Hawaii Five-O (the original series)

[OceanBlue]

A phrase I see on here from time to time is "taking one for the team". That may apply to me, as I'm thinking about getting the German DVD release of the tenth season, to see if the episodes are remastered (haven't been able to find anything out about the German release). Honestly, I can't see a German Blu-ray release of all twelve seasons happening (or anywhere else).

[OceanBlue]

In the past week, have watched two further second season episodes, "The One with the Gun" and "Cry, Lie". Won't be commenting much on the former, as the very good start aside, the rest of the episode wasn't very spectacular (it opens with a crooked card game).

But the latter episode, I loved. One of the best episodes of the season so far. It centred around Five-O member Chin-Ho Kelly. Guest stars included Martin Sheen (I think in the same season in the States, he guest-starred in an episode of Medical Center). Another guest star I recognised, but I wouldn't know what his name was (I remember him from only one other television credit, playing the Ewing family's lawyer Harve Smithfield in the original Dallas TV series).

Thought the episode was very well written, very intricate and detailed. Maybe things loosened in the last five or ten minutes and it wasn't as clever (with the exception of

[Show spoiler]how Five-O caught Martin Sheen's character in a clever trap). I remembered the shootout at the construction site with two "mystery" gunmen chasing after Sheen's character (I could remember the two gunmen in fact being two members of the Five-O team).

The trouble was, for a long while through "Cry, Lie", I couldn't fathom out who Sheen's character was. From when I first saw the episode (when UK channel Granada Plus repeated the first few seasons of Hawaii Five-O), I had in my head Sheen's character was some media mogul (a newspaper boss for example). However, by episode's end it appeared

[Show spoiler]he was something to do with drugs and wanted to take over as the new drug dealer or drug lord (the current one was an older man (the older man I also couldn't fathom out who he was. One of my favourite scenes was Danny's conversation with him towards the end, trapping the older man by saying his phone line would be tapped).

The end of the episode before the end credits started, considering

[Show spoiler]Chin-Ho's job and career were on the line, seemed on the one hand out of place, but it's tone also seemed to fit (Chin's relief at getting back to work and his interactions with his family (it could have been a spin-off sitcom).

The chemistry between each of the main characters by this point (towards the end of the season) was firmly in place. They easily gel well together, mixing the seriousness and humour. When I first saw the first three seasons of Hawaii Five-O, I thought the show wasn't top-notch and hitting the ground running until the third season. Re-watching the first two seasons, I can see that it was happening earlier than that.

[OceanBlue]

One of the viewing experiences you get when watching an episode of a TV series (either a recent or an older series), is the quality creeping up on you (in the positive sense). It happens sometimes, and in the case of "Most Likely to Murder" it wasn't until towards the end that I realised how good an episode it was.

At first, it was like your bog standard detective show set-up scene (and that's not a bad thing), a crime scene with a dead body (the wife of a cop, played by actor Tom Skerritt, more than twenty years before drama series Picket Fences started in the States).

I liked the writing especially, as well as Jack Lord's acting in some scenes. You thought it was all straightforward, who you thought the murderer was, taking you up one path. But a twist was added to the mix, and I thought it took the quality of the episode up a notch. It could have ended up being simply a good episode, but in the end it was very good. It left you thinking, and that is one of the signs of a standout episode.

The transfer seemed a bit odd in the first few minutes (it was remastered but a bit soft), but it was better afterwards (I did wonder if it was a bit 'zoomed-in' at a couple of points).

Four episodes of the season left after this one.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

A phrase I see on here from time to time is "taking one for the team". That may apply to me, as I'm thinking about getting the German DVD release of the tenth season, to see if the episodes are remastered (haven't been able to find anything out about the German release). Honestly, I can't see a German Blu-ray release of all twelve seasons happening (or anywhere else).

Following on from the above, quoted post, decided to order a copy of the German release of the original show's tenth season. I'm wondering if UK label Mediumrare only licensed the eighth season (what kind of sales were they expecting, as they have no website and social media pages where they can advertise their new releases?).

[OceanBlue]

In the past two to three weeks, have finished the second season and watched the first three episodes of the third season. I felt the second season ended on a bit of a whimper with the two-parter "Three Dead Cows at Makapuu" and the season finale "Kiss the Queen Goodbye".

