

1. Random Acts of Violence (42:16) - A 9 year old black girl is shot and killed in a drive-by. The girl's family are well known to Warrick, but Grissom is concerned that he is too personally involved. Also, the boss of an internet company is found dead in the computer room, with a head wound. OK episode but nothing special.
2. One Hit Wonder (41:09) - The team investigate a serial stalker/rapist using forensics to track him down. Sara reopens an old case involving an ADA with a bullet lodged in her.
3. Lady Heather's Box (61:25) - This special extended episode is also of high quality. A guy winds up dead at a strange nightclub where the patrons dance in a pool of soap suds. This leads to the world of S&M and Lady Heather's establishment. Also, Catherine's daughter gets caught in a car in a drainage ditch after a car accident with her father. Elizabeth Berkeley guests.
4. Lucky Strike (39:23) - A car chase by the LVPD stops when a guy lurches from the driver's seat with a large piece of wood sticking out of his head. A pro basketball player's 5 year old son get kidnapped. Cameron Daddo guests.
5. Crash & Burn (41:47) - An old lady driving a Jaguar crashes straight into a restaurant window killing some people. Also, a residential gas leak reveals a woman's body, although all does not seem right.
6. Precious Metal (41:37) - Two trail bike riders find a dead body shut up in a metal drum in the mountains. Also, Grissom investigates a dead body which got lost in the system. This is an especially gross episode.
7. A Night At The Movies (41:18) - A dead body found at a classic movie theatre during the show. Another body is found in a warehouse, riddled with over 100 bullet holes.
8. Last Laugh (42:16) - An unloved but successful comedian dies during a stand up performance and Capt Brass decides to reopen a case he originally thought was an accident..
9. Forever (41:09) - A dead body is found in the horse box on a private jet. The horse is the major suspect. Also, a young man's well dressed body is found carefully laid out on a rug in the middle of a desert. When another well dressed body of a young girl is found nearby, the case seems like a double suicide.
10. Play With Fire (41:47) - A young couple find a woman's body in a stadium broadcast booth very shortly after she was killed. There is also a tragedy involving the CSI staff.
11. Inside The Box (41:28) - Detective Lockwood gets killed in a bank robbery and the trail of evidence leads to Sam Braun, Catherine's mentor who runs casinos. There is a big reveal about one of the main characters and Grissom's health problems come to a head.

    These are all quality episodes but only the extended episode really rose above the normal standard of this show.

Video

    The video quality is very good but not without issue.

    The feature is presented in a 1.75:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout, however the sharpness was somewhat variable with some scenes being excellent and other a little soft. This seemed to vary with the bitrate. There was no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was excellent which is essential for a series with a dark colour palette such as this. Grain was surprisingly prevalent in this series considering how new it is, although it never got worse than light.

    The colour was very good although there was colour bleeding from light colours.

    Artefacts were generally mild including some edge enhancement and some bits and pieces of aliasing such as on the buildings during night shots of Las Vegas and some Venetians in the laboratory.

    There are subtitles in English. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read but included some minor changes from the spoken word.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good, especially for a television series.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was mostly clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync. Some occasional lines were muffled.

    The score of this film by John M Keane is quite good, however some of the music choices such as Radiohead and the theme by The Who are the real musical highlights.

    The surround speakers added significant atmosphere and surround effects such as rain, thunder, cars, gunshots and so forth. The sound field is quite immersive and sounds great.

    The subwoofer was regularly used for the music and for adding tension.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are extras spread across all three discs.

Menu

    The menu included an intro, music, and the ability to select episodes, scenes and subtitles. The sound is 5.1 and includes subwoofer activity. Very nice stuff.

Disc 1

Commentary - Episode 1 - Naren Shankar (Exec Producer / Writer) and Danny Cannon (Exec Producer / Director)

    Quite a good commentary which includes information about the technical aspects of production, the story idea, how the title was arrived at, locations and characters. There are some pauses but overall this is quite a decent commentary.

Commentary - Episode 3 - Anthony Zuiker, Richard J Lewis (Director) Naren Shankar (Exec Producer / Writer) and Josh Berman (Writer)

    Another decent commentary however this one has more pauses than the previous one where they are obviously just watching the show. They cover some minor controversies, locations, the idea, why it was an extended episode and how the writing for this episode was done plus some character backgrounds.

Disc 2

The CSI Shot : Making It Real (11:45)

    A quite interesting featurette about the special effects shots used throughout this series to show inside the human body and various wounds. These shots are one of the series' trademarks and this extra covers how they are done and includes significant technical detail. Worth watching. Presented 4x3.

Disc 3

The Writers Room (11:42)

    A featurette about the writers and the process that they use to write the scripts. They work closely together to workshop ideas to make sure the episodes make sense. Includes interviews with the writers and their leader Carol Mendelsohn. Specifically covers how they wrote Lady Heather's Box. Presented 4x3.

Crime Scene Field Kit

    This is a selection of short featurettes covering the various items found in a CSI's field kit, hosted by the show's technical adviser. Included are Alternate Light Source (0:48), Flashlight (0:25), Forceps (0:22), Gel Lifters (0:27), Gloves (0:22), Ground Penetrating Radar (0:36), Phenolphthalein (0:40), Scalpel (0:58) and Swab (0:33). They are quite interesting and will probably answer your questions about what the characters get up to at crime scenes.

    This series has been released in exactly the same format in Region 2 and is only available as a full season box set in Region 1 (including the exact same extras). If you want the whole season this is also available separately in Region 4.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The set has a good selection of quality extras

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall