Hawaii Five-O - Any Interest Out There? (1 Viewer)

[Aryn Leroux]

Good News, I did not see any of the early years of this, unless i caught some episodes in syndication, but i can not remember. I will definately pick this up though. Did the first season have the classic theme song ?

 

[Jeff*H]

Looking forward so much to this one; I have been waiting for Five-0 on home video for 20 years or so! I'm glad they are proceeding with season sets; I thought they might go the Gunsmoke route and do Best-Of's. Let's just hope that the episodes are remastered AND uncut.

As for the show itself, I have seen each episode 6 times or more, and agree that seasons 1-5 are the best, although a number of good episodes can easily be found in seasons 6-9. The show was in an obvious state of severe decline in seasons 10 and 11, and season 12 was the final nail in the coffin when Kimo (or as I call him, Chemo) was introduced as a replacement for Danno. The finale, "Woe to Wo Fat", was an embarrassment to all involved, noteworthy only for the fact that McGarrett finally caught Wo Fat.

Season 1 has a lot of good episodes, but the series really started to click in season 2. We all have to make sure we support the release of the series by purchasing a set so we can ensure more seasons are released. Paramount has a spotty track record when it comes to completing series (just ask fans of Happy Days and Mork & Mindy).

 

[Jeff#]

I've been waiting a long time for this -- the best police show of all time to come out on DVD! February can't come early enough.

Hawaii Five-O was its most stylish in the early years, but the first 11 seasons of Hawaii Five-O were pretty good overall. Only the 12th season was a disaster, and not because Danno had left (with no explanation), but due to sloppy writing that didn't even come close to matching the much higher quality of the previous year. "Truck" Keola (played by Moe Keale) was OK as a new 5-0 member, but there was 3 replacements for Danny. Another was William Smith's character. The one who didn't work was Lori Martin, played by Sharon Farrell. Sharon is a good actress, but she didn't fit into this series and she was fired early in the last season. Previously she had guest starred in other roles in earlier seasons. William Smith and Moe Keale both had played several bad guy roles over the years, with Moe's first appearance in a typically minor role as a gardener in 1971.

The series was indeed at its most creative in the first 6 years, and the best stories were those involving ingenious heists, scams, and other sneaky crimes that McGarrett has to figure out. "Thirty Thousand Rooms and I Have the Key" and its sequel "Odd Man In" both feature radio and TV drama veteran Hume Cronyn as Filer -- a man who is a thief and master of disguise, who manages to escape from McGarrett and his men on several occasions!! In the middle years, "Draw Me a Killer" featured Elliot Street as a young man with a dangerous obsession for a Hawaiian woman who vividly reminds him of a comic book character!! "Hookman" is about an assassin with a hook hand. "Engaged to Be Buried" was a well-done story about an interracial couple try to overcome prejudice. There was an ambitious trilogy "V for Vashon" that showed the downfall of a crime family. That was one of several episodes in which McGarrett was framed for murder. The 9th season's "Man in a Steel Frame" from 1977 is one of the very few times in which Steve is seen in a relationship, and Jack Lord proved that he really could convey emotion as McGarrett is devasted by the woman's death as he tries to clear his own name in the process.

The series' creator Leonard Freeman died in the middle of the 1973-74 season. There were several other Executive Producers over the years. Veteran Twilight Zone TV producer Buck Houghton briefly produced Hawaii Five-O early in 1978.

The 2-parters are among the finest, a pinnacle of which is reached in the 2 hour Ninth Season premiere in 1976 with "Nine Dragons", in which Wo Fat kidnaps McGarrett and has him taken to China. Steve then finds himself framed for treason!! Other than the Communist angle resurfacing, the episode featured some beautiful and original music not heard in any other episode. Kheigh Dheigh didn't return to his most famous role until the finale in 1980 as mentioned above, and that was the only decent episode they did in the last year.

