Customer Reviews

The 2002 Olympic Games - Olympic Highlights

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Each event is glossed over so quickly that if you blink you'll miss it. The best parts of the opening and closing ceremonies (such as the T-Rex's) are omitted. I wanted to throw it in the trash seconds after I started watching it. (The commentator's narration is particularly grating.)

If you'd like a DVD with good coverage of figure skating, get the "Salt Lake 2002 Figure Skating the Competition/the Exhibition" two DVD set (oddly enough, also produced by NBC). This set, while not perfect, includes the entire routines--complete with original music, commentary, and audience reaction. It truly recaptures the magic of the moment.

This could have been a pleasant enough souvenir of the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is not surprising that each sport is given a miniscule amount of time, with only a few seconds each devoted to the opening and closing ceremonies. It is not surprising that, whenever possible, the producers acted as if only Americans were competing in each sport. What IS surprising is that the producers chose to underscore almost every second of the documentary (even the figure skating!) with cheesy synthesizer music. Go ahead and get it, but be forewarned. And the bonus footage IS well-done.

A moving tribute to the games; however, I would have liked to see more event footage rather than just event highlights and those sappy human interest stories. Costas's voice is fine as narrarator (he's got my vote for the sequel too, if he wants the job). If NBC heeds the call for a follow up ("More Olympic Highlights" or "v2002.2") it would be great to see:
-more behind the scenes footage (perhaps never before aired).
-what it was like to be there: to obtain tickets and to attend an event (including traffic, bus rides, and security).
-scenes from the olympic village (athletes quarters), and olympic square/medals ceremonies (downtown).
-clips from Jay Leno's hysterical late night coverage (including "Ross the Intern's" live reports).
-medal award ceremony pagentry, awards, and concerts.
-and full coverage of sporting events including opening and closing ceremonies (even if it requires a boxed set).

I expected this DVD to feature some complete events and it did
but it was not the original, had its own music over it and just plainly... For example, the pairs skating of both the Russian and Canadian teams, yes they were complete, but it wasn't the one seen on TV with the music that they skated to with the commnetary. It has music over it and was extremely dissapointing. If you want to remember the events for the way they happened, this DVD isn't the way to go

Luckily, my experience with this product was borrowing it from a library; had I purchased it, I would have considered it quite a waste of money.

Although I am not a sport fanatic, there has always been something special about the Olympics in my mind, whether winter or summer. Therefore, when I saw this in the library, I thought it might be interesting to see some of the best of Salt Lake City.

Well, first off, I was sorely disappointed with the point of view taken for this project. If an American was a contender and did not win, it was played out as a huge tragedy, rather than (surprise!) somebody from another country being extremely talented. Of course, this is an American DVD about an Olympics that took place in America, but that doesn't mean that the Americans should win in every sport.

Secondly, this DVD only touches the very surface of the sports of the Olympic games. To anybody who has a deep love of any of the sports, seeing 5 minutes of that sport isn't going to make the price of the DVD worth it.

This DVD also 'makes nice' with some of the controversies that occurred. Of course, because the scandal with the judging of the pairs figure skating was such a big deal, and because it resulted in a second set of gold medals being awarded in that event, this was mentioned. However, I was hoping to get some clarification of what happened to Spain with at least one of the skiing events (I think they had a medal revoked), but as far as I saw, there was no mention of this whatsoever.

Not that I'm a huge figure-skating fan, but one of the things that sticks out in my mind is how incredibly Alexei Yagudin skated, and how the rivalry between him and Yevgenii Plushenko was so heated. In this trite overview, more time was spent introducing the American men's skaters, reducing the clip of Yagudin's performance to a few seconds (with some dumb fill-in music in the background) and no picture of Plushenko at all.

I think they would have been better off going all out, and making this into a disc set, where one could watch more of the sports, or taking some of the most popular sports (such as figure skating) and release the video of the competitions as individual DVDs.

NBC has received criticism for its delayed and fragmented coverage of the Olympic Games in the past. Unfortunately, this compilation of brief and biased footage exacerbates the flaws of the broadcast coverage.

The worst part was really the commentary: the sound editing as well as the writing. Not only did the creators use synthesized music throughout and for the figure skating performances, the actual footage is edited poorly. The atheletes' mouths move slightly behind their words. As for the poor writing, "cheesy" is the appropriate word. The writer(s) try to use poetic devices such as alliteration and rhyme to liven the relentless narration (read by Bob Costas). What you hope will be original Olympic commentary (complete with tension, emotion and audience reaction) ends up sounding more akin to flashy news shows like "Hard Copy."

The other worst part was the brevity. Not only did the creators take away original commentary, they took away most of the action as well. Each section is extremely fragmented, broken and completely interpreted for you. The bonus footage involves complete runs of Jim Shea's bobsled, and the women's U.S. gold medalists in bobsled. Otherwise, you may see brief shots of the faces of U.S. and (if you're lucky) non-American medalits. The original Olympic commentary is just as brief: maybe one phrase or sentence on occasion.

The best part was the music (as the sound didn't have to match any moving mouths) and some nice shots of beautiful mountains. But I recommend buying a John Williams CD and looking for pictures online before making this purchase.

The idea of compiling such highlights onto DVD, with different chapters for each sport, is a good one. But only Americans need buy. And only people who do not care for original commentary and spontaneous moments need bother. Unfortunately, this compilation is put together too poorly and most likely hastily for me to recommend its quality.

Ok, my four star rating is because I can't give any sports related DVD anything less... I know, I know, I'm pretty messed up right?

Ok, if you're going to cover the Olympics in a DVD set, why don't you make two types: one short version like this one (for re-cap appreciating fans) and one considerably more expensive long coverage one (for total Olympic fans).

I'm sure that Olympic fans wouldn't mind paying a lot more for a set that covers more specifics. I mean, they're every four years, we need something to carry us over each time... this short DVD is not enough.

I hope that the company reads some of these reviews so that they can figure out that they will have a profit base if contemplating a longer DVD set...

It was a good effort to try to show all the different winter sports. I had bought the 1998 video, which I had enjoyed.
The skating was the most disappointing. It has short and I mean short footage of the figure skating. What is shown isn't even the correct music, but elevator music. With the commentator on top of that. There isn't anytime to enjoy or appreciate the sport.
I wish I could get my money back. Save your money. Next Olympics buy a blank tape, record the parts you like. You will fare better than buying this DVD.

It tries to cover as many events as possible but does neither justice. I also feel that it was done in such a manner as trying to be as 'politically correct' as possible as they seem to go out of their way to minimize the Americans presence in the games. They also barely mentioned any controversies.
I bought it hoping that it would cover the games from a historic perspective and give the viewer a feeling of being there. It did not mention the venues in any great detail, the city or state, or the hard work of the locals. It did not mention the commradery of the competitors that comes along every few years. It did not capalize on the thousands of feet of footage available and barely even touched on the limits of the DVD format. They told the story - but only at an arms length. Even interviews with were in the 'bonus' section of the DVD.

What a waste! I'll try the figure skating tape (which is what I'm interested in). But on VHS? Give me a break!

The problem with this video is the incomplete footage throughout the video. I was hoping there would be the complete opening ceremony, but only got a two minute highlight. Each event highlight segment is too short to really appreciate what was accomplished. Also missing is the editorials about the athletes and countries. The video just seems really incomplete and I wished there was more.