Hawaii Five-O Season 7 [DVD]

The front cover artwork is the same as the first version of the Region 1 front cover artwork. The Region 1 front cover artwork (posted on a Region 1 TV on DVD news website) originally had Al Harrington on the banner at the bottom of the front cover with James MacArthur and Kam Fong. However this was changed to the revised artwork which was posted on the same Region 1 TV on DVD news website, with Al Harrington being replaced by Herman Wedemayer (who didn't join the main cast until Season 9). Personally this is my favourite front cover artwork for any Hawaii Five-O boxset so far with the night time scene.

The seventh season of Hawaii Five-O started a new era in the show. After Leonard Freeman passed away during the original airing of the sixth season Jack Lord took on the role of showrunner unofficially (he wasn't credited onscreen, which is why at the end of most or all episodes of the series from now on, instead of the screen freeze with the executive producer credit appearing onscreen the screen freezes (with no executive producer credit appearing onscreen) then flashes to black, followed by the usual end credits (the boat rowers on the ocean). With a couple or three seasons between Seasons 7 and 12 other people had the executive producer credit.

Al Harrington left the show around halfway through the season (although he does reappear again in the seventh season finale "6,000 Deadly Tickets"). He wasn't replaced in the main cast until the ninth season when the actor who played Duke (Herman Wedemayer) joined the main cast. A new member of the Five-O team was introduced halfway through the season, Detective Frank Kemana (played by Douglas Mossman). Although he was gone by the end of the seventh season. If I remember correctly there were only three main cast members in Hawaii Five-O during season eight.

Wo Fat was back this season, in the episode "Presenting...In the Center Ring...Murder".

My favourite episode this season was probably "Welcome to Our Branch Office". It was kind of a cross between Mission: Impossible (the original series) and Hawaii Five-O.

Going from the first to sixth seasons of Hawaii Five-O, if you don't count "Cocoon" (the feature length pilot movie) as a Season 1 episode, and count the unaired in syndication episode "Bored, She Hung Herself", the five two-parters and one three parter from Season 5 as separate episodes, then the 150th episode of Hawaii Five-O was the 6th episode in this season, "Right Grave, Wrong Body".

There were 24 episodes in the seventh season (and there will be Jack Lord episodic promos for all 24 episodes in this boxset (source: the BBFC website), and should be on the six discs in this boxset like this (like in the Region 1 DVD boxset of the seventh season):

Disc 1 -

1. The Young Assassins (Season Premiere)
2. A Hawaiian Nightmare
3. I'll Kill 'Em Again
4. Steal Now -- Pay Later

Disc 2 -
5. Bomb, Bomb, Who's Got the Bomb?
6. Right Grave, Wrong Body
7. We Hang Our Own
8. The Two-Faced Corpse

Disc 3 -

9. How to Steal a Masterpiece
10. A Gun for McGarrett
11. Welcome to Our Branch Office
12. Presenting ... In the Center Ring ... Murder

DISC 4 -

13. Hara-Kiri: Murder
14. Bones of Contention
15. Computer Killer
16. A Woman's Work Is with a Gun

Disc 5 -

17. Small Witness, Large Crime
18. Ring of Life
19. A Study in Rage
20. And the Horse Jumped over the Moon

Disc 6 -

21. Hit Gun for Sale
22. The Hostage
23. Diary of a Gun
24. 6,000 Deadly Tickets (Season Finale).

For the first five seasons of its lifespan, Hawaii Five-0 continually improved year upon year. With Season 6 the show consolidated its position and neither really improved or significantly declined from what had gone before. With season 7, in the main, that consolidation continued - although having said that, I do believe that in certain episodes, the seeds of the show's eventual demise can be seen here.
Don't get me wrong, this is a decent offering and there are some stand out episodes such as: `The Young Assassins'; `Steal Now - Pay Later'; `How To Steal a Masterpiece' and `Bones of Contention'. However, the Je ne sais quoi of earlier seasons, or `zing' to you and I, seems to be waning.
As for the DVD release itself - a little strange - well, certainly in terms of packaging. Originally the artwork for the cover of the boxset rightly displayed an insert of Al Harrington as `Ben'. Now, for some inexplicable reason, Harrington is removed from the cover to be replaced by a still of Herman Wedemeyer as Officer Duke Lukela!! Question is, why?! Harrington was credited in the titles of 11 of the 24 season 7 episodes - Herman Wedemeyer wasn't afforded an opening credit mention until season 9! If anything, were Harrington to suffer the indignity of being shelved from the cover, then surely it should have been to make way for Doug Mossman who played `Frank Kamana' in 13 episodes in this season. Ok, rant over, but worth mentioning nevertheless!
Just a word on the remastering, episodes such as `The Young Assassins' has, I'm happy to say, excellent picture quality with vibrant colours throughout. Other episodes such as `How To Steal a Masterpiece' aren't quite as vibrant colour wise and actually appear dull in certain frames. In addition, after skimming through other episodes, I'm sad to say that there is a rather obvious music edit. The episode, `Welcome To Our Branch Office' is introduced with the arrangement of the five-0 theme from seasons 5 & 6! This is a similar gaff as that afforded to the episode `Kiss the Queen Goodbye' from Season 2 - on that occasion the correct opening theme was also replaced with the arrangement used in the previous season.
Minor gripes aside, another decent addition to the five-0 collection. That said, for me, this season isn't as good as any of the previous four series' - hence the four stars as opposed to five.

I'm french and the diffusion is over since season 5.
So i watch my favorite tv show with a dictionary... but what a pleasure !
Long life to "hawai five 0" !!!