 

[Jeff*H]

Season 9's "Man in a Steel Frame" and "Nine Dragons" are indeed 2 of my favorite episodes as well, with the latter featuring one of Wo Fat's best outings. However, the all-time best Wo Fat adventure is season 2's "Forty Feet High--and it Kills" in which Wo Fat orchestrates the kidnapping of a genetic scientist by creating a fake tsunami warning. The climactic showdown between McGarrett and Wo Fat is a true classic (often times they did not meet face-to-face). Season 2 also features an additional Wo Fat appearance in "A Bullet for McGarrett".
In fact, Wo Fat appears in every season from #1 (the pilot, Cocoon) through #5 (with multiple appearances in seasons 2 and 3), then again in seasons 7-9 and finally once more in the last episode of the series in season 12.

 

[Jeff#]

"Forty Feet High...and it Kills" was great too, particularly with the music heard over the chase scene with the Chinese agents in the cold opening of the episode. Good guest performances too by Will Geer as a kidnapped scientist and sexy Sabrina Scharf as his daughter.

But "Nine Dragons" is still Wo Fat at his most diabolical.

 

[Van594]

Don't get me wrong I love full seasons as much as anyone but in this case I just can't see it selling well enough to go 12...or even 4 or 5 for that matter, there is just to much else out there competing with it. I'm just afraid they won't even get to Season 5 then I won't get the V for Vashon episodes which I bet would be included on a best of.
The show was good but it had allot of repetition in it which doesn't bode well for todays DVD buying crowd, they get bored quick.

 

[Mark Lx]

Unfortunately, you are probably right. I mean I regretted having bought the Incredible Hulk Best of (expensive compared to today) when the first season came out, but it's probably all I'll get.

 

[Michael Alden]

Also don't forget the followup to the Vachon trilogy, The Case Against McGarret from season 8 with Harold Gould returning as Honore Vachon. But my two favorites were 3 Dead Cows at Makapuu and The Grandstand Play. Overall all of the two-parters were excellent.

I can't believe that Jeff # and I have a common ground!

 

[RoyM]

Man, I loved Hawaii Five-0... one of my favorite action dramas ever. I especially appreciated that the show (mostly) avoided the campy romantic/ interpersonal/comedy relief subplots that plagued so many other 'cop' shows of the era, and just stuck to straightforward police procedural/crime caper material. To me that is what makes the show hold up so much better than other 60's/70's cop shows.

All of that being said, I am on the fence about buying it. I frankly just don't have much confidence it isn't going to be abandoned after the first season (or couple of seasons, if we're that lucky). With such a long run, it seems highly doubtful we'll even get most of it. I tend to be a little more enthusiastic about collecting shows with short runs, since there is at least a reasonable chance of getting the whole show.

In the end, I may break down and buy season one, if only after it is clear that Paramount is releasing further seasons.

 

[Steve...O]

I hate to throw a bit of caution here, but let's not forget Mark To's comments earlier in the thread about the remastered episodes being syndicated length. Has there been any indication about whether this release uses syndicated versions?


No offense to the original poster, but if enough people do this that is a surefire way to ensure Paramount WON'T release further seasons.

 

[Doug Wallen]

I.m lookingforward to this set. I will buy the season(s) that are released. I agree that Three Dead Cows at Makuupu was a great 2 parter. Loretta Swit and Ed Flanders before M*A*S*H and St Eslewhere. Good stuff. I also remember an episode with Yaphet Kotto as a troubled Vietnam Vet holding hostages in a hospital, another favorite but I don't know the title.

Great news. Looking forward to this purchase.

 

[Jeff*H]

If what Paramount is doing with the remastered Star Trek is any indication, then Hawaii Five-0 should be remastered AND full-length/non-syndicated versions.
Star Trek is being digitally redone for broadcast; the producers are sprucing up the entire 51-minute versions, then they are cutting syndicated prints that run about 43 minutes. The 51-minute versions will eventually be released on DVD.

