Product Details

• Actors: William Petersen, Marg Helgenberger, George Eads, Paul Guilfoyle, Eric Szmanda
• Directors: Danny Cannon, Kenneth Fink, Lou Antonio, Michael Shapiro, Michael W. Watkins
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: March 25, 2003
• Run Time: 1025 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (206 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008972G
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,431 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - The Complete First Season" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Murder, and its tale-telling aftermath, is the compelling subject of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Since it premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000, CSI was a ratings triumph, spawning a spinoff (CSI: Miami) and positioning itself for long-term success. As the first season demonstrates, creator Anthony Zuiker's foolproof formula was established early on, bolstered by a fine ensemble cast and requiring minimal tweaking as the season progressed; its Las Vegas-based "criminalists" eventually became "CSI" steeped in the scientific minutiae of forensic investigation, but the series arrived essentially intact, with an irresistible (and seemingly inexhaustible) supply of corpses and the mysteries that surround them. Influenced by the graphic precedent of movies like Seven and Kiss the Girls, CSI matches morbidity with dispassionate methodology; viewers are so fascinated by the investigative process that they're unfazed by intimate autopsies and internal (i.e., digitally animated) views of traumatized flesh, bone, and sinew.

While keeping abreast of cutting-edge technologies, CSI combines the ingenuity (and fallibility) of villains with the appealing humanity of its heroes. CSI director and entomologist Gil Grissom (played by series coproducer William Petersen) is introverted but ethically intense; he's both mentor and moral compass for his night-shift team, including a former stripper-turned-CSI (Marg Helgenberger); a recovering gambler (Gary Dourdan); an eager ace (George Eads) with room for improvement; a workaholic (Jorja Fox) who can't always remain emotionally detached from her cases; and a chief detective (Paul Guilfoyle) who's a necessary link to police procedure. Like The X-Files, CSI supports its characters with feature-film production values, employing a Rashomon structure that turns murder into a progressively accurate study of cause and effect. Script quality is consistently high ("Blood Drops" and "Unfriendly Skies" are exceptional), direction is slick and sophisticated, and the mysteries are complex enough to invite multiple viewings. Despite a regrettable shortage of DVD features, CSI's inaugural season remains addictively worthy of its lofty reputation. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Based on real life Las Vegas crime scene investigators, CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION follows the team as they solve chilling cases with innovative thinking and methodical scientific inquiry. Tackling cases peppered with grisly details, the Las Vegas PD Criminalistics Division is the #2 crime lab in the U.S., solving crimes that practically every other crime lab has given up on. Set in a town whose reputation for providing instant success for those willing to try their luck, CSI finds that the constant influx of visitors to the city that never sleeps also provides ripe targets for criminals of all varieties. The show also stars Paul Guilfoyle as Capt. Jim Brass, Robert David Hall as Dr. David Robbins and Eric Szmanda as Greg Sanders.

DVD Contents:
Disc 1: Pilot, Cool Change; Crate and Burial; Pledging Mr. Johnson
Disc 2: Friends and Lovers; Who Are You?; Blood Drops; Anonymous
Disc 3: Unfriendly Skies; Sex, Lies and Larvae; I-15 Murders; Fahrenheit 932
Disc 4: Boom; To Halve and to Hold; Table Stakes; Too Tough to Die
Disc 5: Face Lift; $35K O.B.O; Gentle, Gentle; Sounds of Silence
Disc 6: Justice is Served; Evaluation Day; Strip Strangler

Disk 6 of the DVD also includes the following special features:
* Featurette: "CSI: People Lie...But The Evidence Never Does"
* The Who's "Who Are You" Music Video
* Character Profiles

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Great show, but.... January 27, 2005

