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Criminal Minds : The Complete First Season (2005) artwork

Criminal Minds : The Complete First Season (2005)

10th March 2007

An elite group of profilers analyse the nation's most dangerous criminal minds in an effort to anticipate their next moves before they strike again.
Mandy Patinkin, Thomas Gibson, Shemar Moore, Matthew Gray Gubler, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Lola Glaudini
Crime, Suspense/Thriller, Drama, Television
2
15 Hours 12 Minutes
March 10 2024 19:04:14
239
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The series follows an elite squad of psychological profilers from the FBI's renowned Behavioural Analysis Unit (BAU). Jason Gideon leads the BAU crack-team as they meticulously piece together portraits of the U.S.'s most brutal killers, calculating their next moves to prevent them from striking again. From tracking a serial rapist using a member of the team as bait, to hunting down a killer who takes his entire family hostage, each member of the team has their own area of expertise. As skilled as they are determined, the team will do anything they can to crack the criminals they're in hot pursuit of.

Special Agent Jason Gideon is the BAU's best profiler. He is still recovering from a breakdown after he sent six men into a warehouse with a bomb in it. When all six agents were killed, he was heavily criticised about the event and he's often troubled by bomb plots and explosions. Special Agent Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner was formerly assigned to the FBI Field Office in Washington. He is currently the head of the BAU team. Hotch helped Reid with his firearms qualification and was formerly a lawyer before joining law enforcement.

Senior Special Agent Derek Morgan is a confident and assertive character. Derek is, and thinks, himself as Gideon's right hand man. He is typically one of the first agents to enter a suspect's house, even going in with the SWAT team. He is also an expert in obsession crimes.

Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid is a genius who graduated from high school at age 12 and grew up learning nearly everything he knows from books. Serving as the team's statistics expert, he has an uncanny ability for spotting complex patterns, has an I.Q. of 187 and can read 20,000 words per minute. Special Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jareau often acts as the team's liaison with the media and local police agencies. She is a fully qualified federal agent, but has stated that she does not want to become a profiler. Audio/Visual Technician Penelope Garcia is the team's Audio/Visual Technician at BAU Headquarters. She is into online games, specifically MMORPGs and is extremely protective of her computers and the FBI database.

With fairly tight budgets to work to you tend to expect television series to be functional rather than too adventurous in the picture department. However, with the continual success of the CSI series, Criminal Minds continues to produce a level of picture quality that is far better than any other television series currently shown on our screens. The bulk of the show is filmed in dark and gloomy locations, but it still manages to produce an image that is rich and vibrant with colours, contains a high levels of detail, some solid black levels, an above average bit-rate and very few problems with grain. Overall, it's on par with your average big budget Hollywood production and most likely the product of the American HD digital television revolution. All I can say is, long may it continue!

Whilst the picture quality stands out in the crowd, the addition of a 384 Kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 stereo soundtrack is very disappointing. Sure, any television series with a 5.1 soundtrack should be welcomed with open arms, but if you don't use the technology to it full potential you end up wondering why they bothered with such a plain and very uninspiring mix. As to be expected, the centre channel is the focal point for all of the dialogue and most of the main sound effects, but it's all far too front heavy and there are hardy any ambient effects in the rear surround channels with it only being utilised by the musical score. It's really is an oversight and real missed opportunity to crank up the suspense.

The twenty-two episodes of series one are spread over an impressive six disc set which is housed in a three slipcases and presented in well designed and compact boxset with each disc containing a scored and animated menu in a similar design to the opening credits. Whilst there are adverts for other series, including Alias season five, Lost season two, Desperate Housewives season two, Grey's Anatomy season two and Commander In Chief season one, they only appear on the first disc - plus they can be skipped. The special features, including a number of Deleted Scenes and two Featurettes (although the region one edition has a third) are on the sixth disc and, although not clearly listed as such, there are also three episode-length Audio Commentaries from various members of the production crew dotted across the set.

