Out today: Lost Season Five on DVD

Lost fans can debate the quality of the show's fifth season for hours on end, but for my money, Season Five was an uptick for the series because I'm a sucker for things that make my brain hurt. The time travel and '70s storylines not only provide plenty of intrigue, but warrant repeated viewings just to get a tenuous handle on things. And more so than previous Lost DVD sets, repeated viewings are the main reason to own Season Five on DVD.

So what's that you say about the special features? Well, unless you are one of the fancy-pants bourgeois who owns a Blu-ray player (like yours truly), they come up a tad short. The biggest letdown is the lack of audio commentaries, which are the bread-and-butter of Lost DVDs and, for diehard fans, just as entertaining as the episodes themselves. There are only two audio commentaries available on the set (boo!), one by executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse on the season premiere, "Because You Left," and one by writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz on "He's Our You." This is the first Lost DVD set to have fewer than four audio commentaries and to feature zero commentaries with the actors. Say it with me... bummer!

Aside from that, the rest of the special features are of the run-of-the-mill variety this time around, with the exception of one online interactive experience. The Blu-ray collection lays claim to Lost University, a virtual college for Lost nerds that is actually quite entertaining, provided you like your entertainment to stimulate your intellect and poke your funny bone at the same time. Students complete various "courses" (video samples below)—like philosophy, which highlights the importance of real philosophers John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, and others; a foreign-language lesson that will teach you to say "Smoke Monster, Run!" in Korean; and a crash course in jungle survival (Terry O'Quinn's advice: go with someone who can't run as fast as you can). After taking courses, students are tasked with homework and can return for more classes in a couple days (as LU only went online today, I never made it to the second class, much like my real college experience) and eventually take an exam. Your records are stored on an accompanying Web site, where GPA is calculated and the smart kids can even make the Dean's list.

Also exclusive to the Blu-ray set is "Lost 100," a video that chronicles the making of the show's 100th episode ("The Variable") and culminates in the consumption of one of the most awesome Lost-themed cakes ever made. The video is especially interesting, because much time is spent explaining the decision to kill off Daniel Faraday... not to mention actor Jeremy Davies' reaction.

Beyond that, both the standard and the Blu-ray editions include a handful of "Lost on Location" segments that provide insight on specific episodes, a feature called "Making up for LOST Time" that explains how the time jumps are tracked, a walkabout with Michael Emerson (Ben Linus) as he tours the Burbank Lost offices, a long day with Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert), a faux docuseries on The Dharma Initiative, bloopers, and deleted scenes.

All told—though it may feel light on the extras—it's still Lost on DVD and a must-own for fans... especially since we won't get any new Lost footage until February 2.