Hawaii Five-O - The Complete First Season | 
 enlarge | Director: Gene Nelson
Actors: Jack Lord, James Macarthur, Harry Endo
Studio: Paramount Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $38.99
Buy New: $28.65
You Save: $10.34 (27%)
New (21) Used (11) Collectible (2) from $23.97
Rating:  155 reviews
Sales Rank: 7850
Format: Box Set, Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), English (Published)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 7
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: PARD889164D
UPC: 097368891647
EAN: 0097368891647
ASIN: B000LE16VC
Theatrical Release Date: September 26, 1968
Release Date: March 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
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Product Description
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/05/2008
Amazon.com
There's plenty to like about Hawaii Five-0, the late '60s cop show debuting on DVD by way of this seven-disc set including all episodes from the first season, along with the two-hour pilot that preceded it. Like the music, featuring Morton Stevens' popular theme song. Or the lovely Hawaiian scenery. And let's not forget "Book 'em, Danno," the signature line delivered (although not nearly as frequently as one might expect) by star Jack Lord's Steve McGarrett, not to mention Lord's perfect hair and wrinkle-free slacks. As for everything else, let's just say that Hawaii Five-0 has not aged well. Some of that is inevitably due to the infinitely more sophisticated production values of the series that have followed in its wake; Five-0's technology, sets, and other practical elements are laughably primitive by current standards. Problem is, the cheese factor extends to pretty much every other aspect of the show as well. Most of the action sequences are utterly tension-free, and the pace is frequently glacial, with interminable scenes bogged down by talky exposition. The dialogue is risible: McGarrett refers to one adversary as "a dirty, double-dealing fink," while the so-called hippies who populate the islands utter the kind of idiocies that could only have been written by cubes whose closest contact with the counterculture came from TV commercials for Hai Karate men's cologne ("Looks like splittin' the scene was real cool, baby" is but one egregious example). Lord does a decent job as the stiff-but-heroic McGarrett, variously described as "a hardhead," "an organizational misfit," "a brilliant operator," and "a rebel," but by and large the acting (including guest shots by Sal Mineo, Ricardo Montalban, Gavin MacLeod, and Yaphet Kotto) is wooden. Story-wise, "Cocoon," the pilot, features an intriguing premise wherein U.S. intelligence agents undergo sensory-deprivation torture before spilling their secrets; elsewhere, the elite Five-0 team deals with jewel thieves, gold smugglers, kidnappers, gamblers, murderers, mobsters, all-purpose "criminal masterminds," and even "Red agents" spreading the bubonic plague. In sum: with its light (if not quite frothy) tone, Hawaii Five-0 will offer harmless escapism to some viewers, especially those with a nostalgic bent. Others, however, will long for more substantial fare--you know, like Deal or No Deal. The DVD set includes a single bonus feature: "Emme's Island Moments: Memories of Hawaii Five-O," a retrospective with James "Danno" MacArthur and other cast and crew members. --Sam Graham Beyond Hawaii Five-0 
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More TV Series on DVD for the First Time | Stills from Hawaii Five-0: The Complete First Season (click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 150 more reviews...
UNIQUE POLICE DRAMA IN THE TROPICS November 24, 2008
Noel Serrano (Tampa, Florida United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Hawaii Five-O is an American television series that starred Jack Lord and James MacArthur as detectives for a fictional Hawaii state police department. The show ran for 12 seasons, from 1968 to 1980, making it the longest running crime show on American television until the police drama Law & Order surpassed it in 2003. The twelfth season was repackaged into syndication under the title McGarrett.
The CBS television network produced the program from September 20, 1968 to April 5, 1980. Currently, the program is broadcast in syndication throughout the world and on-demand streaming media via CBS Interactive.[1] Created by Leonard Freeman, Hawaii Five-O was shot on location in Honolulu, Hawaii, and throughout the island of Oahu -- with occasional filming in other locales like Los Angeles, Singapore and Hong Kong as well as other Hawaiian islands.
