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Another 12 classic martial arts films highlight this explosive box set comprised from the famous Shaw Brothers' library and featuring some of their greatest stars including The Five Deadly Venom's stars Phillip Kwok, Sun Chien, Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, and Lo Meng and A Better Tomorrow's Derek Yee and Ti Lung. Many of these visually spectacular films are debuting for the first time on Blu-ray. Heroes meet villains in edge-of-your-seat duels in this exciting array of some of Shaw Brothers' best! The Rebel Intruders: The "Venoms" are back in action again! After creating an international sensation in The Five Venoms, Taiwanese Opera artists Phillip Kwok, Chiang Sheng and Lu Feng reteamed with Chinese muscleman Lo Meng and super-kicker Sun Chien for this politically charged thriller. Set in the early Republican years, The Rebel Intruders follows skilled refugees who run afoul of a powerful traitor. From then on, it's one amazing battle after another! Two Champions Of Shaolin: Legendary director Chang Cheh hit upon a winning formula by teaming three Taiwanese stars with a Korean kicker and a Chinese strongman in a super heroic series of kung fu-filled adventures—starting with the international cult favorite, The Five Venoms. This particular action-packed tale of Shaolin vs. Wu Tang fighters is special in that the fifth "Venom" worked behind the scenes while the other four strut their stuff all the more intently because of it. Legend Of The Fox: Revered director Chang Cheh co-wrote this showcase for a new discovery. Bloody thrills and superlative fight scenes buoy his exciting tale of revenge, which was choreographed by and features cameos from the director's three most popular "Venoms": Kuo Chue, Chiang Sheng, and Lu Feng. Already famous for starring in more than a dozen films, here they lend their extensive expertise to Chien Hsiao-hou, who went on to star in such classics as Mr. Vampire and Fist Of Legend. Black Lizard: Director Chor Yuen is famous for introducing elements of murder mysteries, detective tales, and emotional melodrama into kung fu films. This is one of those skilled thrillers, wherein he uses two editors and three martial arts choreographers to tell a tale of kidnapping, murder, frame-ups, and even being buried alive. The kung fu takes on a macabre, horrific flair in this stunning story of swordsmen and women struggling to save their true loves…and their sanity. House Of Traps: It started with The Five Venoms, the internationally loved kung fu thriller. It continues through more than a dozen bloody good films featuring the same actors in different roles. House Of Traps is considered the last official "Venoms" movie, but what a film it is. There's one plasma-spurting attack after another as heroes and rogues alike try to solve the secrets of a hell house. The core Venoms themselves choreograph the gory fun in this fond farewell to their worldwide film series sensation. Masked Avengers: The godfather of the kung fu film, Chang Cheh, started a winning streak by making the internationally renowned film, The Five Venoms. He followed that hit with many more high-flying films featuring the same cast in new roles. But of all the Venoms movies, this one stands out as perhaps the most chilling. Masked killers are wreaking havoc and instilling terror with their vicious weapons of choice: razor-sharp, gut-shattering tridents. Only three fearless fighters dare investigate, leading to mass murder and magnificent martial arts. The Sword Stained With Royal Blood: The godfather of the kung fu film, Chang Cheh, made this treasured and iconic adventure, featuring three of his five famous Venoms film actors. The spectacular action and intrigue starts when Phillip Kwok uncovers a sword, a training manual, a treasure map, and a secret message. The kung fu which ensues is as impressive as it is glorious. Five Element Ninjas: To showcase his incredibly agile new star, Cheng Tien-chi, venerated martial arts movie director Chang Cheh made this spectacular, internationally popular favorite. Evil ninjas (who attack with and from fire, sun, wood, water, and the ground) brutally slaughter a noble Chinese kung fu school's students. The one survivor finds a teacher and four students who are ninjutsu experts. The five graduates take revenge. With this strong structure and exceptional kung fu choreography (from the star and co-star Chu Ko), Chang Cheh created one of his very best films. Shaolin Prince: Tong Kai is one of the most respected names in martial arts movies, but may be less familiar because the veteran kung fu choreographer directed only three movies of his own. Of course, that makes Shaolin Prince, his first effort, perhaps the most special of the trio. His tale of two fugitive princes trying to recover the throne is a mind-bending wonder which used no less than five other choreographer friends to create kung fu configurations not only never seen before, but never even attempted! Shaolin Intruders: Helmed by acclaimed martial arts choreographer Tong Kai, Shaolin Intruders is an entertaining amalgamation of eye-popping martial arts and thrilling detective story. On a routine courier mission, the prestigious Chin Hu Chief is murdered by four mysterious monks. When all evidence points to Ching Hua (Liu Yu-po), his friend Lei Hsin (Derek Yee) is determined to clear his name by barging in the Shaolin Temple thrice and entering into an intricate web of deception! The film is filled with jaw-dropping sequences including the "Twelve Vajrayana Array" and "Stool Array" which are lauded for their insane complexity and lightning speed. Holy Flame Of The Martial World: This internationally popular tale of a brother and sister seeking vengeance for the death of their parents through the mythical yin/yang Holy Flame technique is an eye-popping epic. Phillip Kwok, famous as the star of Chang Cheh's internationally famous Venoms film series, both co-stars and choreographs this impressive tale—leading to a vaunted "action director" career with the cult classic Brotherhood Of The Wolf to his credit. Opium And The Kung-Fu Master: Tong Kai is considered one of the greatest kung fu choreographers ever, but he directed only three movies of his own. This, his last, is not only his greatest but one of the greatest ever, as it masterfully portrays the leader of the Ten Kwangtung Tigers as he falls victim to drug addiction. The tragedies and drama that ensue are as stunning as the kung fu, which was created by a superlative team of six martial artists. A legitimate masterpiece, this film is one of the finest, most affecting martial arts movies the Shaw Brothers ever produced. Bonus Content: Disc 1 - The Rebel Intruders: Audio: Mandarin Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation, English Dubbed DTS-HD Master Audio with SDH Subtitles Audio Commentary with Film Historian Brian Bankston Original Theatrical Trailer Disc 2 - Two Champions of Shaolin: Audio: Mandarin Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation, English Dubbed DTS-HD Master Audio with SDH Subtitles Audio Commentary with Film Historian Brian Bankston Original Theatrical Trailer Celestial Trailer Disc 3 - Legend of the Fox: Audio: Mandarin Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation Original Theatrical Trailer Celestial Trailer Disc 4 - Black Lizard (1981): Audio: Mandarin Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation, English Dubbed DTS-HD Master Audio with SDH Subtitles Audio Commentary with James Mudge, Veteran Hong Kong Film Critic at EasternKicks Original Theatrical Trailer Disc 5 - House of Traps: Audio: Mandarin Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation, English Dubbed DTS-HD Master Audio with SDH Subtitles Audio Commentary with David West, Critic and Author of Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Film A Confined Conversation: An Interview with Veteran Shaw Actor Chu Ke A New Generation of Gore: An Interview with Academic Leon Hunt, Author of Kung Fu Cult Masters Celestial Trailer Disc 6 - Masked Avengers: Audio: Mandarin Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation, English Dubbed DTS-HD Master Audio with SDH Subtitles Audio Commentary with Film Critic Ian Jane Avenging Force: An Interview with Veteran Shaw Actor Chu Ke Celestial Trailer Disc 7 - The Sword Stained with Royal Blood: Audio: Mandarin Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation Royal Attraction: An Interview with Veteran Shaw Actor Chu Ke Bloodstained Insight: An Interview with Actor Lung Tien-Hsiang Original Theatrical Trailer Celestial Trailer Disc 8 - Five Elements Ninjas: Audio: Mandarin Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation, English Dubbed DTS-HD Master Audio with SDH Subtitles Audio Commentary with James Mudge, Veteran Hong Kong Film Critic at EasternKicks Audio Commentary with Film Historian Brian Bankston In His Element: An Interview with Veteran Actor Chu Ke Enter The Ninjas: An Interview with David West, Critic and Author of Chasing Dragons: An Introduction to the Martial Arts Original Theatrical Trailer Celestial Trailer Disc 9 - Shaolin Prince: Cantonese Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation, English Dubbed DTS-HD Master Audio with SDH Subtitles Audio Commentary with Film Historian Brian Bankston The Shaw Years: An Interview with Actor/Director Derek Yee (Part 2) by Frédéric Ambroisine Celestial Trailer Disc 10 - Shaolin Intruders: Cantonese Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation, English Dubbed DTS-HD Master Audio with SDH Subtitles Audio Commentary with James Mudge, Veteran Hong Kong Film Critic at EasternKicks Original Theatrical Trailer Celestial Trailer Disc 11 - Holy Flame of the Martial World: Cantonese Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation, English Dubbed DTS-HD Master Audio with SDH Subtitles Audio Commentary with James Mudge, Veteran Hong Kong Film Critic at EasternKicks Fire and Slice: An Interview with Veteran Shaw Actor Chu Ke Original Theatrical Trailer Celestial Trailer Disc 12 - Opium and the Kung-Fu Master: Cantonese Mono DTS-HD Master Audio with New Subtitle Translation, English Dubbed DTS-HD Master Audio with SDH Subtitles Audio Commentary with Film Critic Ian Jane The Addiction of Empire: An Interview with Asian History Academic, Prof. Lars Laamann Celestial Trailer Top About this item Similar From the Brand Reviews Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Four [Blu-ray]

