AFL-The Electrifying 80's

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General		Extras
Category	Sports	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	?
Running Time	87:02 (Case: 90)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Aust. Football Video Visual Entertainment Group	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$32.95	Music	None Given

    Following on from the Sensational Seventies DVD, the AFL has released The Electrifying 80s which covers the highlights and lowlights through the 10 seasons of the 1980s. The feature appears to be a made-for-television program, produced in the early 1990s and hosted by Sandy Roberts. The footage again brings back fond memories of classic games and players. The game in this decade seemed to be in transition; a cross between the traditional brute force style of the 70s mixed with the pace and class of the 90s.

    The highlights of each season include:

    1980: Phil Carmen head-butting the boundary umpire and receiving a record 20-week suspension.

    1981: The start of the coaching careers of Kevin Sheedy, Robert Walls, and Malcolm Blight, and the debut of the seriously insane player Mark "Jacko" Jackson.

    1982: The move of the South Melbourne Swans to Sydney.

    1983: Controversy over the first aboriginal umpire, and champion player Kevin Bartlett the first player to reach 400 games.

    1984: The debut of two future legends - Tony Lockett at St Kilda and Gary Ablett at Geelong.

    1985: Two dark incidents - player John Burke suspended for 10 years (that's right) for kicking an opponent and then decking the umpire, and Leigh Matthews being charged with assault and appearing in court after breaking Neville Bruns' jaw.

    1986: The introduction of South Australian players Stephen Kernahan, John Platten, and Craig Bradley having a huge impact on the competition.

    1987: Introduction of the Brisbane Bears and West Coast Eagles into the competition, and Tony Lockett becoming the first Full Forward to win the Brownlow medal.

    1988: The night series becomes the pre-season competition, for many years known as the Fosters Cup.

    1989: The classic Grand Final between Hawthorn and Geelong, where the Cats come back behind the sensational Ablett, but fall short by 6 points.

    The feature includes some short interviews with players and coaches. Again, with all the classic footage of legendary players and coaches, this is a must for all AFL fans.

Video

    This time around there is no disclaimer about picture quality, and the standard is pretty much on par with what you expect from television shows back in the 1990s. All the footage is in colour, but the colours do seem quite muted. The grounds and the players' jumpers sometimes look very dull. The footage is a little soft and grainy at times, and black levels are okay. Sharpness did pick up slightly towards the latter half of the decade.

    There were no MPEG artefacts that I could detect, and no aliasing or edge enhancement. No subtitles are provided.

    This is a single layered disc and thus has no layer transition.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
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Audio

    An English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 Kb/s) audio track is provided that is satisfactory.

    The feature is a television programme taken from the early 1990s, with footage from throughout the 1980s, and so the sound quality is not fantastic, but is a big improvement over that provided for the footage in the Sensational Seventies feature. The commentary is much clearer overall.

    Music hits from the 1980s are used throughout the feature. It was most appropriate to use Take My Breath Away when showing the highlights of the marks of the year.

    As before, there is no surround or subwoofer usage throughout the feature.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu Animation & Audio

    The Channel 7 sports theme and football highlights are shown when viewing the main menu.

Ladders of the 80s

    Provides the ladders at the end of each season. Good for all the trivia buffs out there.

   The Electrifying 80s is another great bit of football history, and should be in every football fan's DVD collection. The introduction of new teams really paved the way for a national competition, and the debuts of so many legendary players such as Lockett, Dunstall, and Ablett gave a glimpse of how great these players would be in the 1990s. Go out and get it footy fans.

    The video quality is satisfactory for the age of the footage.

    The sound quality is satisfactory for the age of the source.

    The extras are nothing to write home about unless you're into memorising league ladders.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall