Laguna Beach - Series 1 (Box Set) (DVD)

'''What Is Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County?'''
Laguna Beach is a reality TV programme shown by MTV. The cameras follow the lives of several teenagers living in Laguna Beach, Southern California, one of the wealthiest beach communities in the world. The show isn't scripted and you experience everyday things that happen to every other teenager in the world, along with all the drama on the way.
The show was filmed in 2005 over an ...
...Every year, the teens of Laguna Beach take a spring break to Cabo, Mexico. Things turn nasty for Stephen and Kristin at a nightclub, which pushes him back to Lauren.

'''Episode 6 - The Best Part Of Breaking Up'''
The cast go to a Blink 182 concert up in San Diego but when an outsider insults Lo and Lauren, Trey is quick to jump to their defence.

'''Episode 7 - The Last Dance'''
It's prom time in Laguna ... more

What Is Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County?
Laguna Beach is a reality TV programme shown by MTV. The cameras follow the lives of several teenagers living in Laguna Beach, Southern California, one of the wealthiest beach communities in the world. The show isn't scripted and you experience everyday things that happen to every other teenager in the world, along with all the drama on the way.
The show was filmed in 2005 over an eight month period and was shown on MTV before being released onto DVD.

The Main Cast
Lauren Conrad
Lauren, otherwise known as LC, is the main cast member of the show and narrates at the beginning of each episode. During this season, she is caught up in a love triangle between Kristin and Stephen. She was my favourite cast member of the show.
Stephen Colletti
Stephen has been close friends with Lauren since childhood, but is suddenly caught between her and Kristin.
Kristin Cavallari
Kristin is a year below them in school and can't stand Lauren, mainly because of Stephen. Wherever Kristin goes, drama isn't too far behind.
Morgan Olsen
Morgan was one of the quieter characters in my opinion and didn't always seem to get caught up in the drama like the rest of the cast. Her goal is to save herself for the right boy.
Christina Schuller
Christina is best friends with Morgan. She is also the reverends daughter. She aims to become a professional singer.
Lauren 'Lo' Bosworth
Lo is Lauren's best friend and in my opinion, she brings a breath of fresh air to the show. She is very bubbly and can always make something good out of a bad situation.
Trey Philips
Trey is the sensible grown up one. He takes his charity work seriously and is always on hand to give a helping hand.

The DVD has a total of three discs, 2 which show all of the episodes - 11 in total and a bonus features disc. Each disc is enclosed in its own case, which is then included in a box.

The Show
The show kicks off with Lauren introducing herself and her friends and telling you a bit about them.
I'll try not to give too much away in the episode descriptions but just give you a breif insight into what hapens in each of the episodes.
Epidsode 1 - A Black & White Affair
Lauren and Lo throw a party at a hotel where everybody has to wear either black or white. Things are going well until Kristin turns up and makes sure the whole party revolves around her.

Episode 2 - The Bonfire
The gang throw a bonfire on the beach. In this episode, we also get to see some of Trey's charity work for the first time, as he sets up an Open Mic Night for AYA (Active Young America).

Episode 3 - Fast Cars & Fast Women
LC, Stephen and Trey attend a fashion show up in LA. This is a good opportunity for LC to get close to Stephen without Kristin, but things turn sour for LC when Stephen pulls the majority of the models.

Episode 4 - Eighteen Candles
This episode focuses on Christina's eighteenth birthday and hers and Morgan's trip to NYC for their spring break.

Episode 5 - What happens in Cabo
Every year, the teens of Laguna Beach take a spring break to Cabo, Mexico. Things turn nasty for Stephen and Kristin at a nightclub, which pushes him back to Lauren.

Episode 6 - The Best Part Of Breaking Up
The cast go to a Blink 182 concert up in San Diego but when an outsider insults Lo and Lauren, Trey is quick to jump to their defence.

Episode 7 - The Last Dance
It's prom time in Laguna Beach and while everybody is caught up with who's going with who, it finally dawns on the senior class mates that this will be their last ever prom of high school.

