NOTE: I am not making any money off any purchases you make for things on this page - MQ
ALSO AVAILABLE: BOX SET WITH SEASONS 1-12 (72 DISCS!!)
(More details on the individual seasons on DVD are below.)
Note: Advertised Blu-Rays from Season 3 on are probably from Europe and other countries
and may not play on most North American players.
The original Hawaii Five-O CD has been reissued by Film Score Monthly.
Purchase the CD from
Screen Archives Entertainment.
THE FOLLOWING RELATES TO THE DVD RELEASES OF CLASSIC FIVE-O (1968-1980)
SEASON ONE (released March 6, 2007)
This is a 7 disc set with all 24 episodes, plus "Cocoon," the pilot movie. There are English and Spanish audio tracks, with Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles.
The set includes the documentary "Emme Tomimbang's Island Moments: Memories of Hawaii Five-O," a 45-minute-long show that aired in October 1996 on KHNL, NBC affiliate in Honolulu, at the time of the first Hawaii Five-O convention. In this show, James MacArthur is the co-host with Honolulu TV personality Emme Tomimbang as they reminisce with various cast and crew. Persons featured include Rose Freeman, Marie Lord (Jack Lord's wife), Zulu (Gilbert Kauhi), Glenn Cannon, Kam Fong, Harry Endo, Jimmy Borges and others. This show has been edited to remove any film clips from episodes later than the first season.
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.
SEASON TWO (released July 31, 2007) This is a 6 disc set containing 24 episodes. There are English and Spanish audio tracks, with Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles.
The set does not include the suppressed episode "Bored She Hung Herself" as per a disclaimer on the back of the box, which also says that some episodes are edited. These omissions were only revealed in the last two weeks prior to July 31st when people began to receive review copies of the set; prior to this, web sites suggested that the season was "complete" and would include the suppressed episode, based on information supplied by Paramount.
I have updated my usual "anal-ysis" for "Bored She Hung Herself" with a new and lengthy synopsis of the complete plot of the episode, as well as the beginning and end credits and reminiscences by Joel Berliner, who participated in the production. To see this, click on this link.
In this box set, the main titles are actually the main titles from season one -- Paramount/CBS seemingly never bothered to remaster these. The only difference in the actual second season titles is the line "as Dan Williams" instead of "as Danny" for James MacArthur's credit. If this is the case, then all the second season DVD episodes are "edited." I've also been told that the main titles for the last season two episode -- "Kiss the Queen Goodbye" -- uses the theme music from season one.
On the positive side, the set does include the episodic promos for the next episode which are placed on the DVDs prior to the episodes they refer to (with two exceptions -- there are no previews for the episode "To Hell With Babe Ruth" and the two-part "Three Dead Cows at Makapuu"). These previews look remarkably cleaned up, similar to the shows themselves.
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.
SEASON THREE (released January 22, 2008) This is a 6 disc set containing 24 episodes. There are English and Spanish audio tracks, with Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles. The only bonus feature is episode promos.
The main title card for James MacArthur still identifies him as "Danny," rather than "Dan Williams" at the beginning.
In "Trouble in Mind," there is a fragment of a song removed -- Honeysuckle Rose is not included, presumably because of music rights. From the time McGarrett leaves his office at the beginning of the show to when Wilson says "Maybe it's me..." is cut out (approximately 24 seconds). Click here to see the missing material.
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.
SEASON FOUR (released June 10, 2008) This is a 6 disc set containing 24 episodes. There are English and Spanish audio tracks, with Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles. The only bonus feature is episode promos.
As in previous sets, the color for the episodes is excellent. A couple of minor annoyances with this set. First, Paramount persists in using the title card for James MacArthur identifying him as "Danny." And second, the two-part show The 90-Second War is spread across two discs, presumably because to keep the order of the shows.
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.
SEASON FIVE (released November 18, 2008) This is a 6 disc set containing 24 episodes. There are English and Spanish audio tracks, with Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles. The only bonus feature is episode promos.
Originally, there was an error in the Fifth Season box set artwork -- Kono was included in the pictures, but Zulu, the actor playing him, was fired at the end of the fourth season. After complaints from fans, this was fixed.
