There are seven discs. They are housed in extra slim jewel cases, two to a case (except the last one). The cases are about half the size of a normal DVD case, so that the set fits in the same space as two cases instead of four. Each DVD has a picture of one of the four stars of the show, three are Jack, two JM, one Zulu, and one Kam Fong. The jewel cases are clear, so that the back of the cover inset shows through. It's printed with the wave, and each DVD is also printed with a portion of the wave. When the DVDs are lined up properly, they "blend" with the wave picture on the cover insert.The first DVD has Cocoon in movie format and the first two episodes of the series. The second through sixth DVDs each have four episodes. The final DVD has two episodes and the Emme [Tominbang] program [from Hawaiian TV, circa 1996].
The menu screens have been done up very nicely. When you first start the DVD, you are presented with a screen to choose your language (either English, Spanish, or Brazilian Portugese, of all things). Once you choose the language, you get the usual warning about copyright laws, et cetera. On the final disc there is also a disclaimer about opinions expressed belonging to their speakers, blah, blah, blah. Then you get a screen that looks like the front of the DVD slip case, but the film strip running behind Jack moves. The theme plays out in its entirely while the film strip moves by. The film strip has little scenes from various episodes of the first season and the scenes are in motion. It's very cleverly done. You can select either "Play All" or a list of episodes. If you select the list of episodes, another screen comes up with a still shot of one of the stars. Three of these are JM, two are Jack, one is Zulu, and one is Kam Fong. The still shots are all taken from episodes, except the one of Zulu. I don't recognize the picture they used of him, but it's the same on his disc and on his menu (everybody else has different pictures on "their" discs and their menu screens). It's a younger shot of him, and he's noticeably thinner than he was during the series.
The episodes themselves are nicely presented. The slipcase states that the episodes have all been digitally remastered, and they do look very well, but they're not as high quality as they could have been. I think the fact that four episodes are crammed onto a single disc caused some loss in the quality. It's not that noticeable, but if you've seen how good some DVDs can look, you'll note that these just barely miss the mark. The sound is mono, but still quite good.
The wave at commercial break is there in every episode, but not in the movie. There are three waves per episode. I must say that in watching the episodes, the wave breaks serve a wonderful function of "punctuating" and emphazing scene changes or plot revelations during the episodes.
One thing which did disappoint me is that there are no "scenes of next week's show" with the iconical "Be there. Aloha." When I talked with a CBS exec a few years back about the DVD release, he told me they were going to restore the wave at commercial breaks and put in the scenes to the next week's episode. He was right about the first, but apparently wrong about the second. Unless... I don't know if the show used that "coming next week" format in the first season. Perhaps it's possible they didn't? Does anybody know if they were doing it for the first season? If they weren't, that would explain why they're missing.
They have a nice screen explaining the origin of Cocoon that comes up before that starts playing. It tells the original airdate and how it was first shown as a two-hour movie and then later rebroadcast in two parts at the end of the season. It's not the two-parter on the disc, but the movie version.
As near as I can tell, all the episodes are completely uncut. I compared some of them with the episodes as released by Columbia House on VHS a few years back, and with off-air episodes I have which are allegedly uncut. I didn't do an exhaustive comparison, but everything I did compare bears out the completely uncut status of the episodes on the discs. Each episode is roughly 51 minutes long, give or take about 10 seconds. Being able to watch all the little scenes that are usually cut in current day broadcasts really brings the episodes to life. All the atmosphere and subtle bits are back and make the stories really flow.
The first disc includes some previews of other DVD offerings, but this is not on the succeeding discs. In a nice move, you don't have to watch the previews or figure out some way to skip past them or fast forward them. The first screen after the language selection screen on that disc is a screen which allows you to choose to watch the previews or just skip to the main menu.
I don't believe the Emme show was remastered. The Five-O clips on that program are noticeably lower quality, particularly the clip of the opening montage from the show. The Emme footage itself is in good condition, however. There's also a screen that comes up before you watch it that explains when it was originally broadcast, et cetera.
Each disc slipcase has a brief synopsis of each episode on the back. Whoever wrote them took some time to make them appealing. Several make mention of the credentials of one of the guest stars in that episode. The synopsis for Twenty-Four Karat Kill mentions that this is the episode in which the line "Book 'em, Danno" was first heard.
All in all, I must say I'm quite pleased with this set. I would have been happier if they'd filmed some new material with JM and other surviving cast members, instead of relying on the 10-year-old Emme show, but, oh, well. At least they made some effort to give fans something outside the norm.
I'd like to encourage all fans to buy this set; in fact, if it's in your budget buy more than one. The only way we're going to convince the powers that be that we want more is to stun them with high sales, and the earlier these sales occur, the more likely they'll be speedy about releasing future sets.