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Lost - The Complete First
Season
Starring: Naveen
Andrews, Maggie Grace, Dominic Monaghan, Terry O'Quinn, Harold
Perrineau Jr., Emilie de Ravin, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, Josh
Holloway, Malcolm David Kelley, Daniel Dae Kim, Yun-jin Kim, Evangeline
Lilly, Ian Somerhalder, Michelle Rodriguez
CREATOR: J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, Damon Lindelof
STUDIO: Buena Vista Home Video
RELEASE DATE: September 6, 2005
PRICE: $38.99 (Price subject to change)
Finally,
the show that has managed to take the TV world by storm is hitting
DVD shelves, and since I had not seen even a single second of
"Lost" before reviewing this box set there was a lot
it had to live up to. First off, I am a huge "Alias"
fan and since J.J. Abrams was a part of creating this show as
well I had my expectations based on that fact alone. Then there
is the fan fare. I can't seem to go five clicks on the Internet
without seeing something to do with this show and how great it
is... So with that said, let's see if it lives up to all the hype.
WHAT IS IT?
"Lost" tells the story
of 48 survivors of a tragic plane wreck that has them stranded
on what seems to be a deserted island somewhere in the Pacific
Ocean. The tragic Oceanic Airlines flight 815 out of Sydney destined
for Los Angeles suffered some sort of malfunction and is torn
apart in mid-air and falls to the beach below.
 The
survivors begin to take on a "Survivor" mentality and
make camp and hope for rescue, which is when things take a turn
for the worse. The island makes its presence known thanks to what
seems to be a monster lurking in the jungle, a mysterious hatch,
a 16-year-old transmission and a heard rumor of "others."
Season one lasts for 24 episodes
beginning with it's two-hour pilot episode and each and every
installment introduces you to one new piece of the island along
with several flashbacks giving you further insight into the characters
populating the island, which leads me to my critique on the show
itself.
"Lost" is made up of
a perfect cast of actors all completely overtaking the roles they
have been assigned especially such names as newcomers Matthew
Fox, Evangeline Lilly and Jorge Garcia as well as Dominic Monaghan
(Lord of the Rings) and Terry O'Quinn ("Harsh Realm,"
"Alias"). Fox and Lilly, along with Josh Holloway make
up the island's love triangle as well as the show's most likely
candidates for magazine cover stories along with Maggie Grace.
Personally the best piece of casting is Terry O'Quinn whose performances
on other shows and films have always seemed so forced and over
the top, while on "Lost" he seems more relaxed and invested
in his character of John Locke. His acting is subtle and quiet,
which make his occasional outbursts that much more attention grabbing,
not to mention his character is certainly the most intriguing
and human character of the group.
Beyond the acting this show unfortunately
has a laundry list of problems, and I honestly don't understand
how it has done so well. As a DVD set this show works well, but
not as great as the buzz would lead you to believe. In my opinion
there are three things that can ruin films and TV shows, those
things are too much narration, dream sequences or flashbacks and
this show relies heavily on the latter of those three even goes
so far as to include two additional flashbacks in the special
features. The show idea itself is intriguing enough without all
these flashbacks and it gets to a point where I don't care any
longer about who these people were before they crash landed, I
just want to know what they are going to do about their current
situation and that damned monster.
Flashbacks aside, the major issue
I have with this show is that nothing really happens, and when
it does it takes so damn long for it to occur. As I said before,
this show has an intriguing premise and the island's mysterious
nature is extremely attractive, which is why it is so maddening
they delay the storyline each week. Luckily on DVD you are able
to rush through it, but I am still confused how people can tune
in each week for 60 minutes when nothing really happens for 50
of those minutes.
 THE
DVD:
Packed with all 24 episodes from
the "Lost" first season this seven disc set is sure
to enthuse any "Lost" fan as it delves deep into the
creation of the series with an emphatic concentration on the pilot
episode. The special features in this set are designed around
the "Lost" fanatic and the fans who wished they had
seen the show and now love it after seeing it on DVD.
