The Hawaii Five-O Quick FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions)
Is there a real "Hawaii Five-O" -- a state police agency?
Hawaii does not and never did have a state police force.
Why was it called Five-O, anyway?
Hawaii was the fiftieth state in the union.
Is Hawaii Five-O available on DVD or video?
As of August, 2010, nine seasons of Five-O have been released on DVD by CBS/Paramount Video.
There are "complete" DVD sets of the show being sold on Ebay and other web sites. These are NOT official releases and are likely taken from TV broadcasts and the tapes released by Columbia House. Some people have reported these DVDs are mediocre in quality and the WWW sites selling them leave a lot to be desired as far as customer service is concerned. I personally have no idea what the quality of these DVDs is like, having never purchased any of them. The site TV Shows on DVD has a very interesting FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about bootlegs which is worth reading.
VHS tapes of selected episodes were released by Columbia House in the USA and Canada. They are no longer available. Sometimes you can find these for sale on Ebay and other web sites.
Will you make copies of such and such an episode for me on DVD?
If you are convincing enough, I may relent and make copies of individual episodes for you on DVD that you or your relatives have appeared in, or that are your favorite shows. I will not make any dubs from any seasons currently commercially available on DVD, though -- go and buy the box sets!
As an experiment, I created DVDs of the legendarily bad twelfth season plus seasons 10 and 11, taken from my own VHS tapes, and also have a few other Five-O related goodies to offer in DVD format. If you are interested, e-mail me through this link.
Where can I get VHS tapes of Hawaii Five-O?
Anyone interested in VHS copies of Hawaii Five-O episodes (mostly all full versions) can contact Barbara Brindle at 105 Warren Road, Sparta, NJ 07871. Unfortunately, Barbara does not have an email address.
Ron Evans, owner of e/p Partners, http://www.networksplus.net/caseyguy/epPartners.htm also offers VCR tapes of Hawaii Five-O, Jack Lord and James MacArthur, among others.
(The above is offered for information purposes only. I have never obtained Five-O dubs from either of the above.)
Why has the second season episode "Bored She Hung Herself" not been seen since the original broadcast in 1970 and is not included in the second season DVD box set?
No one at CBS or Paramount has offered a direct explanation as to why this is so. According to Mrs. Leonard Freeman (wife of the late creator of the show), speaking to some fans at the 1996 Five-O convention, someone tried the hanging technique depicted in the show (supposedly yoga-related, but more like autoerotic asphyxiation) and killed themselves. As a result, the show was not rebroadcast and never included in any syndication packages. As far as the DVD set is concerned, including this episode would have necessitated having a 7th DVD with one episode (or spreading 25 episodes over 7 DVDs), which would result in extra expense for Paramount as far as packaging was concerned.
Is there going to be a Five-O movie?
There have been rumours about this for several years and a movie seems to be in what might be described as "a stage of development." When and if an announcement about the movie is definite, you'll read about it here.
Is Five-O coming back to TV?
In August, 2008, an announcement was made that Ed Bernero, executive producer of Criminal Minds and a big Five-O fan, was working on a revival of the show. Bernero posted in the Five-O Guestbook asking for fan input. But as of October 2009, Bernero was out and several new creative people were assigned to the project. The pilot episode was filmed in March 2010, and CBS was pleased by what they saw. Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin, who had a role on the US cop drama The Shield and also played a private investigator who turned into a vampire in the show Moonlight, was selected to fill the shoes of Hawaii Five-O boss Steve McGarrett. Daniel Dae Kim from Lost is playing Chin Ho and Scott Caan (son of James) is Danno. Grace Park from Battlestar Galactica is Kono and Jean Smart from Designing Women and "24" is playing the Governor. The show is on the fall 2010 CBS schedule, and the pilot episode will be broadcast on September 20th.
Is Jack Lord still alive? What about the other stars?
No, Lord died January 21, 1998 from congestive heart failure. Other stars of the show who have passed away include Kam Fong (Chin Ho Kelly - October 18, 2002, of lung cancer), Gilbert Kauhi -- Zulu (Kono -- May 3, 2004, from complications of diabetes), Herman Wedemeyer (Duke -- January 25, 1999, heart attack), Richard Denning (Governor -- October 11, 1998, cardiac arrest), Moe Keale (Truck -- April 15, 2002 of "natural causes"), Harry Endo (Che Fong - January 9, 2009, stroke) and Khigh Dhiegh (Wo Fat -- October 25, 1991, of kidney and heart failure). Stars who are still alive include James MacArthur (Danno), Al Harrington (Ben) and Doug Mossman (various parts).
Who played the main theme? Was it the Ventures?
The main theme was played by studio musicians under the direction of Morton Stevens, who composed it. The Ventures made a popular recording of the main theme on Liberty Records. Three of the four members of the Ventures also anonymously contributed to the soundtrack (and soundtrack album) for the episode Up Tight, which featured weird contemporary music accompanying a drug-culture story.
Is the Five-O soundtrack (released on LP record many years ago) available on CD?'
The soundtrack will be issued by Film Score Monthly on CD in late 2010. Due to licensing restrictions, it will only contain the original Capitol LP, which is less than 30 minutes long. There are recently-made audiophile LPs of the soundtrack still being sold; I have seen these on Ebay. They are of questionable legality.