It may not need saying, but here we have classic "Hawaii Five–O" (1968–80), not its more recent reboot.

This series found its groove around Seasons 3 (1970–71) and 4 (1971–72). Both were above the series' average in general. Season 3 may have had a couple more standout episodes than its successor; overall, the quality of Season 4 was more consistently high for "hurry-up-get-the-film-in-the-can" U. S. TV production in the early '70s. Season 4 is sentimental in one respect: it was the last that featured Gilbert Lani Kauhi, a.k.a. Zulu, as Kono Kalakaua: the comedic muscle of Steve Garrett's original team of four. Though, sadly, he was given much less to do than Dan Blocker, his character was "Five-O"'s answer to Hoss Cartwright on "Bonanza."

The series was a police procedural, with change-ups into espionage, seriocomedy, and straight mysteries. What set it apart was on-location filming in the fiftieth state: a first for network television. A first-rate "Five-O" offers a tight script, good acting, creative direction, and smart use of Hawaii, arguably the show's brightest star. In these respects the most rewatchable episodes in this set are the season opener, "Highest Castle, Deepest Grave," an homage to "Laura" (1944), guest-starring Herbert Lom, France Nuyen, and Jeff Corey and beautifully scored by Morton Stevens, composer of the series' iconic theme; "Rest In Peace, Somebody," a taught assassination thriller scripted by John D. F. Black (an original "Star Trek" writer-producer); "Nine, Ten—You're Dead," featuring reliable Moses Gunn and Albert Paulsen, directed by Leo Penn (Sean's father) with another excellent musical score by Harry Geller; "Cloth Of Gold," directed by Micheal O'Herlihy, a "Five-O" long-hauler, which makes good use of the islands; and "Skinhead," with a powerhouse performance by Lee Paul, a segment so edgy that you wonder how it got past the censors. The scripts for some of these twenty-four episodes strain credulity ("Didn't We Meet At A Murder?"), offset by others that conclude with some nice twist endings.

The core cast—Jack Lord, James MacArthur, Kam Fong, and Zulu, all now wearing their characters as comfortably as their tailored suits—are well supported by many of that era's top actors: among others, Joanna Barnes, Beth Brickell, David Canary, Roger C. Carmel, Jackie Cooper, Hume Cronyn, Henry Darrow, Buddy Ebsen, Ed Flanders, James Hong, Jack Kruschen, Monte Markham, Vic Morrow, Simon Oakland, Tim O'Connor, Donald Pleasance, John Ritter, Jay Robinson, Marion Ross, Michael Strong, Barry Sullivan, Loretta Swit, Soon Taik-Oh, Malachi Throne, Dana Wynter. Richard Denning is back as the Governor. In a two-parter, "The Ninety-Second War," Khigh Dhiegh returns as McGarrett's nemesis, the Red Chinese agent Wo Fat. As always, this season makes smart use of many indigenous islanders in supporting roles.

As with Seasons 2 and 3, most episodes are accompanied by the original promos for next week's show, narrated by Jack Lord (who bids us, "Be here. Aloha"). Some episodes lack these trailers, probably because they've gone missing. These are the set's only special features—and they often contain spoilers. Let the viewer beware.

Technically the CBS-Paramount transfers are (usually) skip-free, clean, with clear audio, and closed-captioned (except for the trailers).

That's my run-down on "Hawaii Five-O: Season Four." If the price is right, it offers a day's worth of binge-worthy television.

Seemed like quality disks, it’s kind of funny because they’ve taken this old show and put it on disks & everyone buts are just a bit wide because of modern flatscreen tv. Course I wouldn’t of even noticed, but my wife did we have had a few laughs, but that being said these a really good quality & we loved seeing McGarrett. If you buy these go read about Kono. Zulu/Kono in real life him McGarrett didn’t hit it off so he quit the show after 4 years and went back to being a nightclub comedian, wasn’t the best career move, but they didn’t develop him well Dano and chin ho got a lot more attention & Kono was actually funny & a good actor & the muscle
Depending on what you read some say there was a racial slur used and McGarrett got him fired for it. But it was more than that McGarrett treated him like garbage. Great writing, good acting, and intriguing plots where it was often very difficult to figure out who the bad guy was going to be.
5 star set

While other seasons, preceding and subsequent, had standout episodes, season four, as a whole, was a standout, featuring outstanding performances from guest stars, well-written and executed scripts, and the last hurrah for the original foursome (Jack Lord, James MacArthur, Kam Fong, and Zulu who would depart at the end of this season).

The show really got into its groove in a grand way with the first installment, "Highest Castle, Deepest Grave," reminiscent of the classic movie "Laura" with rare guest appearances from France Nuyen, movie veteran Herbert Lom, and respected acting coach Jeff Corey. Not only do they excel in their portrayals, star Jack Lord does well as he becomes enamored by the painting that hides a dark mystery.