The commentary tracks are for the pilot episode Extreme Aggressor, with executive producer Mark Gordon, co-executive producer Deb Spera and writer/creator Jeff Davis, the Derailed episode with executive producer Ed Bernero, director Glenn Kershaw, director Felix Alcala, assistant director Ian Woolf and visual effects supervisor Henrick Fett, the Riding the Lightning episode with Ed Bernero, writer Simon Mirren, head of makeup Dayne Johnson, production designer Vincent Jefferds and director Chris Long. The commentaries certainly provide a good range of participants, and although a little indistinct at times, they all cover a wide range production topics. Whilst the commentary for the pilot episode is a little too jovial, with an almost disbelieving "wow, we're actually here doing this" feel to it, the second two offer a much deeper and more informative look at the programme.

In the twenty-five minute Making of Criminal Minds featurette, the executive producers, series writers and cast members talk about the remarkable success of the show. Together with plenty of clips from the series, a look at the characters and the actors who play them plus some behind-the-scenes footage of location scouting, the sets and filming, it's an extremely interesting look at the show. Next up, the fourteen-minute Meeting Matthew Gray Gubler featurette looks at the joker of the series. Although there's plenty of behind-the-scenes footage of him in action, and comments from various production crew members, it's more about him and his wacky life. If you thought his character was a little odd, then you really should watch this featurette!

Finally, the five Deleted Scenes are selectable from an episode list - although they can't be played all in one go Unfortunately, in something that appears to be becoming a bit of a norm these days, no reasons are given for the cuts. As a result, it's make your own mind up time as it's unclear exactly why they were removed - although you can only assume they were cut for timing purposes. It's just a pity that an audio commentary, or even textual introduction, wasn't provided to help matters.

CSI : Las Vegas broke the criminal drama mould with its highly addictive and clever formula. This even included branching out with other spin off series set in Miami and New York (there's plenty of other cities to go at yet - anyone for Washington?). And with this, just about every other television studio and executive decided to jump on the bandwagon and create their own rival. First off, there's Twentieth Century Fox's crime drama Bones and then other CBS crime themed series NCIS and - a series I've never heard of - Numb3rs.

But with the CSI money flooding into to the studio, CBS haven't become complacent as Criminal Minds offers yet another slant on that very successful crime formula. But be certain of one thing, this is no CSI - it's something far, far better (and I thought I'd never hear myself say that about CSI too). A psychological thriller with a difference, Criminal Minds has yet again proven itself to be a huge hit with critics and fans alike. And as one of the top 10 most-watched TV shows in the US, where series two is drawing in over 16 million viewers, Criminal Minds has the ratings that other shows would kill for.

Unlike the other series out there, there's something ever so special about Criminal Minds, and something akin to a football scout finding the next Pele. To me, Criminal Minds comes in and replaces the likes of The X-Files and Millennium before they veered off in to some strange land. The cinematography is on par with CSI - with some clever camera movements from crime scene pictures to the actual locations - whilst the graphic storylines hark back to those gritty plots that had Mulder and Scully playing mind games with the latest sadistic murderer. Dubbed as "the thinking-man's crime show", it doesn't rely on action for its kicks. It's just as gripping for its in-depth analysis of the most deviant minds and the psychological insights of the experts whose mission it is to catch them.

Whilst you're bound to get a few slow and uninspiring episodes, on the whole Criminal Minds is one heck of a series, and if it hadn't been for a PR company offering it to me for review I'd still be none the wiser. It truly is a much underrated series that deserves a chance and a serious look in - plus being shown on a better UK terrestrial channel than Channel 5. So, make sure you enjoy this series before it's sliced and diced from the schedules and buried in a shallow grave in a dense wood. Superb entertainment and highly recommended.

  • The Making of Criminal Minds
  • Meet Matthew Gray Gubler
  • Deleted Scenes
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