Customer Reviews

Beijing Olympics 2008 4-dvd Set

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This piece is divided into two parts that are vastly based on selected live NBC television broadcasts during the games. The first part presents overall but general commentary and presentation of the finals in the events as they came along (but the bias toward showing United states triumphs is singular). The second part is more specific, and starts with a chapter on the colorful Olympic ceremony..this is spectacular. The other chapters are on finals in events that the United States (and let us say Jamaican sprinters notably Usain Bolt) excelled. Hence, the DVD is biased toward finals and medal wins in the track sprints, track relays, and the hurdles; swimming (Phelps is there, of course), women's beach volleyball (Walsh and Treanor...the finals in which USA faced China are shown in their entirety), gymnastics, and women's soccer. The obvious demerit is the bias toward the United States, in the significant events in which the nation participated and achievd medals. Consequently, items like the middle- and long-distance running track, men's soccer, weightlifting, wrestling, boxing, cycling, and less traditional sports are left out. You also get the impression that the DVD was hastily put together, and commercially targeted. Nevertheless, the editing is excellent, and the DVD was put out comparatively quickly. It is a fact, for example, that a definitive DVD on the Games in Athens 2004 has never emerged, to this day. I still give this Beijing Coverage 5 points, but would wish that a DVD that covers the events more broadly and internationally would be created. After all, is not that what Olympic Games are about? We do want to see the performances of the Ethiopians, Iranians, Greeks, Sri Lankans, etc...the peoples of the world! The DVD "The Olympic Series," offers more broad perspectives on the Olympic events from 1920 to 2002, and it is one I would recommend to sports enthusiasts. And I would wish that this Beijing 2006 DVD were fashioned in that manner, or that a piece that is in the making would give us a more comprehensive presentation of the Games. Nevertheless, this Beijing DVD is excellent, though it will continue to generate negative notes, mostly depending on which events one prefers and what part of the world the reviewer is from. I rest my case!

So, not a lot of info online about this item. I picked this up and it is surprisingly decent. The main programme would be the actual highlights including the name-brand sports but they also mentioned the "scrubby" ones like shooting, archery, swords, etc. This section is hosted by Mary Carillo, not sure if she would be the best host but that's what NBC decided on, I guess.

On to the bonus features.

It has several track and field events, all finals, both of Usain Bolt's wins, and the US 1-2-3 finishes as well.

There are about 6 swimming events I think, it does not have all of Phelps' because they are all on the Phelps DVD, but this has the 100 relay that the US barely won, and a couple women's.

They also have all of Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin's all around performances and also both of the girls' beam final.

I also noticed that they have the gold medal women's beach vollyball match, it is supposed to be the entire match but I did not even watch it, maybe only the first minute.

And of course, the torch lighting ceremony is included in the bonus features.

The only gripe I have is that it is full screen and not HD, but it will do. It's a decent memento for anyone who did not DVR the events.

I'll start by pointing out that I'm glad someone has at least made a 'highlights' DVD of Beijing 2008, and that this DVD is well put together in terms of editing and overall production values. As far as I know, all TV coverage from any Olympics is the property of the Olympic Committee, regardless of who broadcasted it at the time, so if NBC forked out a lot of money to buy the right to release this DVD, I don't blame them for being biased towards the sports America did well in.

However, I feel this DVD is misnamed. The only sports covered in this hour long programme are the ones which the USA did well in, with the only exception being Usain Bolt's wins and world records. At least three times through the hour there were recaps and re-celebrations of sports they had already covered earlier in the hour, most notably swimming, at the expense of even mentioning sports where the USA did not place.

This wouldn't be a problem if the DVD were called "Team USA at the Beijing Olympics", but it's not, hence 2 stars.

I may myself be somewhat biased as I love cycling and was immensely proud of my home country for dominating the track cycling events and breaking world records, but the only cycling events covered on this DVD are the Women's road Individual Time Trial (because USA won) and the BMX (because USA got a few medals there too).

In summary, if like me you're from the UK and were looking for a DVD to remind you of how well we did in the Beijing Olympics, there isn't one I'm afraid. YouTube will have to suffice.

the bulk of this was the opening ceremony, which no doubt was spectacular, but I really wanted to see more than just that and Michael Phelps. These were good but I wanted more competitions....