Last year, Paramount went back and completed remastering all of the non-remastered episodes from the first 4 seasons or so of Hawaii Five-0 for broadcast. The syndicated package grew from 175 episodes to 209 (out of a total of 284 episodes). I suspect in hindsight this may have been done so they could have completely remastered season sets ready for the first 4 seasons on DVD. Hopefully they have taken the Star Trek approach and remastered the full-length episodes. Not to mention I hope they go back and finish remastering the remaining 75 episodes of the series from seasons 5-12.

 

[Jeff*H]

You're in luck; the episode you are referring to is "King of the Hill" and will be in the season 1 release.

 

[Jeff#]

I can't believe you didn't insult me for a change. There may be hope for you yet, Alden.

 

[Jeff#]

All of the Hawaii Five-O episodes were remastered for syndication back in the 1990s, Jeff.

Regarding Star Trek, it has the biggest fan following of any series (although I'm not into collecting anything Trek even though I've seen them all at least once, a few twice). Five-O doesn't have that kind of following, which is unfortunate because it's such a well-done series. Paramount isn't that reliable anyway, because they haven't gotten around to duplicating and releasing the last 3 seasons of Have Gun, Will Travel yet.

 

[Jeff*H]

This is partially correct. New prints of all 284 hours were struck in the late 80s for syndication, an improvement over the grainy, washed-out 16MM prints from earlier.
These prints were syndicated on through the 90s and even into this decade. However, the Family Channel teamed with Paramount in 1997 and helped subsidize the cost of digitally remastering 175 of the episodes (mainly from seasons 1-9, with a handful from seasons 10-12 thrown in). These episodes were chopped up for broadcast on the channel, clocking in around 43 minutes each. There were a few episodes in each of the early seasons that had not been remastered for whatever reason. When the Family Channel completed its run of the show, the 175 episodes were syndicated to WGN and local stations, effectively replacing the old 284 episode package.
In July 2005, Paramount went back and digitally remastered 34 more episodes, filling in the gaps in the first 4 seasons or so, along with a few more further along in the run, bringing the digitally remastered total to 209. While it's not clear why they did this (did stations request 34 more episodes be remastered, but not the complete series? are they uncut?), my hunch is that they did this with an eye towards a future DVD release, where they would be more likely to make back their money on the remastering costs through sales of seasons that were complete with remastered shows instead of a mixture of remastered and un-remastered shows.
I would expect Season 1 to sell pretty well in February given the demand that has built up over the years, thereby justifying a release of several more seasons at least. While it's doubtful all 12 seasons will make it, I would at least hope that the series' golden years (seasons 1-5) will make it out.

While we will continue to wonder for the time being if the shows will be uncut and remastered, at least we don't really need to worry about music replacement, as the only licensed songs that appeared in the series weren't until season 11, when the Bee Gees' "Night Fever" and "Stayin Alive" were featured in the 2-part "Number One with a Bullet", and a cover of "Do You Think I'm Sexy" was featured in that same season's "The Execution File".

 

[jim_falconer]

'Nightmare In Blue' seems as frightening to watch today, as it must have been to unsuspecting TV viewers 30+ years ago.

A great series...I can't wait to purchase season one!

 

[Aryn Leroux]

This seems to be a pretty good put together Five-O Site:

http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/

 

[Bert Greene]

I don't really have much to add, but I'll be looking forward to this. It's a very entertaining show. I suppose there's a concern about all 12 seasons making it out, but that's not really something that phases me. I'll just be glad to see releases start. I'm most keen on the initial seasons, and I don't really know how long I'd follow along. Quite a while, perhaps. It really starts depending on what other dvd-sets start popping up, and compete with my time and money. Gosh, it will be nice to see that "Hawaii Five-O" opening again, with that driving theme music. It really grabs you.

 

[Jeff#]

The Five-O opening with the wave was changed after just the first few episodes in 1968. Originally they had the blue wave that would be used for the rest of the series. Then it was replaced by a shot of the beach with a beautiful sunset, as the HAWAII FIVE-O came out at you in a 3-D-like effect repeatedly. That was definitely better than the wave, which quickly returned along with the singular HAWAII FIVE-O logo.