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.
SEASON SIX (released April 21, 2009) This is a 6 disc set containing 24 episodes. There are English and Spanish audio tracks, with English and Spanish subtitles. The only bonus feature is episode promos.
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.
SEASON SEVEN (released October 20, 2009) This is a 6 disc set containing 24 episodes. There are English and Spanish audio tracks, with English, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles. The only bonus feature is episode promos.
The cover for this season originally included Al Harrington as Ben, who starred in 10 of the episodes. Someone contacted the web site http://tvshowsondvd.com/ prior to the release of the DVDs, suggesting that Harrington was fired and did not appear in this season at all. (Harrington did leave the show during the season, but appeared in the last show, which was filmed midway through.) This e-mail was forwarded to CBS/Paramount, who erroneously removed Harrington from the cover and replaced him with Herman ("Duke") Wedemeyer. Wedemeyer appeared in only 10 episodes, the same number as Harrington, and was not a member of the Five-O team, but a Honolulu Police Department cop. On the other hand, Doug Mossman appeared in 13 episodes as Frank Kemana, working for Five-O. An "anal-ysis" of these appearances appears here. Harrington still appears in a small photo on the back cover of the box and 3 of the episode menu pictures.
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.
SEASON EIGHT (released March 16, 2010) This is a 6 disc set containing 24 episodes. There is an English audio track, with English subtitles. The only bonus feature is episode promos.
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.
SEASON NINE (released August 3, 2010) This is a 6 disc set containing 23 episodes, including Nine Dragons, equivalent to a 2-part episode. There is an English audio track, with English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. The only bonus feature is episode promos.
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.
SEASON TEN (released December 14, 2010) This is a 6 disc set containing 24 episodes. There is an English audio track, with English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. There are no episode promos. This may be because as of season nine, material in the episode promos and the teaser for the show (the stuff before the main titles) was the same, aside from Jack Lord's narration in the promos. This resulted in confusion with some viewers.
There have been numerous complaints about the quality of this DVD set in comparison to the previous nine seasons. Despite what is says on the back of the box for the set, CBS/Paramount seemingly didn't bother to remaster the shows, so the video (and sometimes audio) quality is mediocre. The versions of the show available on some streaming services are reportedly much better quality. In a subsequent issue of a complete set of all 12 seasons, CBS finally remastered the tenth season shows.
There are minor edits in two episodes, The Friends of Joey Kalima and The Big Aloha, presumably to do with music rights.
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.
SEASON ELEVEN (released September 20, 2011) This is a 6 disc set containing 24 episodes. There is an English audio track, with English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. There are no episode promos.
The video quality of this set is much better than that for season 10, after CBS/Paramount listened to viewer complaints. However, there are some changes in the music in two episodes, Number One With A Bullet, Part 2 (a couple of brief musical excerpts in part two have been replaced with generic music) and The Execution File, again to do with music rights.
The front cover inexplicably displays Al Eben as Doc Bergman, who hardly appeared during the season. He was only in two shows, on uncredited, and in another as "Coroner."
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.
SEASON TWELVE (released January 10, 2012) This is a 5 disc set containing 19 episodes. There is an English audio track, with English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. There are no episode promos.
There are two "bonus features," a short, very faded promo for the show which is only 30 seconds long, and a specially-created-for-this-release promotional video entitled "Crime Wave" which incorporates clips from the show over a hip-hop music score.
If you want to see how good the quality of these DVDs is, compared to TV broadcasts of the twelfth season shows, click on this link: season12/comparison/.
An early version of the cover of this set had Danny Kamekona, who appeared in numerous episodes during the show, but only twice in the final season, and in insignificant parts. The other two people on the front cover other than Jack Lord (a relatively early photo of Lord) were The Governor (Richard Denning) and Duke Lukela (Herman Wedemeyer). After negative fan reaction, CBS redesigned the cover with Wo Fat and the Governor (click here), but after further consideration, again changed the front cover so it featured Duke, Lori (Sharon Farrell) and Kimo (William Smith) along with a later season photo of Lord. A picture of Truck (Moe Keale) is on the back cover, along with Wo Fat.
For more information on box and disc contents and artwork, click here.