I remember watching this back in 1996 (to commemorate 50 years of the NBA), when it first aired on TNT (the network that produced this documentary). Being a basketball fan, I enjoyed it quite a bit and actually learned more about the history of basketball. It is a well-made documentary and many will agree. It definitely has its moments. Personally, I enjoyed the segment on the rivalry of Magic and Bird; Isiah Thomas and the Pistons; and of course -- being a huge Michael Jordan fan -- the story on MJ was my most favorite. That being said, however, my review is more based on the DVD itself.
During that time, they kept showing this documentary as an encore presentation, so I taped it. I've watched it several times back then. However, as most of you know, the video quality on VHS is poor (especially since I recorded it on EP), and I also didn't cut the commercials; therefore, since I enjoyed this documentary and being the basketball fan that I am, I wanted to own a copy of this DVD in my collection. Unfortunately, what a disappointment:
They actually REMOVED several footage and replaced it with something inferior. Not only that, but they also changed a lot of the music for this documentary. The old music went really well with the footage before -- it fit the mood perfectly. In this new revised DVD edition, however, the replaced music now is just mediocre (since they kept some music the same, why did they have to replace others?). Moreover, even though the scene is supposed to be a dramatic moment, they replaced it with some uptempo music. Why?! Who's the idiot that decided to change the audio? I could not enjoy the Michael Jordan segment as much as I did with the broadcast version. More examples: they got rid of the Bulls intro music when the camera panned Jordan from bottom to top with something that doesn't match as well. Why? And they also got rid of Jordan's "I Want To Be Like Mike" song, which fit the mood perfectly (especially since they kept the footage of Charles Barkley singing it).
Don't they know the saying: "If it's not broken, don't fix it!"?!
I was also diappointed with the DVD quality. This is definitely one of those VHS straight to DVD conversion movies: the quality is nothing to be amazed about and there is absolutely no bonus features on the DVD. The menu is extremely basic, even an amateur can make a better DVD menu if they had the software to do it.
If it's your first time watching this documentary, I'm sure you can care less about me knit-picking on some footage or music -- but just be aware: this DVD is actually inferior to the original broadcast.
I'm sure it was Warner Bros.' idea to screw with TNT's version.
