Hawaii Five-O - The Complete Eighth Season

Amazon suggests that reviewers tell what we would have wanted to know before we purchased this product. Well, I'll tell you: For the past few years, I have heard that, after Season 6, Five-0 really fell off. In my opinion, that simply is NOT true. Granted Five-0 changed after Season 6. It became more mature, taking a more intellectual look at issues and details. We certainly wouldn't have spent an hour in Season 1, learning about the art world, yet we did in Season 7 ("How to Steal a Masterpiece"), and we are all the better for it.

In Season 8, we continue to learn. In "Death's Name is Sam," we learn about heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles - hand-held ones, in fact. This was brand new technology in 1975, when this was filmed. Even now, it is fascinating to watch as McGarrett tries to divert the missile with flares in order to keep the aircraft from being shot down. Fortunately, the experimental effort was successful. But Season 8 isn't all about technology and learning.

Steve has a new love interest in Season 8 ("Sing a Song of Suspense"). She is Chelsea Merriman, and she is a professional singer. After witnessing a brutal murder, she is taken to Steve's beach house for safekeeping. Oh, how the romantic sparks fly between them. As he leaves for work, she tells him to "Call if you're going to be late tonight, dear." I had to wonder whether Lois Nettleton, who portrayed Chelsea, didn't ad lib some of those lines.

The Five-0 Team has settled in nicely with McGarrett, Danno, Chin Ho, Duke, Jenny, Che Fong, and Doc - and the Governor, of course. Sadly, Season 8 was Doc's last on the show. He will be missed.

All the way through, not a single dud came to light. Not every episode was bottle rockets and roman candles, but every one was good and held my attention from beginning to end. Don't miss it. McGarrett and the Five-0 Team are still right on top. Be there. Aloha!

Without a doubt, Hawaii Five-0 was one of the top 10 television shows that was ever produced for all-time. They certainly don't make TV shows like that any more. The quality of the previous 7 Seasons of Five-0 was always great, and I would certainly expect that Season 8 will follow in the same tradition. However, even if they produced it in Black and White, I'd still give it 5 STARS. By the time Season 8 had rolled around in 1975, some of the plots were not quite up to par like they were in some of the earlier Seasons, but I still love watching every one of them. A few years ago I previously purchased all 12 Seasons of Five-0 which were mainly just old copies that were probably made directly from TV broadcasts, which even included the commercials. And I've even enjoyed watching those old versions, no matter how poorly they were copied. As I'm sure you can tell I am huge fan of Hawaii Five-0 and I am now on Amazon.com's list to receive my copy of Season 8 when it finally comes out on March 16th of 2010. I'll be patiently awaiting the UPS truck as soon as I get up that morning. I guess you can say that "I've got my copy booked".

I must admit, Season 8 was the season that I started to tune out of Five-0. I'm a big fan of the first six seasons - for me, these seasons represent superb escapist television at its very best. In these early years, Jack Lord was coolness personified and the show was a no nonsense gritty AND entertaining drama.

Unlike in the latter years, in those early seasons, McGarrett's anger never appeared contrived or forced - you really felt this man's rage! Circa 1974 this changed and McGarrett's spontaneous outburst against life's injustices became elongated rants to whoever was within ear shot.

Additionally, the big attraction of the show was how one week you could see a light-hearted episode and the next you'd see a hard hitting thought provoking instalment - season 4 demonstrates this nicely, `Odd Man In' and then `Skinhead' could hardly be more different, but they were encompassed together within the same season. This kind of contrast was rife in the early years and, more importantly, superbly executed. With Season 7 there were signs of wear and I'm afraid that this increased with during season 8. It's really a paradox that the earlier episodes seem fresher and less dated than anything post 1974. What's the saying, quit whilst you're ahead, sadly this wasn't heeded, however, that said, there are still some very good episodes within this eighth season.

The opener, `Murder - Eyes Only' is a feature length special and is pretty good - this is how i'd have liked to have seen the show continue, i.e. as two hour long specials, maybe 6 or 7 in a season - that way we'd have kept quality over quantity. Unfortunately this wasn't to be and the remaining 22 episodes are the usual 50 minute affair. Other good episodes are `McGarrett Is Missing', `Termination With Extreme Prejudice', `The Case Against McGarrett', `Retire In Sunny Hawaii - Forever'. As I say, good episodes, but nothing truly outstanding - and IMO, this season is nowhere near the quality of Seasons 3;4;5 and 6.

I'm now in receipt of this DVD set and, with regards to remastering, its the usual mixed affair. Some episodes look very good, with rich vibrant colours - however, 'Wooden Model Of A Rat' appears less striking than other episodes on the set in this respect. As usual there is evidence of 'dirt' in certain scenes in certain episodes too. These are minor setbacks as the quality of even the lesser remastered episodes is way above anything I've seen broadcast on tv for this season.

All episodes contain episodic promos except for the opener, 'Murder - Eyes Only' - this feature length special is unabridged, coming in at just shy of 100 minutes in length.

I've rated this set 3 stars because previous seasons set the benchmark extremely high - that said, in comparison to many shows of today and in terms of entertainment, this set would attain a five star rating.