Customer Reviews

Ultimate Gretzky 4-disc Special Edition

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The NHL did a great job with this. The main program of the dvd consists of an interview with Wayne conducted by John Davidson, as they talk about Wayne's career from start to finish, while showing all the big highlights. John Davidson asks insightful questions, and Wayne is very candid about his career. The main program itself is nearly 2 hours long. There is also a multitude of special features, along with the 5 complete games, which makes it well worth the purchase alone.

The best thing about this dvd collection is that its not cheesy. Sometimes, videos like this can be a little over the top in its presentation or lack of quality, but not here.

A lot of reviews from the original 2 disc version complained of a lack of older footage. Although a majority of the footage may have been from games that most long time hockey fans or Canadians have seen over and over again, the footage overall was new to me and great to see, as it is rarely shown in the U.S. So, I believe there is a lot of old footage of the Oilers days.

For 30 dollars or less, this is an unbelievable value. Any hockey fan would love to have it. Hopefully, the NHL will produce future dvds of the same quality for other players, such as Lemieux and Hull.

Like the other poster said, the video is lacking. There is more time devoted to camera shots in that tropical room than there is to highlights, which, if I recall is the reason this DVD was possible in the first place. I was expecting much more footage, particularly from the Edmonton days. Lots of great stories that could have been delved into, but they weren't even acknowledged.

Why Keifer Sutherland is involved is beyond me. Maybe he's hockey fan, so what? A narrator over the video would have been fine.

Also, you might think 2 discs means lots of footage, but what you have is the wedding fantasy camp, bloopers...the only good things on it are the last game in Canada and the last game, but those are on the first disc.

It seems whoever put this together wanted to show they can package something, and they would rather tell people how great Gretzky was, rather than show it. Case in point: he got 200 points 4 times and they spend about 15 seconds on that fact.

I would recommending purchasing something else as a gift. This collection is not going to satisfy anyone who grew up in those days and wants footage. The SportsCentury on ESPN Classic will give you just as much.

I did not get a chance to watch Gretzky play until he was near the end of his career, so I was looking to this dvd to have significant footage of Gretzky in action. It simply does not.

It does provide insight into Gretzky's thoughts about his career and the NHL in general, which is interesting. Also, some of the bonus footage is decent: e.g., the 2002 Olympics segment (although again, not enough actual hockey footage); behind-the-scenes footage of the Pond of Dreams shoot.

I searched EVERYWHERE for these, and I finally found them at dvddossier.com:

December 30, 1981 - Edmonton vs. Philadelphia.
Wayne scores his 50th goal of the season in just 39 games.

1983 All-Star Game
Wayne scores 4 goals and earns game MVP honors.

May 19, 1984 - Edmonton vs. New York Islanders
Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Wayne and the Oilers win their first of four Stanley Cups.

May 29, 1993 - Los Angeles vs. Toronto
Game 7 of the Campbell Conference Finals. Wayne Gretzky puts on one of the greatest one-game performances in postseason history, scoring a hat trick and adding an assist to propel the Kings to the Stanley Cup Finals.

March 23, 1994 - Los Angeles vs. Vancouver
Gretzky scores goal No. 802, passing Gordie Howe in his quest to become the NHL's all-time goal scorer.

Let the debates begin

I'm extremely disappointed in this so called "Ultimate Gretzky" dvd. This dvd is for new fans only. There is nothing new in terms of highlites, and very little new in terms of anecdotes. What kind of carer retrospective doesn't even mention his time with the Blues? A dvd with 3 hours of footage should have at least a few rarely seen highlites thrown in for the long time fans. I think that I'm even more disappointed by the fact the Wayne himself was one of the producers. I have the Above and Beyond video from 13 years ago and it's above amd beyond this dvd.

This is a nice DVD set and a very good review of 99's remarkable career. John Davidson interviews Wayne and the conversation between the two is smooth and never seems forced. Certain sections are introduced by Keifer Sutherland. I can't say it's a complete look at his career (nothing on his brief stint with St. Louis) which is why I didn't give this set five stars. With the exception of the game where Wayne scores his 802nd career goal (Vancouver's broadcast of the game is the one on here), all games are CBC telecasts. The games are all restored and look and sound as good as they could possibly be. You'll either like or be annoyed by the removal of a lot of the time between faceoffs of the games. A recommended purchase for Wayne's fans and all hockey fans.

There is something lacking about this DVD. It's hard to put your finger on, but after watching it, I felt slightly unfulfilled by it. It has some great Gretzky footage, but there is no question they have more. If anything, I would say this DVD is short on footage. Don't get me wrong, there is some terrific footage here, some that I had never seen before (I also own the Above and Beyond video), but there no high-lights of brilliant passes to Kurri; Gretzky doing ridiculous stuff on the penalty kill, stuff I was hoping for. They also managed to gloss over like four or five years in Edmonton. They talk about winning the first cup, then they just show a montage of the Oilers hoisting three more. Not a single shot of him in a Blue's Uniform, not much about the King's either. That being said, it is still a great DVD and I highly reccomend you purchase it.

I would not hesitate to buy this DVD for ANYONE. I thought there was a lot of great Gretzky footage included in the DVD, especially plays that I haven't seen before. For those who think there isn't a lot of footage, please remember, not all Oiler games in the 1980's were broadcast!
I also enjoyed hearing from Kiefer Sutherland, Glen Sather, Craig Simpson and Kevin Lowe in the DVD.
All in all, I loved the stories and the footage. I especially enjoyed the "scenes from the cutting room floor" on the bonus DVD. A nice touch.
This DVD is a must for any Gretzky/Hockey fan.

It is annoying that they come out with "Special Editions" after releasing the original version. Basically, it like saying "We know you already spent $40 on this, but now we want another $40." Three of those greatest games are valid (81, 84 and 93) but the 83 All Star Game and 94 Goal #802 game have no business being on there. They should have game 7 from the 87 finals and game 2 of the 87 Canada Cup on there. Game 2 of the 87 Canada Cup was his best game ever. Watch it. He is all over the ice, he plays a ton of minutes and he plays at the absolute top of his game the entire way.

This is a great set. It is a shame for those customers who had already purchased the 2-disc version... All-in-all there's a lot of great hockey on here. The editing could have been smoother - as soon as there's a whistle you jump to the face-off; it may take a minute to figure out what the result of the whistles was - sometimes the edits rush you along so quickly you wonder if a penalty was actually called. I guess you can get used to it. Also, the set focuses almost entirely on Wayne's carrer as a goal scorer, obviously that's probably the most exciting aspect, but in a 4-disc "Ultimate Gretzky" set I would have liked to see more about the well-rounded player he was. It would have been nice to have some highlights for all of his assists - Wayne the incomparable set-up man. Otherwise, thoroughly enjoyable.