The Show
I have misgivings about calling NCIS: Los Angeles an "action" show. In The Complete First Season, there are chases and fistfights and guns blazing, but these brief snippets are few and far between. Much more often, an episode is comprised of people standing around talking smart, which is fine I suppose. In the two-part spin-off from the Mark Harmon-starring NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) which begins this set, we are introduced to the Office of Special Projects out on The Left Coast, a deep undercover unit created to stop some of the most dangerous threats to national security. By the time of the L.A. pilot, the supporting characters have been tweaked but the partnership of the two stars (Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J) remains at the core of the team, and the show. Using state-of-the-art intelligence-gathering technology--whether it actually exists or not--the duo risks life and limb in one-off cases, while also probing deeper mysteries such as the first name of O'Donnell's alter-ego, cryptically named simply "G. Callen."
The Picture
The video bitrate for Discs One thru Four hovers at around 20 megabits-per-second, which helps to explain the general softness of the 1.78:1 image, with occasional artifacts and frequent instances of noise as well. Disc Five carries only three episodes (plus the bulk of the bonus material), affording a higher bitrate but also plagued by same basic issues. The show is shot on digital video, which brings streaking and mild jitter, but I was impressed by some fine textures from time to time, albeit with a bit of twitching.
The Sound
This fairly slick show is marked by missed opportunities. I went back and re-watched one particular scene wherein a series of phones starts ringing all around a bustling office, as indicated by the actor's eyeline, and yet the effects are only placed in the front speakers. As is typical in for TV-on-Blu-ray, music is in the rears of the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, used to drive and underscore the story. I noted some strong environmental audio in some scenes (an elevator, background voices, resonance in an alley), underlying bass oomph, and some very clever discrete rears for a helicopter hovering overhead. But no discrete gunshots in multiple battles? And a ho-hum explosion? As they say in L.A., "Bummer, dude..."
The Extras
Creator and executive producer Shane Brennan provides audio commentary for the first official episode, "Identity." He also pops up in the different featurettes, beginning with "Inspired Television: NCIS: Los Angeles" (16 minutes) about the challenge of creating something different from the original NCIS. "The L.A. Team: Meet the Cast and Crew" introduces the supporting players as well as the stars, while "Inside the Inner Sanctum: The Set Tour" reveals Stage 9 at Paramount, with the production designer as our guide. (21 and 12 minutes respectively.)
"Do You Have a Visual? Inside the OPS Center" details how the production team creates the illusion of all of that video footage week after week. "Lights, Camera... ACTION! The Stunts of NCIS: Los Angeles" gives the energetic stars and their doubles their due.(Ten minutes each.) The music video for LL Cool J's "No Crew Is Superior" is paired with a three-minute "making of." The first and last discs of the set offer BD-Live biographies, interviews and more via BD Connect. Remarkably, all of the video content (online and off) is in standard definition, although the music video is at least rocking DTS 2.0 audio.
Final Thoughts
I must confess that there is a sameness to much of NCIS: Los Angeles: more bad guys, more state-of-the-art surveillance, and the big twist was moving the story to L.A.... where seemingly every other show on TV is set, or is at least shot. Add to this some lackluster audio and video and, well, this set might just be for the fans.
Product Details
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