I have been picking up seasons of some television shows on DVD that I enjoy for the last several years. I know that I can watch the episodes on television for free, but they are full of commercials and they might not be on when I’m in the mood to watch a particular show. I have liked Bones since it first started to air in 2005, though I only recently picked up Bones - Season 1 on DVD.
Bones is a basically a police procedural type of show that has FBI agent Seely Booth working with forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan, who is also a best selling author, to solve crimes. Seely tends to handle the investigation while Temperance and her co-workers focus finding evidence from whatever human remains they have to work with for a specific case. Temperance does work with Seely in the field at times as well. Each episode in the first season featured a different case while also taking time to focus in on the characters, making the show more character driven than other similar shows. Every so often, something that happened in a previous episode is brought up, so while the episodes can stand alone, they also build on each other.
Bones is loosely based on real life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs. She is also the author of a popular series of books featuring a forensic anthropologist. From what I have learned, just about the only thing that was pulled from the books was the name of Temperance. The other characters in the show are not in the books and specific plots from the books have not been used in the show. The plots are created specifically for the show, but Reichs is involved in the process to make sure that the science aspect is handled correctly. I haven’t read any of the books yet, though I have thought about picking some of them up.
Science plays a very important part in every episode of Bones. Temperance and her co-workers do a large variety of tests on the remains they have to identify in each episode. Temperance can tell all sorts of interesting things from the bones that play a huge part in discovering how and where the victim was killed. Zack Addy, Temperance’s assistant, was working on several doctorates, one of which was in forensic anthropology, and he did a lot of testing on bones to identify types of wounds and things like that. Dr. Jack Hodgins had several doctorates, including entomology. He could tell a lot by the types of bugs or dirt on remains and he frequently had to do testing on some gross things. Angela Montenegro was an artist who did forensic facial reconstruction from the skulls they had. She also developed something they called the Angelator, some sort of three dimensional holographic projector that the team frequently used. I have read that the makers of the show have been very careful to make the scientific things as accurate as possible. I don’t think there is anything like the Angelator in real life, but it seems realistic and would be a helpful tool. Many of the characters, especially Temperance, did use a lot of scientific terms that didn’t always make sense. Explanations would be provided, especially if Seely happened to be around since he didn’t understand a lot of the scientific terms either. Even when I didn’t fully understand the science stuff, I still thought it was very interesting. It’s fascinating that so much can be learned from bones.
Temperance, Angela, Hodgins, and Zack work for the fictional Jeffersonian Institute located in Washington, D.C. The Institute also includes a large, well respected museum in addition to the lab where the main characters work. The lab is rather elaborate, but it seems believable for that type of institution. Much of every episode is set there while the different tests and experiments are performed. I have thought that the Jeffersonian was supposed to be a version of the Smithsonian Institute. That does make me wonder if anyone like Temperance works there and helps the FBI. In addition to that, Temperance also does a lot of work identifying remains from different wars and natural disasters.
Every episode in the first season of Bones has had a different investigation for Seely and Temperance to work on, giving each episode a mystery. The mysteries aren’t overly complex, but they are very interesting and provided some surprises. I did think that the way things were resolved for each episode were logical and not some odd, off the wall way of resolving things. With some of the investigations, things seemed very clear cut, only to have Temperance and her team discover something that changed everything. There were some episodes that didn’t have as many surprises, but they were still very interesting. The cases involved all different sorts of deaths and situations, most of which I thought were very interesting and entertaining. One episode even dealt with teenagers so into comic books and superheroes that they created their own superheroes and actually dressed up as them. For another episode, Temperance was in New Orleans to help identify victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Temperance and her team had some kind of human remains to test and identify in every episode. The remains were in different conditions for each case. Sometimes they didn’t look that bad and other times they were rather gross and disgusting. Some of the tests or things done to the bones were a bit gross as well. There were times when someone, usually Hodgins, had to test other things, like bear excrement that was nasty. I did feel like some of the things were unpleasant to see, but nothing really grossed me out like has happened with other shows like C.S.I. or E.R. Certain things could be a bit too graphic for some viewers.
For the most part, Bones is a serious show that deals with murder. Every episode has at least a little bit of humor added in as well that works very well. Temperance was brilliant at her job, but a bit clueless about many other things, like dealing with people or knowing any thing connected to pop culture. Different characters would mention something, like a popular movie or television show, and Temperance would just respond by saying that she didn’t know what that meant. The way she reacted to certain things was funny in my opinion, as was the way she kept trying to get Seely to issue her a gun. She would say things in a serious manner that were just funny. Much of the humor came from her interactions with Seely. Zack also had some problems relating to people which caused laughs. Hodgins spouted off conspiracy theories all the time, some of which were rather unique and funny. The show isn’t a hilarious comedy, but it does have a decent amount of humor blended in with the more serious elements. I thought that the humor worked well for the show.