The first time I saw the aforementioned two-parter, I thought it dragged in parts and the story, whilst it was tense, it wasn't as good as it should have been. Too talky as well, and something which stuck in my mind at the time (despite knowing he was a good actor) was that Ed Flanders was a frequent guest-star on Hawaii Five-O. He usually played villains during the first seven or eight seasons. My opinion of this two-parter hasn't changed much for the better.

The season finale had some good guest-stars in it, including Joanne Linville (previously seen in the first season two-parter "Once Upon a Time"), George Gaynes (more than a decade before he starred in the Police Academy films) and an actor whose face I recognised from an episode of Mannix I watched a few weeks ago.

The plot in "Kiss the Queen Goodbye" reminded me of the earlier episode "King Kamehameha Blues", because of what was being stolen (in the second season finale it was a priceless jewel).

[OceanBlue]

Recently, I started watching Hawaii Five-O's third season, and on the whole it's back to the quality of the second season before the dip in quality just before the end of that season:

"...And a Time to Die" saw McGarrett's nemesis Wo Fat return

[Show spoiler](he'll be back in the third season in a two-parter).

How the doctor was being blackmailed, it reminded me of the plot of an episode from another show (where the doctor was operating on someone who the villains wanted dead). Something else I liked in the season premiere was guest star Gerald S. O'Loughlin's character

[Show spoiler](he and McGarrett really didn't get on at first, but I liked the mutual respect they had at the episode's end. I can't remember if the character appeared again in a later episode).

"Trouble in Mind" had a slightly shorter runtime, and I wondered if this was because of possible music edits or substitutions. It had a music theme involving drugs. It's best going into this episode cold, not reading too much about the plot. But the episodic promo didn't give too much away (one thing I like about the episodic promos on some of the older series is that the clips aren't always shown in chronological order (where they appear in the episode, which throws you off a bit (which can be a good thing). That wasn't the case however with the next episode... As a whole, this was a very good episode with a sad ending

[Show spoiler]which you knew was coming (liked the twist with who was addicted to the drugs).

"The Second Shot" had one of my favourite television actors guest star, Eric Braeden. However, this episode was spoilt by the episodic promo, which gave virtually everything away. Yes, I should have watched the episode on it's own without the episodic promo, or watched it after the episode (but hindsight is an easy thing). At times I thought "The Second Shot" was a bit straight-forward. There wasn't much detail in the plot. But at least it had a very witty end line.

The most recent episode I've watched from the third season has been "Time and Memories". This was a much better episode in my opinion. Whoever did the editing, mixing the past with the present, and not showing the flashbacks in chronological order deserves praise. The story was written well, and I loved how Five-O figured it out (well it was McGarrett who figured it out, but Danno was there when the culprit realised they had been caught). One of the highlights for me was the flashback scene at the Pearl Harbour memorial with McGarrett and his ex-girlfriend.

[OceanBlue]

Watched last night, the third season episode "The Ransom". Like with the latest episodes of FBI and FBI: Most Wanted that I watched this past Saturday night, this was an example of an episode having a synopsis which didn't sound like it would be a good one, but in the end it became one of my favourite episodes so far this season (sometimes when you read a synopsis, you don't have much hope for the episode being any good (example being it could be a dull).

Initially, I wasn't holding out much hope for it, a standard set-up (a businessman's young son was kidnapped at night). I could remember what happened at the water park

[Show spoiler](after the failed ransom drop-off at the water park, Kono was kidnapped himself)

from when UK channel Granada Plus repeated the early seasons of the show a long time ago.

[Show spoiler]Around about the scenes at the water park,

things picked up and the episode got better as it went on. Loved the last ten minutes or so (the bit where

[Show spoiler]they thought the failed ransom drop-off was going to happen again (the head of the kidnappers using what happened the first time to their advantage), McGarrett's 'crossover' tactic with the instructions of where the ransom money was to be dropped off, and McGarrett improvising what to do at the place where Kono was being held captive.

This episode (unusally for a non multi-episode story (ie. a two or three-parter) didn't have an episodic promo (the second episode in the second season set didn't have one either).

[OceanBlue]

Watched last night, the third season episode "Force of Waves". For the most part, I just couldn't get into the story. Then in the last quarter, it hit me (what Five-O were investigating). The culprit's motive was a bit unoriginal, as it reminded me of an episode from late in the second season. Maybe I was in the wrong frame of mind, but the acting from guest star John Vernon saved the episode. If I rewatched it again, I might think differently about the episode.