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Customers praise Legion Season 1 as an excellent series with fantastic acting and masterfully worked cinematography. The show is highly entertaining, and, for example, one customer notes it keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. Opinions are split about the story, with some finding it really cool while, specifically, one customer mentions it jumps around a lot in the narrative. Similarly, customers have mixed views about the show's strange and weird nature, and about its pacing.

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Customers praise Legion Season 1 as an excellent series with fantastic acting and masterfully worked cinematography. The show is highly entertaining, and, for example, one customer notes it keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. Opinions are split about the story, with some finding it really cool while, specifically, one customer mentions it jumps around a lot in the narrative. Similarly, customers have mixed views about the show's strange and weird nature, and about its pacing.

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A billionaire plays himself in an off-Broadway satire and falls for his co-star. Directed by George Cukor.

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Relive one of the greatest tales of adventure and exploration in history, as National Geographic brings to life the epic journey of Lewis, Clark, their guide Sacagawea and the brave Corps of Discovery across the land that would become the United States. Now, two hundred years after the launch of this ambitious expedition, experience first-hand the danger and breathtaking beauty of the unknown West as it unfolded before the eyes of Lewis & Clark.

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He always wanted to be special…but he never expected this! Like all teenagers, Scott Howard (Michael J. Fox, the Back to the Future trilogy) is going through some…changes. But unlike the rest of the students at Beacontown High School, Scott's changes include long hair that covers his entire body, claw-like fingernails, fangs, a heightened sense of smell, superhuman strength and the extraordinary ability to…play basketball? And that's just the beginning. Naturally, these uncanny new features turn this lovable loser into the most popular kid in school. But by embracing his newly minted popularity, has the Teen Wolf lost sight of what it truly means to be Scott Howard? Bonus Content: 2017 High-Definition Film Transfer Taken from the Interpositive Never. Say. Die. The Story of Teen Wolf - A Comprehensive Documentary about the Making and Legacy of the Film, Including Brand-new Interviews with the Cast and Crew (143 minutes) Original Theatrical Trailer Still Gallery

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LIFE OF PI - A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger. Life of Pi is a 2012 American adventure drama film based on Yann Martel's 2001 novel of the same name. Directed by Ang Lee, the film's adapted screenplay was written by David Magee, and it stars Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Gérard Depardieu, Tabu, and Adil Hussain. The storyline revolves around an Indian man named Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, living in Canada and telling a novelist about his life story and how at 16 he survives a shipwreck in which his family dies, and is stranded in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The film had it's worldwide premiere as the opening film of the 51st New York Film Festival at both the Walter Reade Theater and Alice Tully Hall in New York City on September 28, 2012. Life of Pi emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning over U.S. $609 million worldwide. It was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards which included the Best Picture - Drama and the Best Director and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. At the 85th Academy Awards it had eleven nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, and won three (the most for the event) including Best Director for Ang Lee. FEATURES: Format: 4K, NTSC Language: English (Dolby Surround) Region: Region A/1 Number of discs: 2 Rated: PG Parental Guidance Suggested Studio: 20th Century Fox Blu-ray Release Date: March 21, 2016 Life of Pi

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Director Ang Lee creates a groundbreaking movie event about a young man who survives a tragic disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While marooned on a lifeboat, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with the ship's only other survivor...a fearsome Bengal tiger.

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KLSC logo vert 300 sq Kino Lorber Studio Classics is dedicated to bringing you the best of Hollywood's successes, critical and commercial. All from best available sources, many on DVD or Blu-ray for the very first time. See More Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future) is at his best in Life with Mikey, a hilarious showbiz comedy. Fox stars as Mikey, a former child star having a little trouble with his new role as a kids' talent agent. He's desperate to find a way to keep his third-rate talent agency from going under, when he meets Angie (Christina Vidal), a young con artist.

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Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael are back to battle bigger, badder villains, alongside April O’Neil (Megan Fox), Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett), and a newcomer: the hockey-masked vigilante Casey Jones (Stephen Amell). After supervillain Shredder escapes custody, he joins forces with mad scientist Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) and two dimwitted henchmen, Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (WWE Superstar Stephen “Sheamus” Farrelly), to unleash a diabolical plan to take over the world. As the Turtles prepare to take on Shredder and his new crew, they find themselves facing an even greater evil with similar intentions: the notorious Krang.

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Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael are back to battle bigger, badder villains, alongside April O'Neil (Megan Fox), Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett), and a newcomer: the hockey-masked vigilante Casey Jones (Stephen Amell). After supervillain Shredder escapes custody, he joins forces with mad scientist Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) and two dimwitted henchmen, Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (WWE Superstar Stephen "Sheamus" Farrelly), to unleash a diabolical plan to take over the world. As the Turtles prepare to take on Shredder and his new crew, they find themselves facing an even greater evil with similar intentions: the notorious Krang.

