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The Movie:
"Dodger Blue: The Championship Years" is a newly-produced program that takes a look at the various famed lineups that the team has employed over the years, ranging from the 1955 Dodgers to some of today's most famed athletes on the team. "Championship Years" runs only a little over an hour, meaning that the program does compress eight seasons into fairly short bits. However, the feature is well-produced and informative, qualifying as a satisfying highlight reel for the former Brooklyn team. Players highlighted include: Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koulfax, Steve Garvey, Kirk Gibson, Orel Hershiser and others.
Track Listing
1. Program Open
2. 1955 World Series Champions
3. 1959 World Series Champions
4. 1963 World Series Champions
5. 1965 World Series Champions
6. 1974 National League Champions
7. 1977 & 1978 National League Champions
8. 1981 World Series Champions
9. 1988 World Series Champions
10. Future Champions
The DVD
VIDEO: "Dodger Blue" is presented by Shout Factory in the program's original 1.33:1 full-frame aspect ratio. Understandable for a highlight reel that spans many years, the image quality definitely varies throughout the show. Sharpness and detail are inconsistent, but the image usually maintained a respectable level of definition.
As for problems, some of the older footage did look a bit worn, but overall, the presentation generally appeared clean. Some minor shimmering was visible, but didn't take away from the overall impression much. No pixelation or edge enhancement was spotted, and colors appeared bright and well-saturated, with no smearing. The one big problem with the presentation visually is that the Major League Baseball logo is clearly visible in the top right corner of the screen for the whole program.
SOUND: The 2.0 soundtrack was perfectly adequate, with clear dialogue, although there were some archive clips that sounded a tad scratchy. There is also a 5.1 option, but there was really no need for or effective use of 5.1 heard here.
EXTRAS: Hall of Fame induction speeches from Tommy Lasorda, Don Drysdale and Duke Snider.
Final Thoughts: Fans of the Dodgers and baseball history in general will likely find this to be a fun program, although it's rather limited at just over an hour. The DVD presentation offers fine audio quality, decent image quality (the logo present during the entire program is an irritation) and a couple of nice supplements.
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