By B. Justice

Format:DVD

Although CSI is definitely one of the best shows on television, this dvd is a little bit of a letdown. It's bare bones as far as extras go (which is not taking advantage of the dvd format as far as I'm concerned). There's no subtitles (I'm not deaf, but what if I was?). The price is almost twice as much as any other season of a network television show (most others range from $40-$50). I still think it's a great show, but they could've done a better job. If you really wanna see it, rent it. UPDATE: DO NOT BUY THIS. They are re-releasing this in the coming months with extras and in anamorphic widescreen format (like they did with all the other releases) so SAVE YOUR MONEY and buy the set they should've released to begin with.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent, very human drama. Buy It. January 21, 2006

By B. Marold HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

The original `CSI' set in Las Vegas and its spin-offs, all done in the Jerry Bruckheimer shop, easily deserve all the popularity they have garnered since they first appeared five seasons ago. The point of this essay and review is to ponder the source of their quality and resulting popularity.

In some ways, as the precursor to some other high quality shows such as `Numbers' and `House, M.D', `CSI' has dealt and played the `Sherlock Holmes' card to the hilt, spicing their stories with whodunit puzzles which would have taxed even that most marvelous of scientific detectives. Both Holmes and `CSI' dealt not only with puzzles, but with puzzles solvable by scientific methods.

I am not sure if this is a source of the show's popularity, but I can attest, as a former analytical chemist, that virtually all of their scientific techniques, and the way they show them, are dead on accurate. Sometimes, there is a bit of sloppiness, as when one of the supporting scientists back at the lab is a bit too fast on the draw with an automatic micropipette, and mananges to draw up about as much air as they do sample, but otherwise, they push the envelope very little at the edge of modern forensic and chemical science.

I suspect that next to the interesting puzzles, the biggest interest in `CSI' lies in the accuracy of the relations between the CSI team members. In contrast, I offer the opinion that `NCIS', an almost direct copy of `CSI' is really a very weak shadow of it's paradigm in that the relations between the team members are comic book images of how real knowledge based law enforcement officers would act toward one another.

`NCIS' may offer the argument that they are much more action based than is `CSI'. While this is true, I think it does not make up for the artificial behavior of it's principle characters.

`CSI', on the other hand, plays practically all personal relations with a very light and very deft touch. The sexual tension between Katherine and Warrick shows up just now and then and in very carefully choreographed scenes. The slightly more overt tension between Sara and mardarin Grissom is done even better.

The highlight of the first season's running backstory was based on office politics and the loyalty of Grissom for his team members, in spite of their negligences. The first half of the season is just a bit shaky, as the actors and writers are setting into their roles, with Captain Brass's character undergoing the biggest changes from CSI chief to antagonist to ally.

`CSI's greatest claim to verisimilatude lies in Grissom's forensic entomology, which places the reputation of the Las Vegas crime lab high in the ranks of the country's major forensic facilities. I would really be interested in knowing if the Las Vegas lab is really as good as it's fictional counterpart. I do know that while forensic entomology is every bit as arcane as the show makes it out to be, it is NOT fiction, but the real thing.

I am really happy to see a drama of such high quality get such high ratings. It almost makes up for the slip in acclaim and quality over in `The West Wing' camp.

65 of 85 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best television you can find! February 18, 2003

By Brian

Format:DVD

Finally after three years, CBS and Paramount are realeasing the complete first season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. I have been watching every episode since the first and have enjoyed almost every one! Now, with this six disc set, i can watch the first season over and over again which has some of the best classic episodes.

Pilot
Cool Change
Crate 'n Burial
Plegding Mr. Johnson
Friends & Lovers
Who Are You?
Blood Drops
Anonymous
Unfriendly Skies
Sex, Lies, and Larvae
I-15 Murders
Farenheit 932
Boom
To Halve and to Hold
Table Stakes
Too Tough to Die
Face Lift
$35K O.B.O.
Gentle, Gentle
Sounds of Silence
Justice is Served
Evaluation Day
The Strip Strangler

These are the 23 episodes of the first season that will be included.
I have taped (on VHS) every single episode since the third episode of the series, but now i can watch them with much better quality. This is by far the best show on television!