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A struggling writer gains access to a drug that unlocks his full mental potential but comes with terrifying consequences.

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John McClane battles cyber-terrorists who launch a coordinated attack on America’s digital infrastructure.

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Sequel to WOLVERINE.

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Disc 1: Theatrical Feature 4K Ultra HDDisc 2: Logan Noir 4K Ultra HDDisc 3: Theatrical Feature Blu-rayAudio commentary by Director James MangoldDeleted scenes with optional audio commentary by James MangoldMaking LoganDisc 4: Logan Noir Blu-rayDigital HD

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Sequel to WOLVERINE.

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Disc 1: Theatrical Feature 4K Ultra HDDisc 2: Logan Noir 4K Ultra HDDisc 3: Theatrical Feature Blu-rayAudio commentary by Director James MangoldDeleted scenes with optional audio commentary by James MangoldMaking LoganDisc 4: Logan Noir Blu-rayDigital HD

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Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael are back to battle bigger, badder villains, alongside April O’Neil (Megan Fox), Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett), and a newcomer: the hockey-masked vigilante Casey Jones (Stephen Amell). After supervillain Shredder escapes custody, he joins forces with mad scientist Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) and two dimwitted henchmen, Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (WWE Superstar Stephen “Sheamus” Farrelly), to unleash a diabolical plan to take over the world. As the Turtles prepare to take on Shredder and his new crew, they find themselves facing an even greater evil with similar intentions: the notorious Krang.

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This is the blu-ray version of the Longest Day.

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When Conrad (Jason Bateman) is kicked out and cut off at the age of forty, he crashes with his only friend (Billy Crudup) and falls in love with his friend's girlfriend (Olivia Wilde).

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This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

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This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

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This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

Description

This set collects all 83 episodes of the classic sci-fi series following the Robinson family, Dr. Smith, and the Robot as they face strange worlds, hostile aliens, and endless cosmic mishaps.

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After crash-landing on an alien planet, the Robinson family fight against all odds to survive and escape, but they're surrounded by hidden dangers.

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After crash-landing on an alien planet, the Robinson family fight against all odds to survive and escape, but they're surrounded by hidden dangers.

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After crash-landing on an alien planet, the Robinson family fight against all odds to survive and escape, but they're surrounded by hidden dangers.

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Blu-ray edition. Follow Professor Challenger, played by the inimitable Wallace Beery, as he and a crew of curious explorers embark on an expedition in search of a mythical, prehistoric plateau in South America. Along for the adventure are eminent scientist Summerlee (Arthur Hoyt, the director's brother), sportsman Sir John Roxton (Lewis Stone), journalist Ed Malone (Lloyd Hughes) and Paula White (Bessie Love), whose father disappeared on the same plateau. The party is not there long before the "lost world" of the jungle begins to reveal it's secrets: a primitive ape-man, a Pterodactyl flying through the air, a massive Brontosaurus feeding upon the trees, the vicious Allosaurus, and many more monstrous beasts of the Jurassic age.

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Amazon.com Lost: Season One Along with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows in the fall of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan's Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night--and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites--with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there's a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There's a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there's a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack? Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the "oh, it didn't really happen" card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show's debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or "where I have I seen that face before" supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O'Quinn (who's made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there's really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. --David Horiuchi Lost: Season Two What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. Just try and keep that.---Ellen Kim Lost: Season Three When it aired in 2006-07, Lost's third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through--in particular that whopper of a finale--the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn't mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch's video monitor. One of the series' biggest curiosities from the past--how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place--also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, "The Man from Tallahassee," likely was a big contributor to Terry O'Quinn's surprising--but long-deserved--Emmy win that year.) Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn't have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there's Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She's also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there's the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons' key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans' ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, "Who the hell are you?"). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and--as mentioned before--the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series. The extras are as well-stocked as a Dharma Initiative food pantry on this seven-disc set. Commentaries by producer Damon Lindelof, show writers, and numerous cast members reveal a whole lot of juicy trivia; plus, the DVDs even provide a subtitle track for the commentary (rarely seen other than on foreign-language director's commentaries) so you won't miss a thing. "Lost Book Club" goes through the parallels between what characters are reading and the show's storylines (The Wizard of Oz and Stephen King are heavily referenced). "Lost: On Location" gives a lot of insight to some of the biggest episodes, and "Lost in a Day" gives a 24-hour glimpse at the drama's arduous production. If you're a Lost fan who gave up during this season, the bonus features alone might lure you back for the next round. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Four Season four of Lost was a fine return to form for the series, which polarized its audience the year before with its focus on The Others and not enough on our original crash victims. That season's finale introduced a new storytelling device--the flash-forward--that's employed to great effect this time around; by showing who actually got off the island (known as the Oceanic Six), the viewer is able to put to bed some longstanding loose ends. As the finale attests, we see that in the future Jack (Matthew Fox) is broken, bearded, and not sober, while Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is estranged from Jack and with another guy (the identity may surprise you). Four others do make it back to their homes, but as the flash-forwards show, it's definitely not the end of their connection to the island. Back in present day, however, the islanders are visited by the denizens of a so-called rescue ship, who have agendas of their own. While Jack works with the newcomers to try to get off the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), with a few followers of his own, forms an uneasy alliance with Ben (Michael Emerson) against the suspicious gang. Some episodes featuring the new characters feel like filler, but the evolution of such characters as Sun and Jin (Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim) is this season's strength; plus, the love story of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) provides some of the show's emotional highlights. As is the custom with Lost, bullets fly and characters die (while others may or may not have). Moreover, the fate of Michael (Harold Perrineau), last seen traitorously sailing off to civilization in season two, as well as the flash-forwards of the Oceanic Six, shows you never quite leave the island once you've left. There's a force that pulls them in, and it's a hook that keeps you watching. Season four was a shorter 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 due to the 2008 writers' strike; nonetheless, the set comes with two discs of extras. One of the best features is "LOST in 8:15," which is a rapid-fire summation of the series thus far in eight minutes, 15 seconds. Narrated by a hilariously droll female, it includes lines such as "Jack meets Kate. Kate stitches up Jack. They bond." and "They see Jack play football with Mr. Friendly. Mr. Friendly throws like a girl." The featurette "The Right to Bear Arms" takes a fun look at the prop masters responsible for supplying the castaways with guns--and keeping track of who has one and who doesn't (best here is Sawyer's (Josh Holloway) assertion that characters often cock their guns just to look cool). Cast members Lilly, Garcia, Yunjin Kim, and Daniel Dae Kim provide a few of the commentaries, and the set even comes with an amusing safety guide for Oceanic Airlines. (Example: "if you notice black smoke emanating from the plane, please alert the captain. It is either a problem with the engines or a mysterious creature.") Finally, for those who bought the standard-def DVD, take a closer look at the front cover after you've removed the O-sleeve; you'll notice the entire cast has been blacked out save for a few: the Oceanic Six. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Five Since Lost made its debut as a cult phenomenon in 2004, certain things seemed inconceivable. In its fourth year, some of those things, like a rescue, came to pass. The season ended with Locke (Terry O'Quinn) attempting to persuade the Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen--or so it appears--and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke's wish. As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, "We're doing time travel this year," and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies) play in the island's master plan, setting the stage for the prophecies of Daniel's mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), to play a bigger part in the sixth and final season. Dozens of other players flit in and out, some never to return. A few, such as Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), live again in the past. Lost could've wrapped things up in five years, as The Wire did, but the show continues to excite and surprise. As Lindelof and Cuse admit in the commentary, there's a "fine line between confusion and mystery," adding, "it makes more sense if you're drunk." Other extras include deleted scenes, featurettes, a "lost" episode of Mysteries of the Universe, and commentary from writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz on "He's Our You," a reference to Sayid, who tries to change the future by changing the past. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Description

