Do you think it’s getting to be too much? I mean in the past year alone my templates have seen reviews from Law & Order, Numb3rs, NCIS, CSI Miami and New York, Monk, SVU, Bones, and probably some more crime dramas that I can’t recall off the top of my head. I’m obsessed with the sciences of crime detection and forensics so it only seems appropriate that watching the fascinating world unwind before my eyes happens quite often. One still can’t help but wonder if what’s going on in the television shows is the same as what happens on the streets and in the lab. Well then, it was time for me to find out.
Crime 360 looks at real cases with real individuals and real crimes. All of the cases deal with people that are innocent until proven guilty. A case is presented to detectives from different cities at which point they head to the scene to check everything out. It is pretty straight forward in that sense considering the detectives get the case and simply try to figure out who did the crime (usually murder) and why. The show is very similar to The First 48 in that respect because solving the case is exactly what any detective and police force wants. The difference with Crime 360 is that it shows every single ounce of not only the detectives’ work but also the forensics team.
Computer generated models are made of the crime scene and of everything dealing with the crime as well. Those models are looked at from every angle to determine if certain things were possible, happened in one location, or even happened at all. This type of technology allows detectives to sit in their office at times and inspect crime scenes without always having to be on site. Being able to check out things from angles that may not be visible to the naked human eye will give detectives the ability to find evidence or clues that they may have missed before. It is really quite amazing just how much can be done with computers thanks to a couple photographs being taken and an accurate written description.
Crime 360 also shows computer generated models to the viewers giving those watching an idea of how things may have happened instead of just trying to figure it out by listening to police jargon. If a victim was struck by a blunt object to the head and caused fractures along the jaw line, then we’ll see a CGI skull getting hit with a pipe and how the crack formed. This is a great way of letting everyone watching fully understand how things may have happened instead of always having to imagine it. Police get the benefit of this technology to help them solve cases; it seems only fair that wannabe detectives like myself get those same benefits. And it helps that these reenactments are done with computers because when they are done with actors; they’re just downright awful. Actors always overdo the reenactment and make it look cheesy rather then how it probably happened. At least now computers don’t have emotions or egos and can show it somewhat accurately.
Episodes
Disc One:
Welcome To Homicide
Fatal Feud
Deadly Secrets
Final Call
Disc Two:
Trial By Fire
Killing Field
Blood On The Tracks
Deadly Alibis
Disc Three:
Bad Blood – This would probably be my favorite episode in the first season because it really hits home since it involves a murder done within a family.
Gilpin Court Shooting
Shots In The Dark
The episodes are shown in Full Screen format and look clean and good. Colors are crisp and the computer models all look fantastic so they seemed to make sure this was a series that came out looking beautiful.
The episodes are heard in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Sound and there don’t appear to be any problems at all with this. Most of every episode is dialogue so it can always be heard clearly.
Additional Footage – This is nothing more then some short segments including making the opening of the show, meeting some of the detectives, the follow-up to one case, and a look at the different tools used by Forensics. These different segments are played one behind another and run a total of fourteen and a half minutes.
If the intention of the DVD release is to get more people interested in the series and to start watching it then they’ve accomplished that feat. Crime 360 is not a series that I had ever seen a single episode from before, but I do watch all those crime dramas and love The First 48 and COPS so it was almost a given that this one would be cool by me too. What sets this show apart from the others is the unique 3-D CGI models we are presented with that truly gets viewers involved in the investigation and allows them to make their own assumptions and identifications. Every episode brings about a new case and new methods of solving heinous crimes. So there isn’t much in way of special features but can’t really say I expected there to be so. It’s a good first start to a series that just began in early 2008 and hopefully it will be around for many seasons to come. The way I look at it; the more shows that are on the air allowing me to solve crimes in a job I know I’ll never have, the better. Now if only I could get a decent looking badge.
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A&E Home Video presents Crime 360: The Complete Season One. Starring: Various. Running time: 452 minutes on 3 discs. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: December 16, 2008. Available at Amazon.com
