Blu-Ray Review: ‘Lost: Season Five’ Continues Series of Spectacular Releases

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CHICAGO – With its fifth season Blu-Ray release, “Lost” continues to make a case as the TV series with the most remarkable season DVD sets alongside award-winning season sets for shows like “24” and “The Simpsons”. With a technically flawless presentation and unique, in-depth special features, these sets perfectly balance an appeal to casual fans while also satisfying the hardcore one.

HollywoodChicago.com Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0

As for the story of “Lost,” if you’re completely unfamiliar with the show, you would be insane to start with season five. With every season of ABC’s hit show now available on Blu-Ray, you can go back to the beginning and work your way to this excellent penultimate outing. The sixth season, starting in February, will be the last. Catch up with one of the most important programs of the ’00s before it ends and we’re on to something being sold as “the next Lost”. There will be likely never be another show quite like “Lost”.

Lost: Season Five was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 8th, 2009.
Lost: Season Five was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 8th, 2009.
Photo credit: Buena Vista Home Video

The 16 episodes (731 minutes) of “Lost: Season Five” are presented in 1080p High Definition with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. Viewers lucky enough to see the show in its original HD broadcast on ABC know that it’s one of the best-looking programs on the air. The show has always been a bar-setter when it comes to bringing design and cinematography on par with most theatrical films to television. The video transfer for Blu-Ray is nearly flawless and the audio mix is significantly better than the original broadcast (at least through DirectTV, how I watch the show). Sound is a major part of the “Lost” experience and the Blu-Ray mixes that element of the show perfectly.

Lost: Season Five was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 8th, 2009.
Lost: Season Five was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 8th, 2009.
Photo credit: Buena Vista Home Video

Some TV seasons come home to DVD and Blu-Ray with filler masquerading as special features. The four previous season releases of “Lost” have won awards for their extensive and detailed special features and ABC Studios don’t drop the ball this close to the finish line. Most disappointingly, only two episodes include commentaries (detailed below). Previous seasons has a bit more diversity in their commentary offerings and both of this season’s are a little dry. The fifth BD disc includes the majority of the special features:

“2 Audio Commentaries” (Various) - Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse on the season premiere, “Because You Left”; Writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz Episode 5.10, “He’s Our You”.

“Lost on Location” (37:44) - Over the entire series, this has been the backbone of the Blu-Ray releases to date, a series of mini-featurettes that focus on specific episodes. Episodes allowed behind-the-scenes access for this season include “The Lie,” “The Little Prince,” “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,” “Namaste,” “He’s Our You,” “Whatever Happened, Happened,” and “The Incident”.

“Mysteries of the Universe” (26:14) - A reportedly unearthed, old ABC special investigating the DHARMA Initiative. I’ve always found the way that the team behind “Lost” try to use unusual delivery methods to enhance the mystique of their fictional organization very clever but nearly a half-hour of such material is pushing it a little too far. Fun, but a bit overdone.

“Making Up For Lost Time (13:47) - The fifth season of “Lost” centered around, well, time travel, and the different eras displayed in the season required a lot of work on the part of the design team to maintain the continuity of the different periods. This featurette examines the research and execution of such a daunting design task.

Lost: Season Five was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 8th, 2009.
Lost: Season Five was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 8th, 2009.
Photo credit: Buena Vista Home Video

“An Epic Day with Richard Alpert” (12:14) - The very charming Nestor Carbonell, who plays the never-aging Richard Alpert, guides your way through the shoot of the season finale.

“Building 23 and Beyond” (12:01) - Arguably the best actor on the show, Emmy nominee Michael Emerson, takes us on a journey through the writer’s building for “Lost,” culminating in a fascinating sit-down in the writer’s room with Cuse and Lindelof. Several interesting insights into the “Lost” process that you wouldn’t get just from being on location.

“The Lost 100” (19:00) - The cast and crew flashback on the first one hundred episodes of the show.

“Lost University” (Various) - The highly touted interactive experience that allows you to dive deeper into the themes, secrets, and stories of the show. Once again, like the faux ABC special, I like trying to explore different delivery routes than standard behind-the-scenes featurettes.

“Deleted Scenes” (13:43) - There’s nothing of significance here. Of course, they’re all dialogue-driven scenes that were cut for pacing. They didn’t delete anything that sheds any light on the complex plot.

“Lost Bloopers” (3:48) - Self-explanatory on-set hijinks.

‘Lost: Season Five’ is released by ABC Studios/Walt Disney Home Entertainment and stars Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Jorge Garcia, Naveen Andrews, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Terry O’Quinn, Henry Ian Cusick, Elizabeth Mitchell, Jeremy Davies, Rebecca Mader, and Michael Emerson. It was created by J.J. Abrams, Carlton Cuse, and Damon Lindelof. It was released on December 8th, 2009.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

jonathan's picture

Lost - never ending story.

I used to watch this tv series but now It is too long - just waiting when they will get back home or die :) Anyway, good post - thanks for this :)

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