Amazon.com Lost: Season One Along with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows in the fall of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan's Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night--and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites--with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there's a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There's a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there's a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack? Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the "oh, it didn't really happen" card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show's debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or "where I have I seen that face before" supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O'Quinn (who's made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there's really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. --David Horiuchi Lost: Season Two What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. Just try and keep that.---Ellen Kim Lost: Season Three When it aired in 2006-07, Lost's third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through--in particular that whopper of a finale--the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn't mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch's video monitor. One of the series' biggest curiosities from the past--how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place--also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, "The Man from Tallahassee," likely was a big contributor to Terry O'Quinn's surprising--but long-deserved--Emmy win that year.) Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn't have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there's Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She's also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there's the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons' key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans' ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, "Who the hell are you?"). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and--as mentioned before--the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series. The extras are as well-stocked as a Dharma Initiative food pantry on this seven-disc set. Commentaries by producer Damon Lindelof, show writers, and numerous cast members reveal a whole lot of juicy trivia; plus, the DVDs even provide a subtitle track for the commentary (rarely seen other than on foreign-language director's commentaries) so you won't miss a thing. "Lost Book Club" goes through the parallels between what characters are reading and the show's storylines (The Wizard of Oz and Stephen King are heavily referenced). "Lost: On Location" gives a lot of insight to some of the biggest episodes, and "Lost in a Day" gives a 24-hour glimpse at the drama's arduous production. If you're a Lost fan who gave up during this season, the bonus features alone might lure you back for the next round. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Four Season four of Lost was a fine return to form for the series, which polarized its audience the year before with its focus on The Others and not enough on our original crash victims. That season's finale introduced a new storytelling device--the flash-forward--that's employed to great effect this time around; by showing who actually got off the island (known as the Oceanic Six), the viewer is able to put to bed some longstanding loose ends. As the finale attests, we see that in the future Jack (Matthew Fox) is broken, bearded, and not sober, while Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is estranged from Jack and with another guy (the identity may surprise you). Four others do make it back to their homes, but as the flash-forwards show, it's definitely not the end of their connection to the island. Back in present day, however, the islanders are visited by the denizens of a so-called rescue ship, who have agendas of their own. While Jack works with the newcomers to try to get off the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), with a few followers of his own, forms an uneasy alliance with Ben (Michael Emerson) against the suspicious gang. Some episodes featuring the new characters feel like filler, but the evolution of such characters as Sun and Jin (Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim) is this season's strength; plus, the love story of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) provides some of the show's emotional highlights. As is the custom with Lost, bullets fly and characters die (while others may or may not have). Moreover, the fate of Michael (Harold Perrineau), last seen traitorously sailing off to civilization in season two, as well as the flash-forwards of the Oceanic Six, shows you never quite leave the island once you've left. There's a force that pulls them in, and it's a hook that keeps you watching. Season four was a shorter 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 due to the 2008 writers' strike; nonetheless, the set comes with two discs of extras. One of the best features is "LOST in 8:15," which is a rapid-fire summation of the series thus far in eight minutes, 15 seconds. Narrated by a hilariously droll female, it includes lines such as "Jack meets Kate. Kate stitches up Jack. They bond." and "They see Jack play football with Mr. Friendly. Mr. Friendly throws like a girl." The featurette "The Right to Bear Arms" takes a fun look at the prop masters responsible for supplying the castaways with guns--and keeping track of who has one and who doesn't (best here is Sawyer's (Josh Holloway) assertion that characters often cock their guns just to look cool). Cast members Lilly, Garcia, Yunjin Kim, and Daniel Dae Kim provide a few of the commentaries, and the set even comes with an amusing safety guide for Oceanic Airlines. (Example: "if you notice black smoke emanating from the plane, please alert the captain. It is either a problem with the engines or a mysterious creature.") Finally, for those who bought the standard-def DVD, take a closer look at the front cover after you've removed the O-sleeve; you'll notice the entire cast has been blacked out save for a few: the Oceanic Six. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Five Since Lost made its debut as a cult phenomenon in 2004, certain things seemed inconceivable. In its fourth year, some of those things, like a rescue, came to pass. The season ended with Locke (Terry O'Quinn) attempting to persuade the Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen--or so it appears--and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke's wish. As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, "We're doing time travel this year," and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies) play in the island's master plan, setting the stage for the prophecies of Daniel's mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), to play a bigger part in the sixth and final season. Dozens of other players flit in and out, some never to return. A few, such as Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), live again in the past. Lost could've wrapped things up in five years, as The Wire did, but the show continues to excite and surprise. As Lindelof and Cuse admit in the commentary, there's a "fine line between confusion and mystery," adding, "it makes more sense if you're drunk." Other extras include deleted scenes, featurettes, a "lost" episode of Mysteries of the Universe, and commentary from writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz on "He's Our You," a reference to Sayid, who tries to change the future by changing the past. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Description

After a plane crash on a mysterious island, the survivors battle danger, secrets and the unknown in the first season of Lost.