Hawaii Five-O centers on a fictional state police force (named in honor of Hawaii's status as the 50th State)[2] led by former Navy officer Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord), who was appointed by the Governor Paul Jameson (Richard Denning). McGarrett was assisted regularly by State Police officers -- a young officer, Danny Williams (played with intensity by Tim O'Kelley in the show's pilot, but replaced in the regular series by James MacArthur), Chin Ho Kelly (Kam Fong) and Kono Kalakaua (Zulu). Later, Honolulu Police Department Officer Duke Lukela (Herman Wedemeyer) joined the team as a regular, as did Ben Kokua (Al Harrington) who replaced Kono. Occasionally, they were assisted by other officers on an "as-needed" basis. During the course of the show, the team was also assisted regularly by: medical examiner Doc Bergman (Al Eben), forensic specialist Che Fong (Harry Endo) and a secretary. The first secretary was May (Maggi Parker), then Jenny (Peggy Ryan) and later Luana (Laura Sode-Matteson).
For twelve seasons, McGarrett and his team hounded international secret agents, criminals, and Mafia syndicates plaguing the Hawaiian Islands. With the aid of District Attorney and later Hawaii's Attorney General John Manicote (Glenn Cannon), McGarrett was successful in sending most of his enemies to prison. One such Mafia syndicate was led by crime family patriarch Honore Vashon (Harold Gould), a character introduced in the fifth season. Blaming McGarrett for the death of his son, Vashon swore vengeance using all of the resources available to him. Most episodes of Hawaii Five-O ended with the arrest of criminals with McGarrett's catch phrase to Williams, "Book 'em, Danno!", with the offense occasionally added after this phrase, such as "-Murder one!". Other criminals and organized crime bosses on the islands were played by actors such as Ricardo Montalban, Gavin MacLeod, and Ross Martin as Tony Alika. For the 12th and final season, series regular James MacArthur had left the show (in 1996, he admitted he had got tired and wanted to do other things), as did Kam Fong after season 10. New characters Jim 'Kimo' Carew (William Smith), Lori Wilson (Sharon Farrell), and Truck (Moe Keale) were introduced in season 12 alongside returning regular Duke Lukela.
The Five-O team consisted of four to five members (small for a real state police unit) and was portrayed as occupying a suite of offices in the Iolani Palace. (The office interiors were a soundstage set.) Curiously, it lacked its own radio network, necessitating frequent requests by McGarrett to the Honolulu Police Department dispatchers to "Patch me through to Danno". McGarrett's tousled yet immovable hairstyle and proclivity for wearing a dark suit and tie on all possible occasions rapidly entered popular culture.
In many episodes (including the pilot), McGarrett was drawn into the world of international espionage and national intelligence. McGarrett's archnemesis was an intelligence officer of the People's Republic of China, Wo Fat. The Communist rogue agent was played by veteran actor Khigh Dheigh.
The show's action and straightforward story-telling left little time for personal stories such as wives and girlfriends, though a two-part story in the first season dealt with the loss of McGarrett's sister's baby. Occasionally, a show would flash back to McGarrett's younger years or to a romantic figure. The viewer is left with the impression that McGarrett, like Dragnet's Joe Friday, is wedded to the police force and to crime-fighting at this point in his life.
Hawaii Five-O survived long enough to see reruns of early episodes enter syndication while new episodes were still being produced. The 12th season was repackaged into syndication under the title McGarrett.
The show was the longest running crime show on American TV until the police drama Law & Order surpassed it in 2003. The popularity of the Hawaii Five-O format spawned various police dramas on all the major television networks since its debut. Another legacy is the popularity of the Hawaii Five-O theme song, composed by Morton Stevens and later covered by surf music band The Ventures and by Radio Birdman, a punk-era band from Sydney. A short cover can be seen at the end of the Massacre Palestina's song, "Madamme X". The song is particularly popular with college and high school marching bands, especially at the University of Hawai'i, where it has become the unofficial fight song. It also made a brief appearance in the animated film Shrek 2, when a trumpeter enthusiastically follows a fanfare with the first few bars of the theme song, and in the Australian film The Dish, about the Apollo XI moon landing, when a teenage Australian band mistakenly played it thinking it was the American national anthem.
While the location, theme song, and esemble cast made "Hawaii Five-O" one of the longest running police dramas in television history, the show is also noted for it's liberal use of exterior locations as "sets" throughout the entire 12 seasons, breaking the tradition of filming indoors as with the case for a typical TV series. A typical episode, on average, would have at least two-thirds of all footage shot outdoors.
The term "Five-O" was adopted by American youth culture as a street slang term for the police.
The television show Magnum P.I. was created after Hawaii Five-O ended its run in order to make further use of the production equipment left there. The first few episodes made direct references to Five-O, suggesting that it takes place in the same "universe" as the earlier show.