What felt odd was the runtime of the episode (even with the Jack Lord-narrated episodic promo, the total runtime still felt short of where it was in the second season (bear in mind, I've got the UK release of the first seven seasons of the show, as well as the North American release of the fourth season (because one episode had a forced cut in the UK release), which was over fifty-minutes long. So far in the third season, there have been a few episodes which have had a shorter runtime. Have been watching the fourth season of Mannix as well recently (the North American release), which is from the same season in the States, and around halfway through the season the episodes started having a shorter runtime. Yet in the Warner Archive Collection's first season set of Harry O, the total runtime has been over fifty-one minutes for nearly every episode (and Harry O originally aired in the States in the mid-seventies).

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by FrancisP

I liked the episode "Over 50? Steal". It was a whimsical episode with the criminal using Monopoly playing cards to give clues to his crimes. McGarrett figurexs it out and gives the criminal a "Go to Jail" card when he arrests the criminal.

Watched a further few episodes from Hawaii Five-O's third season recently. The standout out of them was easily "Over Fifty? Steal". It was a delight to watch. It was as good as the last time I watched it, full of details in the story. I remember

[Show spoiler]veteran actor Hume Cronyn reprised his role of charming thief Lewis Filer in one more episode, and that another veteran actor, David Wayne, played a similar character in the season seven finale.

You could tell the cast (main and guest) enjoyed filming this episode. One or two episodes before this were a bit disappointing (but it could have been because I wasn't in the right frame of mind). Part of the fun was seeing Filer out-thinking Five-O, and Five-O's attempts to catch him. There was that much going on with the details, that it was easy to lose track of what was going on (an example being some of the dialogue spoken).

The next episode is "Beautiful Screamer", with Anne Archer among the guest cast (playing Danno's girlfriend).

[PileOfFudge]

I just picked up seasons 1-8 on eBay listed in very good condition. Can’t wait to start my own 5-0 marathon when they get here. IMHO, this show defined 70’s cool and the majority of episodes still hold up all these years later.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by PileOfFudge

I just picked up seasons 1-8 on eBay listed in very good condition. Can’t wait to start my own 5-0 marathon when they get here. IMHO, this show defined 70’s cool and the majority of episodes still hold up all these years later.

My memory may be a bit rusty with any multiple season sets which were released in the States. I only know of the complete series set (technically not "complete", because of "the second season episode "Bored, She Hung Herself" not being included) being released after all twelve seasons were released, and that in Australia there were two sets (one of the first seven seasons, then one of the last five seasons).

Will be interested to read your comments on the series. I still think what I thought before, agreeing with what one or two others have said, that the original Hawaii Five-O showed off the Hawaiian islands better than the original Magnum P.I.

[OceanBlue]

Been watching a handful of Season Three episodes recently. A problem you get when getting back into watching/re-watching a series regularly, is your mind is a bit rusty in terms of getting into the right frame of mind with 'getting' the show. When the last episode you watched was one of the series' best, you can't get out of comparing subsequent episodes to it.

The last episode I watched before a mini-break/break was "Over Fifty? Steal", which was top-notch (couldn't fault it). Last week, I started resuming re-watching the series with "Beautiful Screamer". Every episode doesn't have to be full of content and details to be memorable, and sometimes when I don't 'get' an episode I fall into that trap of unfairly comparing an episode to a prior classic episode (these episodes can sometimes have basic plots).

"Beautiful Screamer" saw veteran actor Lloyd Bochner guest star, along with a young Anne Archer as Danno's girlfriend

[Show spoiler](unfortunately, she isn't in the episode for long (her character being murdered by Bochner's character).

I wondered whether they should have kept the killer's identity secret until towards the end. Their motive for the murders was one of the better parts of the story though

[Show spoiler](Bochner's character planning to kill his wife being the endgame, with the other murders making it look like there was a serial killer in the area, to throw Five-O off the scent).

Encountered a freezing problem on Disc 4 in my copy of the UK DVD release of Hawaii Five-O: The Third Season. "The Double Wall" I quite enjoyed (I had feared it was going to be one of those 'stuck in one location' episodes), until the last five minutes when the picture froze more than once. I did still get to see the last couple of minutes, but my enjoyment of the story was slightly spoilt (guest stars included Monte Markham and William Schallert).