Description

Amazon.com Lost: Season One Along with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows in the fall of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan's Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night--and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites--with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there's a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There's a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there's a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack? Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the "oh, it didn't really happen" card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show's debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or "where I have I seen that face before" supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O'Quinn (who's made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there's really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. --David Horiuchi Lost: Season Two What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. Just try and keep that.---Ellen Kim Lost: Season Three When it aired in 2006-07, Lost's third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through--in particular that whopper of a finale--the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn't mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch's video monitor. One of the series' biggest curiosities from the past--how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place--also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, "The Man from Tallahassee," likely was a big contributor to Terry O'Quinn's surprising--but long-deserved--Emmy win that year.) Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn't have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there's Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She's also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there's the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons' key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans' ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, "Who the hell are you?"). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and--as mentioned before--the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series. The extras are as well-stocked as a Dharma Initiative food pantry on this seven-disc set. Commentaries by producer Damon Lindelof, show writers, and numerous cast members reveal a whole lot of juicy trivia; plus, the DVDs even provide a subtitle track for the commentary (rarely seen other than on foreign-language director's commentaries) so you won't miss a thing. "Lost Book Club" goes through the parallels between what characters are reading and the show's storylines (The Wizard of Oz and Stephen King are heavily referenced). "Lost: On Location" gives a lot of insight to some of the biggest episodes, and "Lost in a Day" gives a 24-hour glimpse at the drama's arduous production. If you're a Lost fan who gave up during this season, the bonus features alone might lure you back for the next round. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Four Season four of Lost was a fine return to form for the series, which polarized its audience the year before with its focus on The Others and not enough on our original crash victims. That season's finale introduced a new storytelling device--the flash-forward--that's employed to great effect this time around; by showing who actually got off the island (known as the Oceanic Six), the viewer is able to put to bed some longstanding loose ends. As the finale attests, we see that in the future Jack (Matthew Fox) is broken, bearded, and not sober, while Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is estranged from Jack and with another guy (the identity may surprise you). Four others do make it back to their homes, but as the flash-forwards show, it's definitely not the end of their connection to the island. Back in present day, however, the islanders are visited by the denizens of a so-called rescue ship, who have agendas of their own. While Jack works with the newcomers to try to get off the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), with a few followers of his own, forms an uneasy alliance with Ben (Michael Emerson) against the suspicious gang. Some episodes featuring the new characters feel like filler, but the evolution of such characters as Sun and Jin (Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim) is this season's strength; plus, the love story of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) provides some of the show's emotional highlights. As is the custom with Lost, bullets fly and characters die (while others may or may not have). Moreover, the fate of Michael (Harold Perrineau), last seen traitorously sailing off to civilization in season two, as well as the flash-forwards of the Oceanic Six, shows you never quite leave the island once you've left. There's a force that pulls them in, and it's a hook that keeps you watching. Season four was a shorter 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 due to the 2008 writers' strike; nonetheless, the set comes with two discs of extras. One of the best features is "LOST in 8:15," which is a rapid-fire summation of the series thus far in eight minutes, 15 seconds. Narrated by a hilariously droll female, it includes lines such as "Jack meets Kate. Kate stitches up Jack. They bond." and "They see Jack play football with Mr. Friendly. Mr. Friendly throws like a girl." The featurette "The Right to Bear Arms" takes a fun look at the prop masters responsible for supplying the castaways with guns--and keeping track of who has one and who doesn't (best here is Sawyer's (Josh Holloway) assertion that characters often cock their guns just to look cool). Cast members Lilly, Garcia, Yunjin Kim, and Daniel Dae Kim provide a few of the commentaries, and the set even comes with an amusing safety guide for Oceanic Airlines. (Example: "if you notice black smoke emanating from the plane, please alert the captain. It is either a problem with the engines or a mysterious creature.") Finally, for those who bought the standard-def DVD, take a closer look at the front cover after you've removed the O-sleeve; you'll notice the entire cast has been blacked out save for a few: the Oceanic Six. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Five Since Lost made its debut as a cult phenomenon in 2004, certain things seemed inconceivable. In its fourth year, some of those things, like a rescue, came to pass. The season ended with Locke (Terry O'Quinn) attempting to persuade the Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen--or so it appears--and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke's wish. As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, "We're doing time travel this year," and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies) play in the island's master plan, setting the stage for the prophecies of Daniel's mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), to play a bigger part in the sixth and final season. Dozens of other players flit in and out, some never to return. A few, such as Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), live again in the past. Lost could've wrapped things up in five years, as The Wire did, but the show continues to excite and surprise. As Lindelof and Cuse admit in the commentary, there's a "fine line between confusion and mystery," adding, "it makes more sense if you're drunk." Other extras include deleted scenes, featurettes, a "lost" episode of Mysteries of the Universe, and commentary from writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz on "He's Our You," a reference to Sayid, who tries to change the future by changing the past. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Description

Amazon.com Lost: Season One Along with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows in the fall of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan's Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night--and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites--with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there's a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There's a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there's a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack? Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the "oh, it didn't really happen" card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show's debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or "where I have I seen that face before" supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O'Quinn (who's made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there's really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. --David Horiuchi Lost: Season Two What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. Just try and keep that.---Ellen Kim Lost: Season Three When it aired in 2006-07, Lost's third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through--in particular that whopper of a finale--the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn't mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch's video monitor. One of the series' biggest curiosities from the past--how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place--also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, "The Man from Tallahassee," likely was a big contributor to Terry O'Quinn's surprising--but long-deserved--Emmy win that year.) Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn't have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there's Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She's also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there's the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons' key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans' ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, "Who the hell are you?"). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and--as mentioned before--the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series. The extras are as well-stocked as a Dharma Initiative food pantry on this seven-disc set. Commentaries by producer Damon Lindelof, show writers, and numerous cast members reveal a whole lot of juicy trivia; plus, the DVDs even provide a subtitle track for the commentary (rarely seen other than on foreign-language director's commentaries) so you won't miss a thing. "Lost Book Club" goes through the parallels between what characters are reading and the show's storylines (The Wizard of Oz and Stephen King are heavily referenced). "Lost: On Location" gives a lot of insight to some of the biggest episodes, and "Lost in a Day" gives a 24-hour glimpse at the drama's arduous production. If you're a Lost fan who gave up during this season, the bonus features alone might lure you back for the next round. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Four Season four of Lost was a fine return to form for the series, which polarized its audience the year before with its focus on The Others and not enough on our original crash victims. That season's finale introduced a new storytelling device--the flash-forward--that's employed to great effect this time around; by showing who actually got off the island (known as the Oceanic Six), the viewer is able to put to bed some longstanding loose ends. As the finale attests, we see that in the future Jack (Matthew Fox) is broken, bearded, and not sober, while Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is estranged from Jack and with another guy (the identity may surprise you). Four others do make it back to their homes, but as the flash-forwards show, it's definitely not the end of their connection to the island. Back in present day, however, the islanders are visited by the denizens of a so-called rescue ship, who have agendas of their own. While Jack works with the newcomers to try to get off the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), with a few followers of his own, forms an uneasy alliance with Ben (Michael Emerson) against the suspicious gang. Some episodes featuring the new characters feel like filler, but the evolution of such characters as Sun and Jin (Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim) is this season's strength; plus, the love story of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) provides some of the show's emotional highlights. As is the custom with Lost, bullets fly and characters die (while others may or may not have). Moreover, the fate of Michael (Harold Perrineau), last seen traitorously sailing off to civilization in season two, as well as the flash-forwards of the Oceanic Six, shows you never quite leave the island once you've left. There's a force that pulls them in, and it's a hook that keeps you watching. Season four was a shorter 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 due to the 2008 writers' strike; nonetheless, the set comes with two discs of extras. One of the best features is "LOST in 8:15," which is a rapid-fire summation of the series thus far in eight minutes, 15 seconds. Narrated by a hilariously droll female, it includes lines such as "Jack meets Kate. Kate stitches up Jack. They bond." and "They see Jack play football with Mr. Friendly. Mr. Friendly throws like a girl." The featurette "The Right to Bear Arms" takes a fun look at the prop masters responsible for supplying the castaways with guns--and keeping track of who has one and who doesn't (best here is Sawyer's (Josh Holloway) assertion that characters often cock their guns just to look cool). Cast members Lilly, Garcia, Yunjin Kim, and Daniel Dae Kim provide a few of the commentaries, and the set even comes with an amusing safety guide for Oceanic Airlines. (Example: "if you notice black smoke emanating from the plane, please alert the captain. It is either a problem with the engines or a mysterious creature.") Finally, for those who bought the standard-def DVD, take a closer look at the front cover after you've removed the O-sleeve; you'll notice the entire cast has been blacked out save for a few: the Oceanic Six. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Five Since Lost made its debut as a cult phenomenon in 2004, certain things seemed inconceivable. In its fourth year, some of those things, like a rescue, came to pass. The season ended with Locke (Terry O'Quinn) attempting to persuade the Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen--or so it appears--and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke's wish. As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, "We're doing time travel this year," and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies) play in the island's master plan, setting the stage for the prophecies of Daniel's mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), to play a bigger part in the sixth and final season. Dozens of other players flit in and out, some never to return. A few, such as Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), live again in the past. Lost could've wrapped things up in five years, as The Wire did, but the show continues to excite and surprise. As Lindelof and Cuse admit in the commentary, there's a "fine line between confusion and mystery," adding, "it makes more sense if you're drunk." Other extras include deleted scenes, featurettes, a "lost" episode of Mysteries of the Universe, and commentary from writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz on "He's Our You," a reference to Sayid, who tries to change the future by changing the past. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Description

