Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator covers the short skating career of one Mark 'Gator' Rogowski. At first glance, you might pass this career off as a typical Behind the Music tale of irresponsibility and scandal, and you'd be half-right. However, there's a little more to the story, as director Helen Stickler provides a wealth of career footage and attempts to uncover just what went wrong in this young man's life.

In short, Rogowski pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of a friend of his ex-fiance, and was sentenced to 31 years to life (which he is presently serving). Before that, he had a history of run-ins with the law---including the assault of both a police officer and a fan---and it seemed that trouble was inevitable for Rogowski. He was a kid with more money than anyone could need (at one point, he was making $20,000 a month before the age of 18), and doubled as a true icon of skateboarding in the 1980s: brash, outspoken, and a true rebel. Yes, there's a story here, and Stoked does a decent job of telling it. Through interviews with Gator's friends and family, fellow skateboarders, and the aforementioned clips of Gator in his prime, viewers are granted behind-the scenes access to this young man's brief career.

As a documentary, Stoked is a mild success for Helen Stickler: it's a provocative story, and gives a great overview of the timeline of events. The interviewees are candid and honest, and never shy away from sharing their personal experiences with Mark Rogowski. Footage is mixed-in well with these interviews, and the pacing of this 80-minute piece is just the right length to really hold your attention. In that sense, Stoked is a perfect example of the technical goals that a documentary should really strive for.

However, I still didn't feel I was really getting the whole story.

Even during the most moving and chaotic events depicted in this documentary, I got the feeling I was missing something. For example, there's little to no coverage of Mark growing up, which undoubtedly had an effect on who he would become. Additionally, many pivotal characters are never really introduced as more than names, which distances the viewer from the overall story. Evidence from the case (as well as the case details) were approached more cautiously than I would have liked, and this hurts the overall impact of the story. Even with appearances by superstars such as Tony Hawk, I occasionally felt as if something was being left out.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not suggesting a huge conspiracy, but I felt that Stoked could have dug a little deeper. Still, with a few faults, it's a well-done documentary that will be of great interest to skating fans. This new DVD release by Palm Pictures is a worthy presentation of the movie, and contains a great selection of bonus footage and other goodies. Let's see what we get:

Since the majority of this footage was shot on the fly approximately 15 years ago, this isn't exactly a home theater demo. Still, the 1.33:1 transfer is relatively clean, and looks about as good as it ever will (again, this is due to the source material). Colors are strong and black levels look good, if not a touch on the light side. In any case, this is a solid visual effort that won't hinder your enjoyment of this documentary in the least.

Overall, I found Stoked to be a well-organized and interesting documentary, and the DVD is another great release from Palm Pictures. Even with a few faults, the story itself was compelling enough to make this documentary seem like a worthwhile effort. Although Stoked may not be something you'll want to watch on a regular basis, there's enough classic footage to consider this disc Recommended to any fan of skating or extreme sports. If you're only mildly interested in the subject, this one's still a solid rental.

NOTE: For an additional account of the complete story, check out the Village Voice link below. It's quite an interesting read, and contains a few facts not mentioned in the documentary.