Criticism of the show pointed out that the vast majority of characters were Caucasian, while only 40% of the population of the state identify themselves as non-Hispanic Caucasian. However, many local people were used to play parts in the show. The first run and syndication was seen by an estimated 400,000,000 people around the world.Jack Lord was the only actor to appear in all episodes of Five-O and was the only original cast member remaining when its last episode aired in May 1980. He and Herman Wedemeyer were the only actors to appear in the first episode (excluding the pilot) and the last episode of the series.
MacArthur has said on talk show appearances that he calculates the Five-O team would have accounted for all major crime and criminals on the islands several times over.
The show continues to be seen in Hawaii since it left the air, thus making it the longest-running show to continue airing in the state after it ceased production. It is currently seen on Honolulu independent outlet KWHE.
At least 3 episodes were centered around Danno. One episode took us to his apartment, and a second one probed into his love life a bit. He was engaged to a woman whose death was the plot line of the episode. A third episode in 1976 has Danny dating an actress, Anne Waring (Meg Foster), who becomes a target of criminals.
In a 1st season episode, a two-parter "Once Upon A Time", we learn that McGarrett has a sister and a brother-in-law. The story line has McGarrett going to California to visit his sister and brother-in-law after learning that their infant son has cancer. A doctor is treating the baby with unethical methods to cure him, but the baby dies anyway. McGarrett seeks out the truth about the doctor and her unethical methods on patients.
Chin Ho Kelly had 8 kids, as we learned in a second season Five-O episode, Cry Lie. This seems to have been a family trait, as his many relatives were apparently involved in all facets of life in Hawaii, from laborers in the sugar cane fields to Honolulu policemen, bartenders, tour bus drivers, etc. -- and Kelly knew them all by name. This is actually authentic, as descendants of the early Chinese cane field laborers diversified throughout Hawaiian society, while maintaining family ties.
In the TV-movie pilot, McGarrett drove a Mercury 2-door hardtop, apparently a 1967 Marquis (1967 was the first year for the Marquis, and it was only available as a 2-door hardtop). This car had a black body, black vinyl roof, and a red interior. In the series, McGarrett's trademark vehicle, often seen squealing tires throughout Honolulu, was a triple-black 1968 Mercury Park Lane Brougham 4-door hardtop. In a recurring continuity error, footage of the 2-door hardtop appeared in many episodes of the series. Around the 1973/74 season, his Park Lane was replaced by a 1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 4-door, used until the end of the series. In a new recurring continuity error, footage of the 1968 Mercury appears in many episodes after the Mercury Marquis Brougham replaced it. After the show, Jack Lord gave the 1974 Mercury car he drove on the show to his stunt man, Jack Nordlum.
The phone numbers that were dialed from various Honolulu-area phone booths throughout the run of the series were actual household numbers, which caused some "invasion of privacy" concerns for residents, even after the series ended; hence in the middle of the series run, the Honolulu phone prefix "(808) 555-xxxx" was to be used on every episode from then on.
James MacArthur was the son of stage and film legend Helen Hayes; Hayes guest starred on a 1975 episode of Hawaii Five-0, "Retire to Sunny Hawaii", playing Danny Williams' aunt.[8]
After their short-lived NBC series The Quest in 1976, Kurt Russell and Tim Matheson appeared together in the 1977 "Deadly Doubles" episode of Hawaii Five-O.[Jack Lord was the only actor to appear in all episodes of Five-O and was the only original cast member remaining when its last episode aired in May 1980. He and Herman Wedemeyer were the only actors to appear in the first episode (excluding the pilot) and the last episode of the series.
MacArthur has said on talk show appearances that he calculates the Five-O team would have accounted for all major crime and criminals on the islands several times over.
The show continues to be seen in Hawaii since it left the air, thus making it the longest-running show to continue airing in the state after it ceased production. It is currently seen on Honolulu independent outlet KWHE.
At least 3 episodes were centered around Danno. One episode took us to his apartment, and a second one probed into his love life a bit. He was engaged to a woman whose death was the plot line of the episode. A third episode in 1976 has Danny dating an actress, Anne Waring (Meg Foster), who becomes a target of criminals.
In a 1st season episode, a two-parter "Once Upon A Time", we learn that McGarrett has a sister and a brother-in-law. The story line has McGarrett going to California to visit his sister and brother-in-law after learning that their infant son has cancer. A doctor is treating the baby with unethical methods to cure him, but the baby dies anyway. McGarrett seeks out the truth about the doctor and her unethical methods on patients.