The castaways discover the hatch and unravel deeper mysteries of the island in the show's second season.

Description

Amazon.com Lost: Season One Along with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows in the fall of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan's Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night--and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites--with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there's a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There's a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there's a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack? Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the "oh, it didn't really happen" card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show's debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or "where I have I seen that face before" supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O'Quinn (who's made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there's really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. --David Horiuchi Lost: Season Two What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. Just try and keep that.---Ellen Kim Lost: Season Three When it aired in 2006-07, Lost's third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through--in particular that whopper of a finale--the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn't mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch's video monitor. One of the series' biggest curiosities from the past--how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place--also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, "The Man from Tallahassee," likely was a big contributor to Terry O'Quinn's surprising--but long-deserved--Emmy win that year.) Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn't have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there's Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She's also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there's the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons' key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans' ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, "Who the hell are you?"). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and--as mentioned before--the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series. The extras are as well-stocked as a Dharma Initiative food pantry on this seven-disc set. Commentaries by producer Damon Lindelof, show writers, and numerous cast members reveal a whole lot of juicy trivia; plus, the DVDs even provide a subtitle track for the commentary (rarely seen other than on foreign-language director's commentaries) so you won't miss a thing. "Lost Book Club" goes through the parallels between what characters are reading and the show's storylines (The Wizard of Oz and Stephen King are heavily referenced). "Lost: On Location" gives a lot of insight to some of the biggest episodes, and "Lost in a Day" gives a 24-hour glimpse at the drama's arduous production. If you're a Lost fan who gave up during this season, the bonus features alone might lure you back for the next round. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Four Season four of Lost was a fine return to form for the series, which polarized its audience the year before with its focus on The Others and not enough on our original crash victims. That season's finale introduced a new storytelling device--the flash-forward--that's employed to great effect this time around; by showing who actually got off the island (known as the Oceanic Six), the viewer is able to put to bed some longstanding loose ends. As the finale attests, we see that in the future Jack (Matthew Fox) is broken, bearded, and not sober, while Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is estranged from Jack and with another guy (the identity may surprise you). Four others do make it back to their homes, but as the flash-forwards show, it's definitely not the end of their connection to the island. Back in present day, however, the islanders are visited by the denizens of a so-called rescue ship, who have agendas of their own. While Jack works with the newcomers to try to get off the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), with a few followers of his own, forms an uneasy alliance with Ben (Michael Emerson) against the suspicious gang. Some episodes featuring the new characters feel like filler, but the evolution of such characters as Sun and Jin (Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim) is this season's strength; plus, the love story of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) provides some of the show's emotional highlights. As is the custom with Lost, bullets fly and characters die (while others may or may not have). Moreover, the fate of Michael (Harold Perrineau), last seen traitorously sailing off to civilization in season two, as well as the flash-forwards of the Oceanic Six, shows you never quite leave the island once you've left. There's a force that pulls them in, and it's a hook that keeps you watching. Season four was a shorter 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 due to the 2008 writers' strike; nonetheless, the set comes with two discs of extras. One of the best features is "LOST in 8:15," which is a rapid-fire summation of the series thus far in eight minutes, 15 seconds. Narrated by a hilariously droll female, it includes lines such as "Jack meets Kate. Kate stitches up Jack. They bond." and "They see Jack play football with Mr. Friendly. Mr. Friendly throws like a girl." The featurette "The Right to Bear Arms" takes a fun look at the prop masters responsible for supplying the castaways with guns--and keeping track of who has one and who doesn't (best here is Sawyer's (Josh Holloway) assertion that characters often cock their guns just to look cool). Cast members Lilly, Garcia, Yunjin Kim, and Daniel Dae Kim provide a few of the commentaries, and the set even comes with an amusing safety guide for Oceanic Airlines. (Example: "if you notice black smoke emanating from the plane, please alert the captain. It is either a problem with the engines or a mysterious creature.") Finally, for those who bought the standard-def DVD, take a closer look at the front cover after you've removed the O-sleeve; you'll notice the entire cast has been blacked out save for a few: the Oceanic Six. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Five Since Lost made its debut as a cult phenomenon in 2004, certain things seemed inconceivable. In its fourth year, some of those things, like a rescue, came to pass. The season ended with Locke (Terry O'Quinn) attempting to persuade the Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen--or so it appears--and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke's wish. As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, "We're doing time travel this year," and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies) play in the island's master plan, setting the stage for the prophecies of Daniel's mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), to play a bigger part in the sixth and final season. Dozens of other players flit in and out, some never to return. A few, such as Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), live again in the past. Lost could've wrapped things up in five years, as The Wire did, but the show continues to excite and surprise. As Lindelof and Cuse admit in the commentary, there's a "fine line between confusion and mystery," adding, "it makes more sense if you're drunk." Other extras include deleted scenes, featurettes, a "lost" episode of Mysteries of the Universe, and commentary from writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz on "He's Our You," a reference to Sayid, who tries to change the future by changing the past. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Description