Besides that particular episode, other noteworthy ones were:

"No Bottles, No Cans, No People" - Henry Darrow ("The High Chaparral") is featured as an unscrupulous crime boss intent on proving to other "hoods" on the mainland that he is a force to be reckoned with.

"3,000 Crooked Miles to Honolulu" - Buddy Ebsen, late of "The Beverly Hillbillies" and before "Barnaby Jones," guests as a criminal genius who thinks he has a flawless plan to make a fortune off of stolen travelers checks.

"Two Doves and Mr. Heron" - noteworthy solely for the appearance of a young John Ritter and the late Vic Morrow in a part that is rather provocative for the era

"And I Want Some Candy, and a Gun That Shoots" - featuring Jeanne Cooper before she became "Mrs. Chancellor" on "The Young and the Restless" and a young Annette O'Toole. The episode also allows Lord a chance to give commentary about the state of mental hospitals "revolving door" policies.

"The Burning Ice" - Former child star Jackie Cooper gives a rare performance as a doctor whose wife is apparently randomly murdered for her jewels but things, as always, are not all as they appear to be. Lou Antonio is quite good as the sympathetic suspect.

Guest Norman Alden is mostly heard and not seen in "Rest in Peace, Somebody," a taunt episode about a possible assassination plot on an unnamed victim.

"A Matter of Mutual Concern" proves there is no honor among thieves.

"Nine, Ten, You're Dead" showcases character actor Moses Gunn as a washed-up boxer who runs afoul of a shady promoter (Albert Paulsen). Guest Frank Webb, who would die tragically three years later, plays an unlikely hit man.

"Odd Man In" - Hume Cronyn comes back one more time as wily con man Lewis Filer.

"Bait Once, Bait Twice" features a pre-"M.A.S.H." Loretta Swit (her third appearance as guest on the show)

"Skinhead" - commentary on racism and also quite frank in its sexuality

"While you're at It, Bring Me the Moon" - Barry Sullivan guests as an eccentric millionaire, a la Howard Hughes. Other guests include "repeat performers" Milton Seltzer and Ed Flanders.

"Good Night Baby, Time to Die" - Beth Brickell and William Watson are antagonists in this well-crafted tale.

"Cloth of Gold" - Ray Danton, Jason Evers, and Jay Robinson guest as the unlikely targets of an mystery murderer, using a most ingenious modus operandi.

"Didn't We Meet at a Murder" offers three hit "men," all unlikely candidates for the job.

The final episode, "R & R & R" delivers a frightening guest turn from Alan Vint and also comments on the tragedy of war.

Surprisingly, one of the weakest episodes in the whole compilation is the two-parter "The 90-Second War" with the return of McGarrett's main nemesis Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh). Though it also stars movie veterans Donald Pleasance and Dana Wynter, along with returning Roger C. Carmel as Col. Mischa Toptegan, the installment seems rather bloated and slightly confusing, devoid of the usual good storytelling involving Wo Fat.

But that one, along with a couple of other "clunkers" doesn't lessen what is arguably one of the best in the show's twelve-year run.

The re-mastered set has good sound, outstanding clarity of picture and color.

Great music scores, a staple of the series, are supplied by Morton Stevens and Don B. Ray, among others.

Hawaii 5-0 (1968-1980) {CBS} 284 eps {12 yrs - all-time longest running Classic cop show}
Jack Lord {Steve McGarrett}, James MacArthur {Danno Williams}, Kam Fong {Chin}.
The All-Time Classic Cop Show set in paradise, that has an underbelly of crime that the state police unit must keep a lid on.
As an International Entry Point to the US, there's all sorts of crime & criminals trying to beat the system.
The scenery fascinated viewers worldwide, and Morton Steven's theme rocked up by Don B Ray, Harry Geller & Richard Shores catipulted the series to the top & the Hawaii 5-0 theme was the #1 instrumental trac for the entire year of 1969!!! ALL-TIME #1 TV THEME

Season 4, 24 eps, lots of great ones and 7 Classics, including The Return of LA Filer (which Hume Cronyn won an emmy for his role) and Ep 22 Disc 6, with "One of The Craziest Quotes in TV History" : Steve tells Kono to "Run down to Hotel St, put your ear to the coconut wireless, see if you can pick up any static".

Hawaii Five-0 was never a watershed crime drama that kept you riveted to you seat. After the feeling of nostalgia wears off, you get bored pretty quickly as the plots become more contrived and the casting becomes more ridiculous (making Western actors look Asian!). Besides, Kono was written out of the show!

