Plot: What’s it about?
One must wonder what it’s like to be Tiger Woods. Even for those who aren’t familiar with the game of golf, odds are that the name most certainly rings a bell. Woods, like many athletes before him, has become synonymous with the game he plays. We’ve seen him everywhere from Buick commercials to doing a parody of Carl from “Caddyshack” on an American Express commercial. Still, above and beyond all of this, Tiger is perhaps the most recognizable sports figure in the world. Like Wayne Gretzky in Hockey and Michael Jordan in Basketball (both of whom have contributed to this DVD collection), Woods is simply the best there is at his sport – though his recent slip from the World’s #1 golfer might indicate otherwise. What’s so amazing about Tiger is the fact that his success has transcended the sport. Before him (he turned pro in 1996), golf was still a sport that had not reached the mainstream. Sure, we knew names like Nicklaus, Palmer and Trevino, but that all changed when Tiger burst on the scene just 8 years ago. He took the game and made it popular, and now a new, younger audience is discovering the game of golf all due to him. In his eight years on tour, he’s accomplished something that no other golfer has: he’s held the trophies for each of golf’s four majors at the same time (he won three in one year and the first of the next year). Only a handful of other golfers had ever won all four majors, let alone in one calendar year! This set is the chronicle of Tiger’s life with views from his family, friends and competitors. Anything and everything needed to know about Tiger is contained here.
Disc One: His Life
Everyone has a starting point and the natural place to start is at the beginning. This disc focuses on Tiger’s parents, and shows the young prodigy. Evidently his parents were expecting good things from him as he held a golf club just after he began to walk. We see the origins of his tireless work ethic, the countless trophies and titles among others. The disc features interviews with his parents and those who knew him when, all help shape what would become the greatest golfer in the world.
Disc Two: His Majors
Anyone who knows Tiger Woods knows that he, like Jack Nicklaus, has geared his career around the majors (Masters, US Open, The British Open and the PGA Championship). Viewers won’t see him on television each and every week as he’s preparing for one of the majors or some of the other big tournaments of the year. Woods has already won 8 major titles in a sport where one guarantees you a spot in the history books. He hasn’t won a major since the 2002 US Open, but according to his coaches and peers, he’s poised to win many more. Jack Nicklaus holds the record with 18 Major Tournament wins and Tiger has had his mind set on breaking that record ever since he was a little kid. With all that Tiger’s conquered, this is the one record he’d like to break before his career is over. The questions is will (or when) he?
Disc Three: His Legacy
There’s no question that Tiger Woods is already one of the most successful golfers ever, but this raises the question as to who will come along to dethrone him? Well, actually that happened earlier in 2004 when, for the first time in five years, Vijay Singh took over the spot of World’s #1 golfer. But with so much impact that one man has had on the game, it’s only a matter of time before some of the kids who were inspired by Woods will start showing up in tournaments to play against him. The legacy of Tiger Woods might not be in how many trophies or titles he has, but rather how he has almost single-handedly changed the face of golf in such a short time.
Video: How does it look?
The discs are all presented in a 1.78:1 anamorphic format, which was a nice surprise. I figured that this had “Full Frame” written all over it. That said, many of the clips from the tournaments and images from his childhood have been cropped to accommodate the wider image and hence, look a bit fuzzy. Granted, how good do we expect a home video clip of Tiger at the driving range from the mid 80’s? The interviews are very recent and they look the best, looking nearly hi-def in nature. The rest of the footage, as mentioned earlier, varies too much to assign it a correct score. Needless to say, I was impressed and other viewers should be as well.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio is a simple Dolby Digital 2.0 track that is more than adequate for the subject matter. I can’t imagine how much more depth a true 5.1 track would have as the content features conversation and the occasional clip from a tournament. Dialogue is fairly clear and some of the older clips tend to have a bit of muddiness to them, but that’s to be expected considering the source material. The series is narrated by Laurence Fishburne (of “The Matrix” among others), whose commanding voice sounds very natural. Surrounds are non-existent and, suffice it to say, this isn’t the type of program you watch to be blow away by the sound. A good job.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Each disc comes equipped with extras, starting out with the first (“Tiger’s Prowl” – His Life). We start out with “Tiger Talk” which is essentially some interviews with Tiger and his family. “Tiger’s Tales” tells of some of the brushes he’s had with greatness, celebrities (though he himself is a celebrity) and whatnot. He’s pretty modest about the whole thing, otherwise it would be fairly annoying. There’s a photo gallery showing his ever changing swing (for the better, of course). Lastly, we have “Tiger’s Chronology” which showcases Tiger’s Amateur golf awards. Disc Two (“Tiger’s Prey” – The Majors) has a pretty in-depth look at “Tiger’s Clinic”. He hits a majority of shots on command and essentially shows how good he really is. “Tiger’s Favorites” tells of some of Tiger’s favorite holes, his favorite shots he’s ever hit and some of his favorite holes in the world. This leads us up to “Tiger at the Majors” which is a text-based scorecard of his performance through the 2004 Majors. Lastly, we have another text based featurette in “Tiger vs. Jack” comparing the two through the first six years as professionals. Tiger, even in a “slump” now, is on track to break Nicklaus’ Major record. The third disc (“Tiger’s Prints” – His Legacy) starts out with “Tiger’s Five” in which his fellow players count down his greatest shots on tour, oddly enough a hole in one is not among them…”Tiger’s Spots” has two American Express commercials (the one where he’s fishing and the one where he supposedly hits the golf ball across the country only for the dog to retrieve it), though I preferred the “Caddyshack” commercial which wasn’t included. “Tiger’s Cubs” focuses on The Tiger Woods Foundation and it’s effect on the youth of America and how much money has been raised. The guy is not just a great athlete, but a philanthropist as well. Good for him. “Tiger’s Wins” is a text-based feature showing Tiger’s PGA tour wins since 1996. Lastly, a trailer for his new video game is included. All in all, just about everything you wanted to know about Tiger Woods (through 2004) is contained here, so Tiger fans…rejoice.