The following episode "Paniolo" started with a freezing problem not long into the teaser (the episodic promo and the rest of the episode after the teaser played perfectly fine though). This episode was quite different to the normal look and feel of the show (more like a western). I'm still not sure whether I liked it or not (the plot was similar to that of the Season 1 episode "Some Day We Shall Be Strangers in Our Own Land", where the old way of life was being threatened by the development of skyscrapers etc.).

This past weekend, I watched "Ten Thousand Diamonds and a Heart". I so wanted to give this episode five stars, but maybe I missed something said by McGarrett to Danno, when they were trying to figure out

[Show spoiler]where the mastermind of the diamond heist was escaping from the Hawaiian islands.

The ending felt a little too 'easy' (I was expecting more, after everything which had come before it).

Not forgetting the episode "The Payoff". On the whole, I thought it was decent, but not a classic. One of the guest stars I recognised from one or two episodes of Mannix.

[OceanBlue]

Have watched in the past week, a season three two-parter from the second half of the season, "F.O.B. Honolulu". The only two-part story which I've been disappointed by so far, was from the second season ("Three Dead Cows at Makapuu", which felt padded out and just dragged). This two-parter (there is another one to come, which closes out the third season) was a slightly difficult one to judge with it's quality (it definitely wasn't awful, it wasn't brilliant (there was too much walking going on, with a lot of the episode taking place at a hotel round a swimming pool), yet the story kept your interest, and the ending (which I partly remembered from the last time I watched it) was memorable and open-ended

[Show spoiler](McGarrett's nemesis Wo Fat being shot, with (I think) an all-points-bulletin given out by McGarrett for Wo Fat).

Aside from Khigh Dhiegh returning as Wo Fat, veteran actor Joseph Sirola also returned (as Jonathan Kaye, who clearly doesn't get on with McGarrett, and vice-versa). Sirola I think returned again in the fifth season (for the last time).

[OceanBlue]

Recently finished watching the third season of Hawaii Five-O. Quite similar to how the second season ended, a bit like a whimper. I tried to really like the two-part season finale "The Grandstand Play" (guest stars including Pernell Roberts and Elliot Street (the latter would guest-star again in the episode "Draw Me a Killer", in which he would play a much-different type of character), but it felt like a standalone episode padded and dragged out to make a two-part story (the other two-parter from this season, "F.O.B. Honolulu" was much better).

Season four has started on a strong note (re-watched the first two episodes so far). This was the third time I had seen the season premiere "Highest Castle, Deepest Grave", and it hasn't lost none of it's mysterious, mystical charm. Part of the episode's plot definitely makes you think of the Glenn Ford-starring film noir Laura (referring to the painting in the hallway of guest star Herbert Lom's character Mandrego's house). It's so well written with some well chosen scenes for pace and detail. And I know (based on at least one recent post elsewhere on this forum recently) some find the use of the word 'twist' in reviews irritating, but I'll still use it. I had forgotten something towards the end of the episode, which even though I knew who the culprit was, I had still forgotten the twist (explaining the motive of Mandrego's actions).

The next episode, "No Bottles...No Cans...No People", I couldn't remember the plotline of. But once I saw the Jack Lord-narrated episodic promo before the episode started, it all came back to me from when I first saw the episode when UK channel Granada Plus repeated the early seasons a long time ago (a criminal's scheme involving an incineration plant. I'd also forgotten one of the details to do with the person in charge of the crane. The plotline was big-scale, but also felt small-scale (but that didn't mean the episode was poorer because of that. Far from it). This episode marked the first appearance of Al Eben as recurring coroner character Doc (he would stay on the show for several seasons, before gradually disappearing from the show (the same thing happened with Harry Endo (as medical examiner/scientist Che Fong).

[Runnerbean]

I'm really surprised that for a Blu-ray forum, I don't see one comment talking about the quality of season sets on DVD. I noticed that on the UK iTunes store, Hawaii Five-0 is available in both SD and HD. So I know this show hasn't made it to Blu-ray so how come iTunes are selling the seasons in HD?

[SpazeBlue]

Originally Posted by Runnerbean

So I know this show hasn't made it to Blu-ray so how come iTunes are selling the seasons in HD?

You know there are plenty of shows and movies available in HD on digital-only, right? It's a common thing.

[Runnerbean]

Originally Posted by SpazeBlue

You know there are plenty of shows and movies available in HD on digital-only, right? It's a common thing.