Chin Ho Kelly had 8 kids, as we learned in a second season Five-O episode, Cry Lie. This seems to have been a family trait, as his many relatives were apparently involved in all facets of life in Hawaii, from laborers in the sugar cane fields to Honolulu policemen, bartenders, tour bus drivers, etc. -- and Kelly knew them all by name. This is actually authentic, as descendants of the early Chinese cane field laborers diversified throughout Hawaiian society, while maintaining family ties.
In the TV-movie pilot, McGarrett drove a Mercury 2-door hardtop, apparently a 1967 Marquis (1967 was the first year for the Marquis, and it was only available as a 2-door hardtop). This car had a black body, black vinyl roof, and a red interior. In the series, McGarrett's trademark vehicle, often seen squealing tires throughout Honolulu, was a triple-black 1968 Mercury Park Lane Brougham 4-door hardtop. In a recurring continuity error, footage of the 2-door hardtop appeared in many episodes of the series. Around the 1973/74 season, his Park Lane was replaced by a 1973 Mercury Marquis Brougham 4-door, used until the end of the series. In a new recurring continuity error, footage of the 1968 Mercury appears in many episodes after the Mercury Marquis Brougham replaced it. After the show, Jack Lord gave the 1974 Mercury car he drove on the show to his stunt man, Jack Nordlum.
The phone numbers that were dialed from various Honolulu-area phone booths throughout the run of the series were actual household numbers, which caused some "invasion of privacy" concerns for residents, even after the series ended; hence in the middle of the series run, the Honolulu phone prefix "(808) 555-xxxx" was to be used on every episode from then on.
James MacArthur was the son of stage and film legend Helen Hayes; Hayes guest starred on a 1975 episode of Hawaii Five-0, "Retire to Sunny Hawaii", playing Danny Williams' aunt.[8]
After their short-lived NBC series The Quest in 1976, Kurt Russell and Tim Matheson appeared together in the 1977 "Deadly Doubles" episode of Hawaii Five-O.[
These early seasons were much better October 30, 2008
zpf (Los Angeles)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The first two or three seasons of Hawaii Five-0 were much better than the later seasons. They actually have a greater presence, maturity, and energy. I think in the later seasons they were just going through the motions, and the whole production just got corny, stale, and lacked punch. In a nutshell the best seasons were the Kono era.
 $432 FOR INCOMPLETE "COLLECTION" ---OR--- BETTER/CHEAPER BOXED SET August 10, 2008
Dadio (Florida)
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
I was suckered into buying this 1st set, like many others, out of pure LOVE for this series. And it's because of my high regard and respect for those who crafted it, and my own disappointment w/ OMITTED EPISODES, UNSPECIFIED EDITING, [disclaimer-ed on the boxes for all but the 1st Season] and somewhat poor quality (compared to my own Five-O recordings, cheap late 60's cartoon sets, etc. - as if it was not remastered at all), that I am writing this poor review. I wish I had known before I enthusiastically emptied my wallet. I could have better spent the $36/set.
That's $36 x 12 Seasons, carry the one, for a total of $432!! For an INCOMPLETE, EDITED, NOT-SO-SHARPLY REMASTERED "COLLECTION". For my money, if I like a series enough to own it and to pay for better quality than I can get from broadcasts, I want to see/own EVERY episode, unedited, and at least as clearly as my own recordings! You may consider waiting another 2 years (at this release rate ~ 4 Seasons per year) for the inevitable and much less expensive Boxed Set, which we've all seen in stores at Christmas for even much less popular series. And Boxed Sets always have features to make them more attractive, such as "high resolution digitally remastered", "previously unreleased episodes", and "un-edited original broadcasts", the very things they haven't included in these, along with something like a Steve McGarrett replica badge or 1/25th scale Mercury. Not to mention, a MUCH smaller price tag!
LOUSY acting June 15, 2008
Troy Heagy (Forest Hill MD)
0 out of 15 found this review helpful
Reminds me of that ham actor on CSI Miami, except it's not just the star that is a losu actor. The whole staff comes-off as fake, fake, fake. The movements seem unnatural, as if I was watching a high school play instead of professionals.
Clearly this show has not aged well.
As for the stories, it's just your typical cop show fare. Nothing special or unique about these.
 good price if you can still play vhs June 11, 2008
James Lane
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
as the title insinuates.... got these for an old fan of macGarret .. wheelchair bound.
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