Episode 8 - Grin & Bear It
The gang take a camping trip over to Catalina but without Lo, Lauren feels left out.

Episode 9 - Graduation Day
It's finally Graduation Day for the senior class mates and while receiving presents from their families, a Senior Project Video is made to show the highlights of their senior year.
This was my favourite episode from this season as it was full of fun and actually made me think... why doesn't Britain have a Graduation from high school, we do nothing like this and it is such a big deal out in America and really is a special day, not only for the students, but also the families aswell.

Episode 10 - The First to Go
Now that they have finally graduated, everybody is getting ready to leave for college. Trey is the first to go, but not without throwing a party at his house first.

Episode 11 - Dunzo
With Stephen about to leave for San Fransisco, it's time for everybody to say goobye, but luckily there is one person who he won't have to say goodbye to.
I really liked the final episode as there was plenty of highs and some lows too, especially as everybody was leaving and having to say goodbye. This was one of my favourite episodes.

DISC THREE
Deleted Scenes
Various scenes that were deleted from the actual show.
In my opinion, I actually think that some of these scenes should have been put into the show, as some of them are very good.

Cast Interviews
This shows quite lengthy interviews with the cast members about certain topics, all which happened within the season.
These are good but some of them drag on for too long.

LC's House Tour
During the first couple of episodes, we see Lauren's new house being built. This shows you around the newly built house.
I found this really good to watch, because it is such a beautiful house.

Casting Tapes
This includes videos of when MTV were casting for the show. The cast members basically talk about their life and why they think it would be a good idea for MTV to document their life.
These were really interesting to watch as they happened before filming even began.

Lo's Guide to Laguna Beach
Here Lo takes you on a tour of Laguna Beach, highlight some of the cool places to hangout.
This was fairly interesting to watch too but felt that there could of been more places shown, instead of three or four.

Behind the Season One finale with Kristin and Trey
This shows you behind the scenes of the finale that aired on MTV. It also gives you some clues as to what is coming up in season two.

Laguna Beach Highlights
*One The Laguna Triangle
This recaps over the love triangle between Lauren, Stephen and Kristin.

*Two Laguna Looks
I don't really get the point of this feature, it just shows you various clips of the cast all pulling the same kind of faces, such as one eyebrow up, or a frown or a cheeky smile. A little bit pointless but a nice touch all the same.

Music Videos
This features music videos from clips in the film, a good feature but not one I watch regularly.

Overall, there is some good extra bonus clips, especially the deleted scenes and LC's house tour.

On the whole, the episodes of Laguna Beach really kept me hooked. There was enough drama to keep me going throughout the whole serious and it's easy to forget that it's real! I thought this sort of thing only happens in soap-land! The episodes link together really well and when Lauren narrates at the beginning, it helps to remind you of what happened in the previous episode.
A good soundtrack to the series helps too, as it helps with the emotion and I have to admit, the music does make up feel the emotions that they are going through, especially when they are crying - if you get my drift! Lol
Even though Laguna Beach is a rich place, you get the idea that they are rich kids and snobbish. They may live in nice house and drive nice cars, but they are pretty down to earth teenagers and don't live with their heads in the clouds.
Hilary Duff sings the opening titles song, "Coming Clean."

The covers of the DVD cases feature photographs of the cast members and a full list of episodes.

I think that this DVD would be great for anybody who watches soaps, and likes to watch a lot of drama - except this is real!
There isn't really any downsides, just that some of the words that they use is not what we are used to in the UK, such as gnarly... and stoked. But eventually you do understand what they mean, especially as they use them so often!

Season one is currently on sale on Amazon for £9.97 but £25.00 on play.com, which is the RRP. Personally, I wouldn't spend £25 on this, £10 is about right I would say!

Other Information
There is a Season 2 DVD which features the same cast but also some added members. There is also a spin-off of this show called The Hills which follows Lauren to Los Angeles. This has proved to be more popular and is now on its fourth season. 

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