Lost (TV Series) (Blu-ray)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

This Blu-ray comes with "Season Play," a feature that requires you to create a name/account and then when you pop the disc it automatically starts where you left off. Now, in theory it's a good idea, but ABC-TV and Disney really need to augment the feature with a good old-fashioned list of episodes SOMEWHERE on the set. As it is, there's no guide included anywhere. Season Play didn't work for me because I couldn't remember what disc I watched last. It would have helped jog my memory to have the episode list printed somewhere.

Twenty-four episodes are included on seven single-sided discs, with additional bonus features on the seventh one:

Pilot, Pts. 1 & 2
Tabula Rasa
Walkabout
White Rabbit
House of the Rising Sun
The Moth
Confidence Man
Solitary
Raised by Another
All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues
Whatever the Case May Be
Hearts and Minds
Special
Homecoming
Outlaws
. . . In Translation
Numbers
Deus ex Machina
Do No Harm
The Greater Good
Born to Run
Exodus, Pts. 1 & 2

There isn't a weak episode among them, and the information reveals are nicely strung out to create maximum tension and interest. Season One has frequent flashbacks to backstories for each character, and while I've heard some people complain that the back-and-forth is a little momentum-breaking, I found that it adds depth and gives the writers more room for invention.

Video:
"Lost" is amazing in 1080p. The AVC/MPEG-4 transfer is a good one, with bold and luxurious colors, and detail that's astoundingly sharp and pristine without appearing overprocessed. Some of the lighter background scenes aren´t as flawless as the other season I reviewed on Blu-ray, but it´s still an impressive looking release with a real sense of 3-dimensionality. "Lost" is presented in 1.78:1 aspect ratio.

Audio:
I love PCM, and this English PCM uncompressed 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit) soundtrack rocks! Like the picture, the sound is so pure that you can't imagine it streaming any clearer or more precise than it is here. Additional soundtrack options are English and French Dolby Digital 5.1, and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0. Subtitles are in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

Extras:
Fans who already own "Lost" Season One on DVD have two enticements to upgrade to Blu-ray. First, all of the bonus features from the DVD are included here, so there´s nothing lost (ahem). And second, you can save $20 by mail when you upgrade to Blu-ray between now and next June.

Five commentary tracks are included. "Pilot" Pts. 1 & 2 feature producers J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and Bryan Burk. "Walkabout" has a track by executive producer Jack Bender, co-executive producer David Fury, and actor Terry O'Quinn. "The Moth" features Lindelof, Burk, and actor Dominic Monaghan. And "Hearts and Minds" offers executive producer Carlton Cuse, supervising producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach, and actors Maggie Grace and Ian Somerhalder.

As in the DVD, the features are divided up into sections. The first, The Departure, includes six short ones: "Welcome to Oahu: The Making of the Pilot" (33 min.) takes you behind the scenes to show how the series got off the ground. "The Genesis of LOST" (9 min.) has the creators reminiscing about how they came up with the blueprint for the show. "Before They Were Lost" (23 min.) is a fascinating collection of audition tapes and personal stories from the cast. "Designing a Disaster" (8 min.) gives insight into the production design, especially as it relates to the crash scene and beach camp. "The Art of Matthew Fox" (6 min.) shows the photo scrapbook the actor gave fellow cast members. And "Lost at Comicon" offers the briefest glimpse (2 min.) of the cast at the Con.

In a second series of bonus features, Lost on Location, we get shorter snippets that total just over 40 minutes. "The Trouble with Boars" zeroes in on the show's use of actual wild boars used on the set. Other short features are on specific episodes: "House of the Rising Sun," "Confidence Man," "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues," "Whatever the Case May Be," "Hearts and Minds," "Special," and Exodus."

The third series runs close to an hour, but it's more of a potpourri. You get things like bloopers, a comic bit "On Set with Jimmy Kimmel," previously unseen flashback scenes that were cut from the last episode plus another 15 minutes of deleted scenes, a clip of the cast at the Museum of Television & Radio, and bits on the show's mythology and flashback structure.

All in all, it's a very nice bundle of bonus features that should satisfy even the most hungry fans.

Bottom Line:
Blu-ray ought to make everyone a "Lost" fan. The hit TV series is even more compelling in HD.

---

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---