Amazon.com Lost: Season One Along with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows in the fall of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan's Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night--and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites--with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there's a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There's a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there's a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack? Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the "oh, it didn't really happen" card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show's debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or "where I have I seen that face before" supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O'Quinn (who's made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there's really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. --David Horiuchi Lost: Season Two What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. Just try and keep that.---Ellen Kim Lost: Season Three When it aired in 2006-07, Lost's third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through--in particular that whopper of a finale--the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn't mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch's video monitor. One of the series' biggest curiosities from the past--how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place--also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, "The Man from Tallahassee," likely was a big contributor to Terry O'Quinn's surprising--but long-deserved--Emmy win that year.) Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn't have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there's Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She's also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there's the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons' key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans' ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, "Who the hell are you?"). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and--as mentioned before--the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series. The extras are as well-stocked as a Dharma Initiative food pantry on this seven-disc set. Commentaries by producer Damon Lindelof, show writers, and numerous cast members reveal a whole lot of juicy trivia; plus, the DVDs even provide a subtitle track for the commentary (rarely seen other than on foreign-language director's commentaries) so you won't miss a thing. "Lost Book Club" goes through the parallels between what characters are reading and the show's storylines (The Wizard of Oz and Stephen King are heavily referenced). "Lost: On Location" gives a lot of insight to some of the biggest episodes, and "Lost in a Day" gives a 24-hour glimpse at the drama's arduous production. If you're a Lost fan who gave up during this season, the bonus features alone might lure you back for the next round. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Four Season four of Lost was a fine return to form for the series, which polarized its audience the year before with its focus on The Others and not enough on our original crash victims. That season's finale introduced a new storytelling device--the flash-forward--that's employed to great effect this time around; by showing who actually got off the island (known as the Oceanic Six), the viewer is able to put to bed some longstanding loose ends. As the finale attests, we see that in the future Jack (Matthew Fox) is broken, bearded, and not sober, while Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is estranged from Jack and with another guy (the identity may surprise you). Four others do make it back to their homes, but as the flash-forwards show, it's definitely not the end of their connection to the island. Back in present day, however, the islanders are visited by the denizens of a so-called rescue ship, who have agendas of their own. While Jack works with the newcomers to try to get off the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), with a few followers of his own, forms an uneasy alliance with Ben (Michael Emerson) against the suspicious gang. Some episodes featuring the new characters feel like filler, but the evolution of such characters as Sun and Jin (Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim) is this season's strength; plus, the love story of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) provides some of the show's emotional highlights. As is the custom with Lost, bullets fly and characters die (while others may or may not have). Moreover, the fate of Michael (Harold Perrineau), last seen traitorously sailing off to civilization in season two, as well as the flash-forwards of the Oceanic Six, shows you never quite leave the island once you've left. There's a force that pulls them in, and it's a hook that keeps you watching. Season four was a shorter 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 due to the 2008 writers' strike; nonetheless, the set comes with two discs of extras. One of the best features is "LOST in 8:15," which is a rapid-fire summation of the series thus far in eight minutes, 15 seconds. Narrated by a hilariously droll female, it includes lines such as "Jack meets Kate. Kate stitches up Jack. They bond." and "They see Jack play football with Mr. Friendly. Mr. Friendly throws like a girl." The featurette "The Right to Bear Arms" takes a fun look at the prop masters responsible for supplying the castaways with guns--and keeping track of who has one and who doesn't (best here is Sawyer's (Josh Holloway) assertion that characters often cock their guns just to look cool). Cast members Lilly, Garcia, Yunjin Kim, and Daniel Dae Kim provide a few of the commentaries, and the set even comes with an amusing safety guide for Oceanic Airlines. (Example: "if you notice black smoke emanating from the plane, please alert the captain. It is either a problem with the engines or a mysterious creature.") Finally, for those who bought the standard-def DVD, take a closer look at the front cover after you've removed the O-sleeve; you'll notice the entire cast has been blacked out save for a few: the Oceanic Six. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Five Since Lost made its debut as a cult phenomenon in 2004, certain things seemed inconceivable. In its fourth year, some of those things, like a rescue, came to pass. The season ended with Locke (Terry O'Quinn) attempting to persuade the Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen--or so it appears--and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke's wish. As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, "We're doing time travel this year," and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies) play in the island's master plan, setting the stage for the prophecies of Daniel's mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), to play a bigger part in the sixth and final season. Dozens of other players flit in and out, some never to return. A few, such as Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), live again in the past. Lost could've wrapped things up in five years, as The Wire did, but the show continues to excite and surprise. As Lindelof and Cuse admit in the commentary, there's a "fine line between confusion and mystery," adding, "it makes more sense if you're drunk." Other extras include deleted scenes, featurettes, a "lost" episode of Mysteries of the Universe, and commentary from writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz on "He's Our You," a reference to Sayid, who tries to change the future by changing the past. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Description

Amazon.com Lost: Season One Along with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows in the fall of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan's Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night--and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites--with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there's a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There's a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there's a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack? Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the "oh, it didn't really happen" card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show's debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or "where I have I seen that face before" supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O'Quinn (who's made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there's really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. --David Horiuchi Lost: Season Two What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. Just try and keep that.---Ellen Kim Lost: Season Three When it aired in 2006-07, Lost's third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through--in particular that whopper of a finale--the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn't mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch's video monitor. One of the series' biggest curiosities from the past--how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place--also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, "The Man from Tallahassee," likely was a big contributor to Terry O'Quinn's surprising--but long-deserved--Emmy win that year.) Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn't have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there's Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She's also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there's the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons' key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans' ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, "Who the hell are you?"). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and--as mentioned before--the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series. The extras are as well-stocked as a Dharma Initiative food pantry on this seven-disc set. Commentaries by producer Damon Lindelof, show writers, and numerous cast members reveal a whole lot of juicy trivia; plus, the DVDs even provide a subtitle track for the commentary (rarely seen other than on foreign-language director's commentaries) so you won't miss a thing. "Lost Book Club" goes through the parallels between what characters are reading and the show's storylines (The Wizard of Oz and Stephen King are heavily referenced). "Lost: On Location" gives a lot of insight to some of the biggest episodes, and "Lost in a Day" gives a 24-hour glimpse at the drama's arduous production. If you're a Lost fan who gave up during this season, the bonus features alone might lure you back for the next round. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Four Season four of Lost was a fine return to form for the series, which polarized its audience the year before with its focus on The Others and not enough on our original crash victims. That season's finale introduced a new storytelling device--the flash-forward--that's employed to great effect this time around; by showing who actually got off the island (known as the Oceanic Six), the viewer is able to put to bed some longstanding loose ends. As the finale attests, we see that in the future Jack (Matthew Fox) is broken, bearded, and not sober, while Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is estranged from Jack and with another guy (the identity may surprise you). Four others do make it back to their homes, but as the flash-forwards show, it's definitely not the end of their connection to the island. Back in present day, however, the islanders are visited by the denizens of a so-called rescue ship, who have agendas of their own. While Jack works with the newcomers to try to get off the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), with a few followers of his own, forms an uneasy alliance with Ben (Michael Emerson) against the suspicious gang. Some episodes featuring the new characters feel like filler, but the evolution of such characters as Sun and Jin (Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim) is this season's strength; plus, the love story of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) provides some of the show's emotional highlights. As is the custom with Lost, bullets fly and characters die (while others may or may not have). Moreover, the fate of Michael (Harold Perrineau), last seen traitorously sailing off to civilization in season two, as well as the flash-forwards of the Oceanic Six, shows you never quite leave the island once you've left. There's a force that pulls them in, and it's a hook that keeps you watching. Season four was a shorter 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 due to the 2008 writers' strike; nonetheless, the set comes with two discs of extras. One of the best features is "LOST in 8:15," which is a rapid-fire summation of the series thus far in eight minutes, 15 seconds. Narrated by a hilariously droll female, it includes lines such as "Jack meets Kate. Kate stitches up Jack. They bond." and "They see Jack play football with Mr. Friendly. Mr. Friendly throws like a girl." The featurette "The Right to Bear Arms" takes a fun look at the prop masters responsible for supplying the castaways with guns--and keeping track of who has one and who doesn't (best here is Sawyer's (Josh Holloway) assertion that characters often cock their guns just to look cool). Cast members Lilly, Garcia, Yunjin Kim, and Daniel Dae Kim provide a few of the commentaries, and the set even comes with an amusing safety guide for Oceanic Airlines. (Example: "if you notice black smoke emanating from the plane, please alert the captain. It is either a problem with the engines or a mysterious creature.") Finally, for those who bought the standard-def DVD, take a closer look at the front cover after you've removed the O-sleeve; you'll notice the entire cast has been blacked out save for a few: the Oceanic Six. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Five Since Lost made its debut as a cult phenomenon in 2004, certain things seemed inconceivable. In its fourth year, some of those things, like a rescue, came to pass. The season ended with Locke (Terry O'Quinn) attempting to persuade the Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen--or so it appears--and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke's wish. As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, "We're doing time travel this year," and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies) play in the island's master plan, setting the stage for the prophecies of Daniel's mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), to play a bigger part in the sixth and final season. Dozens of other players flit in and out, some never to return. A few, such as Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), live again in the past. Lost could've wrapped things up in five years, as The Wire did, but the show continues to excite and surprise. As Lindelof and Cuse admit in the commentary, there's a "fine line between confusion and mystery," adding, "it makes more sense if you're drunk." Other extras include deleted scenes, featurettes, a "lost" episode of Mysteries of the Universe, and commentary from writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz on "He's Our You," a reference to Sayid, who tries to change the future by changing the past. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Description