The original Hawaii Five O was one of the really great television shows. It was beautifully produced and, for the most part, well acted. The characters were realistic and believable, although some actresses overdid their histrionics and women were frequently portrayed as being dingy.

One of the great features of this series is the emphasis on the growing change in culture of the time; establishment vs. anti-establishment. An example is clothing. Five 0 personnel, the Governor, and even a lot of the bad guys wear suits and ties, while the "hip" people wear sport jackets and Hawaiian shirts. That's not campy, folks, that's the way it was in the late '60's and early '70's.

Many episodes presented a mystery to the viewers, and we tried to figure out what was going on before McGarrett did. That added to the fun of watching the shows. It was the quality of the production, acting, and visuals that made Hawaii Five 0 last for twelve seasons, and run in syndication to this day. The Leonard Freeman/Jack Lord version is rightly called a classic, something by which similar productions are judged.

The DVD's are excellent, sharp clean images wonderful color and great sound. This series is a real bargain. I hope to get all twelve seasons.

Hawaii Five-O The Fourth Season rides the same wave of excellence that carried the series through seasons one, two and three. Season three in particular marked the onset of the show's glory years, and this season picks up where the last one left off. I admit, I might be a bit prejudiced when I say that the fourth season is probably my favorite, since it does feature my all-time favorite episode, Cloth of Gold, in which a group of wealthy and decadent real estate scammers are knocked off one by one via one of the most unusual murder weapons in television history, but, really, there are plenty of reasons to love and recommend this set. For one thing, it is more consistent than past seasons, with only one truly lame episode, Two Doves and Mr. Heron... even that provides the joy of watching John Ritter play a poetry-spouting vagrant-slash-hippie whose high-sounding morality suddenly disappears once he has a chance to abscond with fifty-thousand dollars. Five-O seems to have gotten a little edgier in season four, most notably in the increased level of violence. I don't know if it was just a matter of network standards relaxing, or the exposure to the Vietnam War on the news every night, but the violence in these episodes is generally more hard-hitting and disturbing, particularly in the classic episode ...And I Want Some Candy and a Gun That Shoots, which features a crazed Vietnam veteran who holes up in a roadside bunker with a rifle and takes pot shots at police officers. In fact, several of the culprits in these episodes are troubled vets just back from their tours of duty, which puts Five-O clearly ahead of its time in dealing with issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition to being more violent, the episodes are also more lurid. Which is fine, I always enjoyed a little bit of sleaze with my Five-O. Wednesday Ladies Free and the previously mentioned Cloth of Gold are classic episodes that imbue their nightmarish murder stories with elements of kink and sensationalism. But Skinhead ups the ante even further, brutally, and rather bluntly, dealing with the issues of racism and rape in a way that must have been pretty daring for its time. For example, an Asian woman assaulted by a white soldier is questioned on the witness stand about the irrelevant details of her sexual history, and is made to look like an instigator rather than a victim by the defendant's unctuous attorney. I wonder if any TV show prior to this dealt with as many peripheral issues involved in the difficult matter of rape as this episode does. It's a powerful show, and one of the season's best. So is Nine Ten, You're Dead, which uses one of Five-O's patented mainland syndicate storylines to comment on the damaging side effects of boxing.

But Five-O is just as notable for the fun and ingenious schemes it depicts as it is for its fearlessness in dealing with contemporary issues, and season four is no exception. 3.000 Crooked Miles to Honolulu, Didn't We Meet at a Murder, Odd Man In, Bait Once Bait Twice, While You're At It Bring In the Moon, Good Night Baby Time to Die, Rest in Peace Somebody and For a Million Why Not all have well-plotted stories that keep the viewer guessing, and completely enthralled. Wo Fat makes a welcome appearance. In one especially haunting episode, the usually staunch McGarrett falls in love with a painting. In addition, the camerawork is as gritty, the music as flashy, the perps as ruthless and clever(just not as clever as McGarrett), the scenery as lush, and McGarrett as hard-boiled and unflinching as ever.

Thanks to CBS, the early '70's live again, in all their gritty and entertaining glory, and with hardly any signs of rust. Be there. Aloha.

Now with season 4, does it get better than season 3. Well yes but the last disc in this package #5 had one show that didn't play correctly, it's a defect in the disc. Because of this I only rated this 4 out of 5.

Every other show played correctly. Besides that problem the story lines in season 4 some were okay some were just boring to watch. But still the music and sound effects and Jack Lord made up for those. I'll always enjoy watching Hawaii Five-O and will continue to get the rest of the seasons as soon as they're available.

Season 4 one of the staff won't be in Season 5 I'll just mention that here but won't give out names not to give the story away. Seasons 1, 2, and 3 were great to watch!

Again if your a die hard fan might as well pick this season up as well!

Catch you over at season 5.