There has been a lot of focus on the main characters throughout the first season, especially Temperance and Seely. Everyone had been working together for a while when the first episode aired, so time wasn’t taken to establish all the relationships. Things were slowly shared about the characters over the course of the season, which I think worked very well. Temperance was very good at her job, a best selling fiction writer, and a college instructor. Her work was very important to her and she tended to focus on it instead of her personal life. She would happily spend all her time at the lab if someone, usually Angela, didn’t try to get her to balance out her life a bit. Temperance was very driven, mostly because of the fact that her parents disappeared when she was fifteen and she still didn’t know what happened to them. She came across as cold and distant to many people, but she did have a very caring side. I think Emily Deschanel has done well with the part, making Temperance a likable, believable character.
Seely Booth is a dedicated FBI agent who had been a sniper in the Army Rangers. He doesn’t understand a lot of what Temperance and her co-workers do, but he knows they can find him answers for his cases. He has developed a fairly good working relationship with all of them, though he is closest to Temperance, who he calls Bones. He, and other FBI agents, called the group squints. He had a few of his own secrets that slowly came out, like how he had a son. There did seem to be a bit of a sexual attraction between him and Temperance that didn’t do anywhere. I really liked David Boreanaz in the part, which is much different from Angel, the only other characters I’ve seen him play.
Angela seems to have several secrets or at least several things that she hasn’t shared with her co-workers yet. She and Temperance have been friends for years, though it wasn’t said for how long and how they met. Temperance actually got Angela her job at the Jeffersonian. Angela keeps trying to get Temperance to stop focusing on work so much and to have some fun in her life. Sometimes that backfires on her, like when the two go to a nightclub and find a body in a wall. Angela is a very talented artist who also knows a lot about computers and programming since she designed the Angelator. Angela didn’t have the same sort of training as the others, and some of the things they have to deal with do bother her. Michaela Conlin was very good in the part.
Jack Hodgins, usually just called Hodgins by everyone, deals with some of the grosser testing. He has a lot of conspiracy theories about all sorts of things and he doesn’t always get along with their boss, Dr. Goodman. Hodgins does have a more serious side and his own secret. He is very good at his job and really enjoys it, even the nasty stuff. He had a good relationship with Zack and the two did do a few unique tests. Zack was a genius who, much like Temperance, had trouble dealing with people in social settings. He was a very rational person who seemed to always be looking for someone to follow. T.J. Thyne and Eric Millegan were good in their parts.
Dr. Daniel Goodman was an administrator at the Jeffersonian who was also Temperance’s boss. He was an archeologist who no longer did that type of work. Every so often, he was involved in helping on a case because of the variety of things he knew about. He didn’t always get along with his employees, especially Hodgins. Dr. Goodman wasn’t around anywhere near as much as the others. He was usually only around in a few brief scenes. Some other FBI agents, like Seely’s boss, turned up every so often without having much to do. Seely’s boss really didn’t care for Temperance or squints in general.
Main Cast
Jonathan Adams - Dr. Daniel Goodman David Boreanaz - Seely Booth Michaela Conlin - Angela Montenegro Emily Deschanel - Dr. Temperance Brennan Eric Millegan - Zack Addy T.J. Thyne - Dr. Jack Hodgins
DVD Information
Bones - Season 1 contains all 22 episodes from the first season of the show. The episodes are on four double sided DVDs. I hate double sided DVDs and would have liked it better if single sided DVDs had been used instead. Three of the discs have six episodes each and the last disc has four plus the bonus features. There were only four extras, two on each side of the last disc. The Squints featurette had some of the cast talking about working on the show. The Real Definition featurette had some clips from the show featuring some scientific terms and explanations.
Bones: Inspired by the Life of Forensic Anthropologist and Author Kathy Reichs talked about how the show was created and how Reichs has been involved in the show. It included interviews from the creator and Reichs, as well as a few cast members. I found this to be very interesting and would have liked it if it had been longer. The character profiles shared a bit of basic information about all the main characters. There were commentaries on two of the episodes that I haven’t listened to.
Episode List
Pilot The Man in the S.U.V. A Boy in a Tree The Man in the Bear A Boy in a Bush The Man in the Wall The Man on Death Row The Girl in the Fridge The Man in the Fallout Shelter The Woman at the Airport The Woman in the Car The Superhero in the Alley The Woman in the Garden The Man on the Fairway Two Bodies in the Lab The Woman in the Tunnel The Skull in the Desert The Man With the Bone The Man in the Morgue The Graft in the Girl The Soldier in the Grave The Woman in Limbo
I love Bones and have been watching it since it first started to air even though I have missed some episodes here and there. Bones - Season 1 is a great DVD for fans of the show. I would have liked it if there had been some more extras and if the discs were single sided, but I’m very happy with this set.
This review is part of elvisdo’s 2008 Funny Pages Write-Off because of the episode The Superhero in the Alley.
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