Amazon.com Lost: Season One Along with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows in the fall of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan's Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night--and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites--with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there's a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There's a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there's a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack? Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the "oh, it didn't really happen" card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show's debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or "where I have I seen that face before" supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O'Quinn (who's made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there's really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. --David Horiuchi Lost: Season Two What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. Just try and keep that.---Ellen Kim Lost: Season Three When it aired in 2006-07, Lost's third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through--in particular that whopper of a finale--the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn't mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch's video monitor. One of the series' biggest curiosities from the past--how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place--also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, "The Man from Tallahassee," likely was a big contributor to Terry O'Quinn's surprising--but long-deserved--Emmy win that year.) Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn't have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there's Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She's also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there's the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons' key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans' ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, "Who the hell are you?"). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and--as mentioned before--the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series. The extras are as well-stocked as a Dharma Initiative food pantry on this seven-disc set. Commentaries by producer Damon Lindelof, show writers, and numerous cast members reveal a whole lot of juicy trivia; plus, the DVDs even provide a subtitle track for the commentary (rarely seen other than on foreign-language director's commentaries) so you won't miss a thing. "Lost Book Club" goes through the parallels between what characters are reading and the show's storylines (The Wizard of Oz and Stephen King are heavily referenced). "Lost: On Location" gives a lot of insight to some of the biggest episodes, and "Lost in a Day" gives a 24-hour glimpse at the drama's arduous production. If you're a Lost fan who gave up during this season, the bonus features alone might lure you back for the next round. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Four Season four of Lost was a fine return to form for the series, which polarized its audience the year before with its focus on The Others and not enough on our original crash victims. That season's finale introduced a new storytelling device--the flash-forward--that's employed to great effect this time around; by showing who actually got off the island (known as the Oceanic Six), the viewer is able to put to bed some longstanding loose ends. As the finale attests, we see that in the future Jack (Matthew Fox) is broken, bearded, and not sober, while Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is estranged from Jack and with another guy (the identity may surprise you). Four others do make it back to their homes, but as the flash-forwards show, it's definitely not the end of their connection to the island. Back in present day, however, the islanders are visited by the denizens of a so-called rescue ship, who have agendas of their own. While Jack works with the newcomers to try to get off the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), with a few followers of his own, forms an uneasy alliance with Ben (Michael Emerson) against the suspicious gang. Some episodes featuring the new characters feel like filler, but the evolution of such characters as Sun and Jin (Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim) is this season's strength; plus, the love story of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) provides some of the show's emotional highlights. As is the custom with Lost, bullets fly and characters die (while others may or may not have). Moreover, the fate of Michael (Harold Perrineau), last seen traitorously sailing off to civilization in season two, as well as the flash-forwards of the Oceanic Six, shows you never quite leave the island once you've left. There's a force that pulls them in, and it's a hook that keeps you watching. Season four was a shorter 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 due to the 2008 writers' strike; nonetheless, the set comes with two discs of extras. One of the best features is "LOST in 8:15," which is a rapid-fire summation of the series thus far in eight minutes, 15 seconds. Narrated by a hilariously droll female, it includes lines such as "Jack meets Kate. Kate stitches up Jack. They bond." and "They see Jack play football with Mr. Friendly. Mr. Friendly throws like a girl." The featurette "The Right to Bear Arms" takes a fun look at the prop masters responsible for supplying the castaways with guns--and keeping track of who has one and who doesn't (best here is Sawyer's (Josh Holloway) assertion that characters often cock their guns just to look cool). Cast members Lilly, Garcia, Yunjin Kim, and Daniel Dae Kim provide a few of the commentaries, and the set even comes with an amusing safety guide for Oceanic Airlines. (Example: "if you notice black smoke emanating from the plane, please alert the captain. It is either a problem with the engines or a mysterious creature.") Finally, for those who bought the standard-def DVD, take a closer look at the front cover after you've removed the O-sleeve; you'll notice the entire cast has been blacked out save for a few: the Oceanic Six. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season Five Since Lost made its debut as a cult phenomenon in 2004, certain things seemed inconceivable. In its fourth year, some of those things, like a rescue, came to pass. The season ended with Locke (Terry O'Quinn) attempting to persuade the Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen--or so it appears--and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke's wish. As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, "We're doing time travel this year," and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies) play in the island's master plan, setting the stage for the prophecies of Daniel's mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), to play a bigger part in the sixth and final season. Dozens of other players flit in and out, some never to return. A few, such as Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), live again in the past. Lost could've wrapped things up in five years, as The Wire did, but the show continues to excite and surprise. As Lindelof and Cuse admit in the commentary, there's a "fine line between confusion and mystery," adding, "it makes more sense if you're drunk." Other extras include deleted scenes, featurettes, a "lost" episode of Mysteries of the Universe, and commentary from writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz on "He's Our You," a reference to Sayid, who tries to change the future by changing the past. --Kathleen C. Fennessy