LOST: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON DVD REVIEW

Feature by Brian Tallerico, Contributing Editor

Welcome to an important meeting of LFA - Lost Fans Anonymous. First, admit your addiction. Have you cancelled all of your Wednesday night plans for the next year? Have you stopped trusting French women? Have you been looking over your shoulder for the last year, wary of "the others?" Do you believe numbers can be cursed? If you answered yes to any of those questions, cancel your plans for a few days (like you haven't done that already) and get ready for the Lost Season One DVD, one of the most highly anticipated packages of the year, now arriving at gate 815, one of the best TV on DVD sets of all time. Please get to your gate two hours early to ensure yourself a copy.

First and foremost, if you're not familiar with the show, I'm curious about the color of the sky on your planet. However, Lost newcomers shouldn't be worried. The episodes themselves will draw you in immediately. Honestly, I can't imagine anyone Netflixing the first disc of the set, which concludes with "Walkabout," the brilliant Locke-centric episode, and not just buying the rest of the package. This was the best show of 2004-2005 and the episodes themselves will always be the heart of this set.

And what a beautiful beating heart it is. The video and audio transfers, in widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, are perfect. I've seen the "Pilot" opening sequence, one of the best in television history, several times but it never looked or sounded this amazing. If you have the right system, you'll feel like you're there, running with Jack, dodging flying plane parts.

After you've watched the episodes again - and you will, once you see how amazing they look and sound - you can venture to the Black Rock with over eight hours of extras. The bonus features tend to focus more on the first few episodes than the last, probably because they had time to record commentaries and shoot featurettes while the season was ending. Unfortunately, it looks like the set came out too quickly to do much on the final arc. This may be LFA blasphemy, but if delaying this package would have meant a commentary or two on the final disc, particularly for "Exodus," the season finale, it might have been worth the wait. But that's the only possible complaint about the copious Lost extras that have washed ashore in this box set.

First, reserve an afternoon for the commentaries. Watch the two-hour pilot with the fun, informative commentary by J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and Bryan Burk and, occasionally, one of them will say "stop the film" and the episode will transition to behind-the-scenes footage - a great associated feature. The show's creators will talk about and show you deleted scenes or how what you're watching was made and then "roll the film" back to the episode. It's such an interesting, cool feature that any good Lost fan should have stopped reading this paragraph and already ordered another copy, just in case their first one breaks or they drool on it too much. The other commentaries on "Walkabout," "The Moth," and "Hearts and Minds" are almost as fun, particularly Dominic Monaghan's hilarious banter on "The Moth" - he's naturally funny and comfortable behind the mic - but the "Pilot" commentary is easily the best.

Once you're done with episodes and commentary experiences, it's time to take off with the Lost special features. The most in-depth behind-the-scenes footage comes from "The Pilot" and the majority of it is housed in the first extras section, "Departure." Start with "The Genesis of Lost," a look at how the show was pitched (as "Cast Away - The Series") and how it developed - let's just say the hatch was there very early. Move on to "Designing a Disaster," a dissection of "The Pilot's" opening sequence, and "Before They Were Lost," a great look at the casting process. For example, Jorge Garcia (Hurley) and Monaghan both originally read for Sawyer (and, like all of the Lost actors, those audition tapes are included on the DVD), but the producers liked them so much they fashioned their characters around them. Building characters with the actors instead of just plugging them into predetermined roles? Other TV producers should take notes.

The "Departure" leg of the special feature journey ends with "Welcome to Oahu," another look at the creation of the pilot, "The Art of Matthew Fox," a great series of photographs that the star took on set in Hawaii, and "Lost@Comic-Con," a brief look at how the buzz for the show was deafening before it even hit the air.

After takeoff, you can now crash headfirst into "Tales From the Island," the section with behind-the-scenes stuff beyond the pilot. "Lost: On Location" provides brief glimpses to the other side of the camera for eight episodes. "On Set with Jimmy Kimmel" and "Backstage with Driveshaft" are two brief, mildly diverting clips, the closest thing to unnecessary filler material in the entire set.

"Lost Revealed" gathers what most people are coming to this island for - deleted scenes, unaired flashbacks, and bloopers. Now, "revealed" may be a strong word for six correctly deleted scenes and two flashbacks (with Claire and Sayid) that didn't make the finale, but for good LFA members, any extra Lost is good Lost. Finally, check out a glimpse at a Lost Q&A; event in "Live from the Museum of Television & Radio." It's odd that we're only given ten minutes of the program, when fans would obviously love the unabridged version, but after eight hours of DVD extras, it's hard to ask for more.

To close our Lost Fans Anonymous meeting, embrace your love of Lost. Dress up like your favorite character. Rename your dog Locke. Feel the love for your number one show with an almost perfect DVD set. Everyone else, get lost.

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