Four of the episodes come with
commentary tracks (Pilot, Walkabout, The Moth, Hearts and Minds),
the commentaries are laid down by executive producers J.J. Abrams,
Damon Lindelof, and Bryan Burk, producer Jack Bender, co-executive
producer David Fury, and Terry O'Quinn, Dominic Monaghan, executive
producer Carlton Cuse, supervising producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach,
and actors Maggie Grace and Ian Sommerhalder. The commentaries
are insightful and interesting, but the one that really stands
out is the commentary on the pilot as J.J., Damon and Bryan stop
the show in mid stream and take you behind-the-scenes as they
show you how several of the beach scenes were done with a focus
on the special effects surrounding the plane as the engine explodes
and wing falls.
On top of that, the pilot episode
also comes with a script scanner track allowing you to read the
script as the episode plays on your compute and allows you to
directly interact with it as you go. Pilot themed features continue
with a large making-of feature and then a look at the set design
for the entire show with, you guessed it, a particular eye on
the debris from the plane crash in the pilot episode.
 The
rest of the features appropriately surround the development of
the show especially a look at everyone's audition tapes, an entire
featurette on how the show came to be, a look at the "Lost"
ComiCon panel and a feature designed around the plane crash itself
and how the scenes on the plane were created.
The features don't stop there
with a couple of scenes cut from the season finale (the flashbacks
I mentioned earlier), 3 more deleted scenes, a blooper reel, pictures
taken by actor Matthew Fox on set along with his running commentary,
and a look at the special appearance by the crew and cast as they
are celebrated at the Museum of Television & Radio's 22nd
Annual Paley Festival.
Once you have gone through all
that, be sure to do a diligent search for the Easter Eggs you
can find on the seventh disc. They include a blooper reel and
an alternate look at the opening sequence. The best way to tell
you how to find them is to simply tell you to push right and left
a lot on each menu you see on the seventh disc, the bonus disc.
OVERALL:
 On
a whole this DVD set is very impressive, but it will only appeal
to those that can handle the torture of storylines left hanging.
Over the course of the first season several plotlines are left
lingering for several episodes and the dream sequences are used
far too often, which really seem to be used as a crutch more than
an actual storytelling tool with the flashbacks fit right into
that category as well.
"Lost" is entertaining,
but I feel it will be far more intriguing once all seasons are
on DVD and the story can be played in its entirety. There is no
way I could tune into this show on a weekly basis just waiting
for a tiny little nugget of information each time, and sometimes
not even getting that.
Once each and every season is
on DVD this will be the collection to own, but for now it is simply
a means to get caught up on stuff you may have missed or just
the beginning of a collection that needs a lot of holes filled
in before it will truly be complete.
Disc Specs
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Number of Discs: 7
- Extras:
· 24 episodes on seven discs
· Commentary by executive producers J.J. Abrams, Damon
Lindelof, and Bryan Burk on the pilot
· Commentary by executive producer Jack Bender, co-executive
producer David Fury, and actor Terry O'Quinn on Walkabout
· Commentary by executive producers Damon Lindelof and
Bryan Burk and actor Dominic Monaghan on The Moth
· Commentary by executive producer Carlton Cuse, supervising
producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach, and actors Maggie Grace and
Ian Sommerhalder on Hearts and Minds
· The Genesis of "Lost"
· Designing a Disaster
· Before They Were "Lost": personal stories
and audition tapes
· Welcome to Oahu: The Making of the Pilot
· The Art of Matthew Fox
· "Lost" at ComiCon
· "Lost": On Location
· On Set with Jimmy Kimmel
· Backstage with Driveshaft
· The "Lost" Flashbacks: Claire at the Airport,
Sayid at the Airport
· 13 deleted scenes
· Bloopers from the set
· Salute to "Lost" at the Museum of Television
and Radio's 22nd Annual Paley Festival
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