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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
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the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
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“NCIS:
Naval Criminal Investigative Service-The Complete First
Season”
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Reviewer:
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Wayne
Klein
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Studio: |
Paramount |
| Genre: |
TV-Series |
Release:
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6/27/06 |
| Special
Features: |
“Creating Season 1”, “Building
The Team”, “Defining The Look”, audio commentary on “Yankee
White” by Donald Bellsario |
| Review:
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“NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service” is a spin-off
of the popular show “JAG” and focuses on a crimes related
to the Nay and the U.S. Marine Corps. Featuring a veteran
cast of stellar performers including Mark Harmon, David
McCallum (“The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” which will hopefully
show up on DVD soon if the gods of the legal system can
iron out their difficulties). Produced by Donald Bellasario
(“Quantum Leap”, “Magnum P.I.” and, of course, “JAG”) this
isn’t your typical rip-off of “CSI” as the characters aren’t
limited to just what happens in Las Vegas or Miami but do
a bit of globetrotting to deal with a wide variety of crimes.
Filled with witty dialogue and strong performances “NCIS”
is an impressive show. With the cast’s dry wit (andDavid
McC allum’s wicked performance as the coroner the show)
has its own distinctive personality.
Image & Sound:
A sharp, colorful presentation blacks are rock solid
with nice detail. There are some rare compression artifacts
but, overall, the show receives a very nice transfer. Audio
is quite good as well presented stereo surround with nice
depth and presence.
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| Special
Features: |
We get three solid featurettes
on the show. “Building the Team” focuses on how the cast was
assembled and what the producers were looking for the actors
to bring to their roles. “Creating Season 1” features the
producers/writers discussing the creation of the show, finding
a distinctive “voice” for the series different from both “JAG”
and “CSI” and how they dreamed up some of the story ideas
for the series. Finally we get “Defining the Look” focusing
on the approach to shooting the show and how they wanted to
define a distinctive look for the series compared to other
series with similar themes. The audio commentary by Bellisario
provides a lot of background much of which isn’t duplicated
in the featurettes. It’s well worth listening to and it’s
a pity that Universal doesn’t have Bellisario do commentary
tracks for “Quantum Leap” as they don’t know what they are
depriving the audience of (and probably don’t care as is typical
for Universal’s TV department). --- |
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Final Words:
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This marvelous spin-off from
“JAG” looks and sounds good. It also features some stellar
extras although I would have liked to have a couple more commentary
tracks on some of the outstanding episodes from season one
particularly featuring the cast. Overall this is a solid set
and well worth picking up for fans of the show. |
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