The Complete NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigation Service) TV Series DVD Box Set Collection: Season 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 + Extras

Always loved NCIS, and just wanted to watch it from the beginning again

If you bought this expecting great drama and gritty realism, I'm afraid you missed the point. This is entertainment, where the bad guys are really bad and the good guys are clearly identifiable from the get-go. The politics tend to be right-wing except when they surprise you - which is more often than you might expect. This is NOT a procedural - there never was a forensic scientist like Abby nor a medical pathologist like Ducky. (BTW, Ducky is a GRADUATE - we don't call one another ALUMNI in Scotland - of my own University and he would have been there maybe 5 years before me and someone needed to a wee bit of homework there ...) Tony would be doing big time for sexual harassment and McGee would probably have cut his wrists halfway through the first series. Or sued for workplace bullying. Kate can be a nasty wee girl at times (I was rather glad to see her go) and I don't think Ziva is a credible MOSSAD agent (though very easy on the eye - sorry, that was me channeling Tony for a moment) and Gibbs? I wouldn't know where to start. I think he may be the dinosaur's grandpa.But as it says on the tin, it isn't 'The Wire'. Nor yet 'Homicide: Life on the Street'. These are two series I have watched and watched and I consider them to be very good television indeed. But NCIS isn't looking to be that. It's popular entertainment and if certain situations keep repeating themselves so what? Life's repetitive. So this isn't the real NCIS? I never thought it was. Nor do most of the people who like it, I suspect. The bad guys always get their comeuppance - you may have to wait a few episodes, or even a whole series, but they always do. The interpersonal relationships may seem over-simplified, but surprisingly frequently they coalesce (so to speak) into real moments of truth. There's a lot of comedy in NCIS and a lot of truth too. I stopped watching after Abby left, but I recently went back to watching a few episodes on Netflix or whatever they're on just now, and I got this box set for old times' sake.If you don't like it you don't like it. But it isn't rubbish. It may be escapism but every now and then we all need that and there a lot of much worse places to find it than NCIS. These days I find myself thinking of the character in 'Twelfth Night' - Malvolio. Super-serious, super-critical of things he sees as wasteful or worthless, always ready to condemn anything he considers frivolous. TBH he's really a bit up himself, and he gets his due deserts in the end. I can very easily be like him. One of the folks in the play he despises asks him "Dost thou think that because THOU art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?" As I grow older I need my 'cakes and ale'; NCIS in a sense provides me them. It's fun with a real strand of serious intent. And I liked it. With the old gang. Gibbs and Abby and Ziva and the rest. Before it jumped the shark.

A great series following the N.C.I.S. team from Virginia, they solve crimes related to the US military, they are the Naval criminal investigative service, this series follows Leeroy Jethro Gibbs, his Goth lab tech Abby, Dr Donald 'ducky' Mallard and his assistants Gerald and then Mr Palmer, then there are an array of underlings for Gibbs too, special agent Tony Dinozzo, special agent Kaitlyn 'Kate' Todd, special agent Timothy McGee, special agent Ziva David who was previously mossad. They solve a plethora of kooky crimes, from the downright creepy to some really bizzare and impossible crimes too, totally captivating, well worth watching. Highly recommend for fans of C.S.I., Law and order, Chicago fire, P.D., med etc.

As NCIS is shown on TV completely out of order I wanted to view the whole series in the correct order and understand the plot!I tried to go to Chanel 5 and view back episodes online - they are unavailable unless you pay.Buying the box set saves a great deal of money.I checked out the reviews and was rather concerned to read that some the discs appear to jump, are marked and don't all play well.As soon as my set arrived I checked out each disc. They are held in cardboard slots in a type of folder.The result of the cut out cardboard means that bits are on most of the discs.I carefully cleaned off anything on the discs then placed into a plastic disc sleeve and back into the cardboard folder (slightly enlarge the slot for the disc and it will fit.So far - fingers crossed - I haven't had the problems some of the others have had with the discs not playing. I still have a lot to get through but they are great.Series 9 & 10 are currently on TV and playing in order - thank goodness.