NFL Films: Super Bowl Collection - Super Bowl XXI-XXX

These Super Bowl DVD box sets have been simply the best, I tell ya. If you haven't already, you have to check out the first two box sets.

Not only do these sets have highlights from the Super Bowls, but they have highlights from the season play leading up to each Super Bowl! And what highlights they are.

There's two special features segments for each Super Bowl event.

The Super Bowls themselves on this set are:

Denver v. NY Giants / Denver v. Redskins / 49ers v. Bengals / 49ers v. Denver / NY Giants v. Buffalo / Washington v. Buffalo / Buffalo v. Dallas / Buffalo v. Dallas (again) / San Diego v. 49ers / Dallas v. Pittsburgh

The first two box sets are the two most cherished dvd sets in my collection. And I love DVDs, a little too much probably.

I really enjoy the season and Super Bowl highlights that NFL Films does every year. There were some exciting (XXIII,XXV) and boring (XXIV,XXVII) super bowls during this time. The special features are good as well. My only problem and I noticed from reading another review is that the Super Bowl shows are cut a little bit such as no Whitney Houston in super bowl XXV or no post game celebration in XXIII. I would perfer to see them uncut. Some reviewers are upset that these dvd's don't contain the original broadcasts of the game and how they were ripped off. Maybe they should make that a little more clear, but the back of the DVD does say that it was produced by NFL Films. I find it interesting that the NFL is the only sport that does not show the original broadcast of its games. On ESPN classic for example, they show old NBA, MLB, and NHL broadcasts, but for the NFL, only show NFL Films shows, not the broadcast. I think the NFL should show them in the future and see how the announcers called and how the networks showed the game. I would love to see the broadcasts of Superbowl I and III. However, I am happy to see the superbowl highlights from NFL Films released on DVD.

This product was a terrible terrible disappointment. I purchased this product expecting to get the play-by-play presention of the Superbowls. Instead, what I got was an unbelievably overproduced rehash of the half hour superbowl shows that are seen on ESPN.

Each "Superbowl" DVD is organized into two parts; a review of the season, and the superbowl. Both parts are travesties that are almost beyond belief.

The review of the season is nothing more than a collage of out-of-context film clips with voice-overs. It was designed as artistic pabulum meant for only the most casual of football fans (i.e., a gift idea for a non-football fan to give to a real football fan - thinking it would be a good gift!). It is not organized by conference or team or game or anything like that. These are simply a very subjective compillation of play highlights that leave the viewer remarkably uninformed about the overall history of that particular year in NFL History. There were no statistical presentations - not even a chart showing the league standings!

The Superbowl part itself was even more disappointing - if that is possible. Make no mistake! This product is most definitely not an historical record of each Superbowl. This product will not show any of the following information...

1. You will not see any pre-game analysis or get any sense the almost palpable tension the precedes each Superbowl.

2. You will not see a play-by-play of the game. 80% to 90% of the plays will have been cut out.

3. You will not hear any play-by-play analysis from the announcers as the game unfolds. All of this has been cut out.

4. You will not see any of the normal play-by-play views of the game. NFL Films doesn't have them. You will only see those sickening close-ups and slow motion shots. Thats all they do!

5. You will not see the formations, or the normal scale view of each play as it unfolds.

6. You will not see any of the plays on each team's drives that NFL Films does not deem to be of sufficient interest; 90% of them.

7. You will not see the half time show. It has been cut out.

8. You will not see any post-game analysis or interviews.

To be fair, the problem with this product is not entirely NFL Film's fault. They don't advertise the fact that this is not network film. NFL Films shoot their own film and it is not the same film as the network coverage. It is not meant to be. They are selling you their film. It is the only film they have to sell. They should be given credit for offering for sale the only historical NFL film that is currently available.

This begs the question: Why aren't the networks themselves making the historical NFL telecasts available? Why can't we buy the actual telecasts of the games? Why can't we buy every telecast game of our favorite team for a whole season? One has to believe that the networks are sitting on a huge huge gold mine and don't even know it! Perhaps they haven't lost enough market share to cable yet.

I guess my biggest disappointment with this product is not what it is, but what I thought it would be. The unforgivable fault of NFL Films is that they don't make clear that this product is not the original telecast of the games - enhanced or otherwise.

Jim Yarbrough