Yes, I do know that. You didn't understand my question. Most titles that are in HD on iTunes have had a Blu-ray release before it. Hawaii Five-0 has never had a Blu-ray release so where did Apple get these so-called, 1080p versions from?

[SpazeBlue]

Originally Posted by Runnerbean

Yes, I do know that. You didn't understand my question. Most titles that are in HD on iTunes have had a Blu-ray release before it. Hawaii Five-0 has never had a Blu-ray release so where did Apple get these so-called, 1080p versions from?

Oh no, I understood your question perfectly fine. Titles being available in HD on digital only is far more common than you seem to think. Find a random movie without a Blu-ray release (obviously unless you choose some super niche thing), and it'll be very likely to have an HD version available digitally.

[OceanBlue]

The strong start to the fourth season continues. Watched in the past week, the episode "Wednesday, Ladies Free". I'm torn with what to mark this episode (it depends on my frame of mind, and how I think about the scene just before the end where McGarrett reveals to

[Show spoiler]Monte Markham's private detective character that he knows that he killed his wife (who was previously thought to be the Strangler's third victim).

In hindsight, I just can't get my head around why

[Show spoiler]Monte Markham's private detective character had so much hatred for the Strangler (for the majority of the episode, because we thought they had killed his wife), when he killed his wife himself (apparently it was in the heat of the moment).

It just doesn't make much sense. And yet, this episode, that aside, was so well written. It was complex and full of details. I'm not surprised, based on it being co-written by Paul Playdon, who wrote a few episodes for the original Mission: Impossible TV series (some of those being mindbenders themselves, having complex plots).

The episode was also well shot, including some nice on-location scenes at the Iolani Palace (where Five-O's headquarters are), showing McGarrett and Danno on the balcony outside McGarrett's office. This didn't happen very often on the show (usually it was shot of the balcony from McGarrett's office on a studio set).

It was clever how Five-O figured out how the Strangler found their victims. Something else in the episode which needs to be praised, is the teaser before the title sequence. It had the look and feel of a giallo (of what I've seen of it, it reminded me of Blood and Black Lace).

So far in this season, there is definitely a change in tone, with more of a gritty and darker tone. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but the show at this point with the new decade of the seventies established, doesn't have as much of that sixties look and feel. In some ways I prefer it.

[OceanBlue]

During the past fortnight, have watched the season four episode "3,000 Crooked Miles to Honolulu". Another strong episode. Haven't been re-watching too much of the show, because of wanting to soak in the details of these recent episodes so I can post as best a mini-review as I can.

It was a strong episode, although some of the dialogue was hard to hear at times. That didn't detract from the enjoyment of the episode, which was full of details. Despite a plot being hard to follow at times, you could still get the gist of what was going on with the criminals' plot.

Barnaby Jones met Steve McGarrett in this episode (yes, it wasn't the character Barnaby Jones, but veteran actor Buddy Ebsen playing a professor who

[Show spoiler]crafted a very clever plot involving travellers cheques with the help of the mob/syndicate).

The following season in the States, Barnaby Jones would debut (in the first episode, William Conrad's Frank Cannon would make a crossover appearance). It's a shame they never did any crossover episodes on the original Hawaii Five-O.

It was slightly vertigo-inducing, the rapid shots of

[Show spoiler]the tourists using the stolen travellers cheques in the various shops around Honolulu. I did love the bit where the scheme was beginning to fall apart and be discovered by Five-O.

The episode as a whole was well-written and constructed. I couldn't fathom out for a while whether

[Show spoiler]guest star Tom Fujiwara's character had something to do with the scheme (you felt for the murder victim (his character's secretary), not knowing of her whereabouts until Danno and Kono discovered her body in the bin outside the office building).

Loved the bit where McGarrett finally put together the clever plot towards the end (including when

[Show spoiler]he thought he had caught the professor out by getting a friend of his to identify him (who turned out to be an actor, part of the scheme).

I'm beginning to remember again how these episodes (this point of the series I've got to) usually ended with a grim or witty final shot (with a memorable word of dialogue). This episode was an example of that, with what has become a favourite ending of mine

[Show spoiler](the tourists (part of the professor's clever scheme) thinking the plane was ready for takeoff for them going back to the mainland, only for McGarrett to follow the plane's captain's pre-takeoff words with "Aloha...suckers").