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Written by Noor Razzak
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Thursday, 27 December 2007 19:26 |
World Series ’05: The Chicago White Sox (2005)
R0 America
Shout Factory
The Film:
It was in 1917 that the Chicago White Sox last won the Baseball world series when they beat the New York Giants capturing the pennant in six games, ever since then a dark and gloomy history would reign over the Sox, this drought would last 88 years (They came close in 1959 against the Los Angeles Dodgers however lost in six games). Finally broken in 2005 when the Chicago White Sox would eventually win the World Series and their 88 year history was just that...history.
The 2005 season would prove a wondrous one for the team and its legion of die hard fans, although many doubted they would make it all the way to the World Series. The team was revamped and included a line-up of predominantly unknown players. Starting a season with an unproven line-up is a huge risk, but considering the team’s history a little risk is nothing compared to 88 years of dissapointment. The risk paid off early as the Sox held onto a stunning 15 game lead in the American League Central, some rough weather would befall the team leading into the end of summer but they would eventually make it through with a shot at the title. What attributed to this sudden and almost miraculous turn-around? Many sports journalists, fans and baseball analysts give praise to Manager Ozzie Guillen, he assembled a team whose abilities spoke for themselves, the management was simple and basically grass roots. You don’t need to spend millions on free agent stars to build your rooster, getting the right people with the right skills matched with those that can compliment them is the way Guillen approached this team, and it was this approach that took the Sox through an unforgettable season. Raking up the field and earning win after win, they held the best record in the American League, and when they paired up against the Huston Astros for the unforgettable World Series it was clear who the better team was.
This film is basically a documentary that includes the highlights from the amazing season, including regular season games leading up to and including the American League finals and highlights from all four games of the World Series. We get coverage from multiple angles and perspectives and interviews with key players and coaching staff. The highlights provide all the best and most thrilling moments of the year and the series and we also get an ample supply of documentary footage of the players, in interview pre-game and post-game. New fans and those being introduced to baseball for the first time will get a kick out of this release however I get the feeling that die hard fanatics of the Sox would prefer a DVD set containing the complete games (which will be available in March 2006 according to a leaflet insert inside the DVD case), although there is plenty here for the fan to appreciate.
This is an interesting and often exhilarating chronicle of the team’s inspirational season, considering their often disappointing history, 2005 was the White Sox’s year.
The DVD:
The package doesn't state the region anywhere but after checking the disc, it appears to be Region 0.
Video: Presented in 1.33:1, although full screen the transfer has a 1.78:1 letterbox mask, on a normal TV it appears to be widescreen but on a 16x9 monitor the image stretches. This would lead me to believe the transfer is non-anamorphic but what tipped me off that it was a standard image with a letterbox mask was at the end, where the end credits rolled over the bars, a disappointment as there is no reason to not have an anamorphic transfer. Additionally the transfer also has a small watermark on the top right of the screen of the Major League Baseball logo that was distracting at times. Despite this, the transfer is much better than TV broadcast quality, the image is sharp and detail is infinite. I am also very happy with the colors, they are bright yet well balanced so there is no evidence of color bleeding, and additionally skin tones are spot on.
Audio: Two tracks are included on this release and they are an English and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround track. For the purposes of the review I chose to view the feature with its original English audio. Although we don’t have a full 5.1 track it’s not entirely necessary for this release, the surround option works well. The dialogue is generally clear, especially the narration by actor Michael Clarke Duncan, however some dialogue is a little hard to hear at times, this is mainly relegated to the live-coverage commentary and some of the live-mic’d dialogue, in some cases the dialogue was inaudible that burnt-in subtitles appeared. I found that in this mix the volume fluctuated between the live game commentary, the mic’d players and the narrator. This inconsistency in the audio was a minor annoyance. Otherwise it’s a serviceable track that serves its purpose well. The feature also included some music mixed into the track and was well placed and never intrusive, these scored moments were included to add a dramatic feel to certain key plays.
Unfortunately there are no optional subtitles on this disc, hard of hearing fans are out of luck.
Extras: The only extras that are included on this release is a series of additional footage, below is a closer look at each of these clips.
Before you check out the additional footage, note that you can select any one of the ten clips to watch individually, or if you select the first, the entire lot will play one after the next.
These scenes are basically deleted or extended scenes from the documentary, there are ten in total and include:
- “Scott Podsednik’s World Series Game 2 Walk-off Homer” this clip runs for 1 minute 33 seconds and basically shows us the entire unedited play.
- “Grand Slam by Paul Konerko in World Series Game 2” this clip runs for 1 minute 14 seconds and just like the first clip before it is the complete unedited play.
- “Geoff Blum’s Game Winning Home Run in World Series Game 3” runs for 3 minutes 32 seconds and also include an interview clip after the play.
- “White Sox Clinch ALCS” this clip runs for 35 seconds and is an extended scene we see the last pay of the game and more of the celebration after that win.
- “White Sox Clinch ALDS” which runs for 59 seconds, here we get the last play that won them the series and some post-game celebration.
- “2005 World Series Trophy Presentation” this clip runs for 4 minutes 50 second and sees Major League Baseball Chairman Bud Selig present the trophy to White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, also featured and interviewed is Manager Ozzie Guillen and Senior V.P. and General Manager Ken Williams.
- “TWIB Classic: Former White Sox Shortstop Ozzie Guillen Fooled by Hidden Ball Trick Twice” this clip runs for 1 minute 42 seconds shows an embarrassing moment in Guillen’s baseball career in a game back in 1989 where he was fooled by this trick on two occasions.
- “1959 World Series Game 1 Highlights” this is basically a newsreel about the first game in that series, the piece runs for 5 minutes 55 seconds.
- “Booby’s Ready – Jenks K’s Jeff Bagwell” this clip runs 3 minutes 53 seconds and shows the complete play where Jenks strikes out star hitter Bagwell.
- “Final 3 Outs and White Sox Clubhouse Celebration” runs for 8 minutes 57 seconds and features the last three outs in Game 4, included is some behind-the-scenes footage of the preparations inside the clubhouse for the celebration and the celebration itself.
OVERALL:
This is a fairly good documentary commissioned by Major League Baseball Productions that fans will appreciate. The DVD would have been great with an enhanced anamorphic transfer but the 4:3 video looks clean enough. The extras are light but at least something's included, I would have liked to see some extended interviews with key players included as well as more behind-the-scene stuff. Otherwise this is a fairly good release, however if you’re not a fan of the White Sox this release will be lost on you.
Film – B
Picture – B-
Sound – B
Extras – B
Overall – B
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