24-Season 5 (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Interviews-Cast & Crew-Suporting Players, Unsung Heros:24 Hour Camera Department Interviews-Crew-Music By Sean Callery Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Logan's Retreat Deleted Scenes-And Extended Scenes Additional Footage-100 Episode Reel Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Book Sample Audio Commentary-Multiple commentaries - various episodes Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	1007:21
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (7)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Jon Cassar Rodney Charters Ken Girotti Davis Guggenheim
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Kiefer Sutherland Sarah Clarke Dennis Haysbert Elisha Cuthbert Leslie Hope Penny Johnson Carlos Bernard Sarah Wynter Xander Berkeley Reiko Aylesworth James Badge Dale William Devane Alberta Watson
Case	?
RPI	$69.95	Music	Sean Callery John Frusciante

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	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    As I write this the sixth season of 24 is about to hit our television screens. This phenomenally successful series starring Keifer Sutherland as the indestructible Jack Bauer has redefined television suspense and action. Something which really surprised me is that it has been able to keep the quality going through 5 seasons and hopefully on into the sixth. This is a testament to the high quality writing and excellent cast and production values. Here at Michaeldvd we have previously reviewed Seasons  1 and  2.

    This fifth season kicks off 18 months after the end of season 4 when Jack staged his own death with the assistance of some CTU operatives. He has assumed another identity and is working in an oil field. During the opening episode, his friend, ex-president David Palmer is assassinated and someone seems to be trying to set Jack up for the killing. As the CTU operatives who helped him also start to be killed he comes out of hiding to investigate...and thus begins another 24 hours of action and suspense. It is impossible to give an episode by episode overview without spoiling the many twists and turns, climaxes, intrigues, betrayals, surprises and killing off of major characters.

    This series is probably one of the best of the five so far and despite its obvious implausibility keeps you sucked in riveted to the screen for all 24 episodes. Key characters in this series include

• President Charles Logan - Old sparring partner of President Palmer who is now the president.
• Martha Logan - The president's long suffering wife. She is a bit of a loose cannon and may be mentally unstable.
• Bill Buchanan - The head of CTU.
• Tony Almeida - Ex-CTU, now running his own business. Married to Michelle Dessler.
• Michelle Dessler - Ex-CTU, running business with Tony.
• Edgar Stiles - Current CTU agent.
• Chloe O'Brien - Ascerbic CTU agent who helped with Jack Bauer's staged death.
• Mike Novick - High level adviser to President Logan.
• Walt Cummings - Logan's Chief of Staff.
• Curtis Manning - CTU Field Operative.
• Spenser Wolff - New young CTU guy in a relationship with Chloe.
• Audrey Raines - Jack's ex, Department of Defence.

    Notable guest stars in this series include Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings) as Lynn McGill, from division, Peter Weller and C.Thomas Howell. The cast is of uniformly high quality, especially Gregory Itzin and Jude Ciccolella. The 24 episodes are spread over 6 discs and depending where (and when) you buy this set an extra seventh disc is included which houses the non-episode based extras.

    A great series of an excellent television show. I enjoyed this series so much that I placed an order to buy the first four series on DVD. Highly Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is very good but I did notice a bizarre glitch on one disc.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was very sharp and clear although there was occasionally some light grain. There was no evidence of low level noise. I did notice some very minor macro-blocking at 0:33 in episode 4. There were some odd spots of pixelization on the fifth disc which is the glitch I referred to before. I would normally assume these sort of things were disc damage or dirt however this occurred at the same point (about 41 minutes in) on every episode on the disc. For a second or two at this very similar spot, the colour broke up and there was pixelization throughout the screen. It is hard to explain exactly what it looks like.

    The colour was excellent with no issues to report..

    Artefacts included some edge enhancement here and there.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired plus burned in ones for foreign languages.

    The layer changes were not obvious or were between episodes.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is excellent for a television production.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s. There was excellent stereo separation across the front sound stage and overall the soundtrack was immersive.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand.

    The score of this series is by Sean Callery which is an excellent addition adding significantly to the tension and suspense of the series.

    The surround speakers added lots of atmosphere and some surround effects although not to the level of a major motion picture.

    The subwoofer was used constantly adding bass to the music, explosions, heartbeats and other sound effects.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There is an incredible array of extras included here.

Menu

    The menus are very well designed with a great intro, music, scenes plus all the usual set-up options.

Commentaries - All Discs

    Many of the episodes include commentaries which range from excellent to boring. They all begin after the 'previously on' section of the episode. They are as follows

• Episode 1 - Keifer Sutherland and Director Jon Cassar - OK but too much pausing.
• Episode 1 - Jon Cassar and Writer Howard Gordon - Better than the first one, more talkative.
• Episode 4 - Exec Producers Joel Surnow & Michael Loceff - OK, nothing special.
• Episode 6 - Writer David Fury & Actor John Allen Nelson - Not bad but a bit self congratulatory.
• Episode 8 - Exec Producer Evan Katz & Director Brad Turner - Pretty good.
• Episode 9 - Director Tim Iacofano & Actor Julian Sands - Another decent one with some worthwhile insights.
• Episode 10 - Actor Jean Smart & Actor Gregory Itzin - The best of all the commentaries. Mr & Mrs President Logan.
• Episode 11 - Story Editors Matt Michnovetz & Duppy Demetrius with Writer Nicole Ranadine - OK but quite technical in focus.
• Episode 15 - Exec Producer/Director Jon Cassar & Production Designer Joseph Hodges - Not bad. Focused on technical design and stunts.
• Episode 18 - Writer Howard Gordon & Actor Mary Lynn Rajskub - It starts quite well but trails off quickly.
• Episode 21 - Writer Manny Coto & Actor Jude Ciccolella - One of the best commentaries. Interesting discussion about character motivations.
• Episode 24 - Creator/Writer Robert Cochran & Actor Gregory Itzin - One of the best commentaries, especially the comments by Itzin.

Deleted and Extended Scenes - All Discs

    There are 37 minutes of deleted scenes available over the six discs. They are also repeated in one item on Disc 7. Most don't add a whole lot to the story although the ones on Episode 15 & 24 are certainly worth a look.

Disc 7

Supporting Players (20:32)

    Featurette focusing on the characters other than Jack Bauer. Covers the casting process, interviews with most of the cast, the process of making the show, shooting issues and some background to the actors. There are some spoilers so watch out.

Unsung Heroes : 24 Camera Department (40:13)

    An overlong but interesting look at the camera department on 24. Covers who the crew are, what they do, technical issues, lighting, tricks they use, stunts, visual effects and much more.

Music by Sean Callery (9:49)

    Featurette covering the music and how it is used in the show. Includes demonstration of how music changes can affect a scene.

Logan's Retreat (5:54)

    Featurette about designing and building the set used for the presidents retreat. Amazingly it is a set not a location.

Extended & Deleted Scenes (37:07)

    The same scenes as were on the other discs however they are all together here and have an optional commentary by the editor and one of the seemingly thousands of Executive Producers.

100th episode reel (7:14)

    Highlights of the first hundred episodes.

24 Behind The Scenes - Book Sample (0:51)

    This is an introduction to a photo gallery by the director. The gallery is shots from a book which is being published.

    This series is available in both Region 1 and 2. The DVD set seems to be the same regardless of Region with the exception that the Region 1 includes a prequel for Season 6. According to reviews its not worth having, so no great loss. May as well call it a tie.

     A top series of a great television show.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is excellent.

    More extras than you can poke a stick at.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall