Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: NY Islanders, hockey
Likes: The dinner discussion concept
Dislikes: Playing it safe
Hates: NY Rangers

The Movie
(For the sake of full disclosure, I used to work for the New York Islanders.)

Let's set some ground rules. In my world, to be a dynasty, you have to win four straight championships. I'm of the opinion that people use the term dynasty too loosely. If three consecutive wins is a threepeat, dynasty must be four straight. Four in five years is impressive, but you had the pressure valve of not getting it done at one point. That certainly wasn't the case for the New York Islanders.

An upstart team from little Long Island, New York, the Islanders quickly built a powerhouse team in the late '70s, just a few years into their existence, thanks to some incredible drafting. Selecting one of the greatest offensive defensemen ever (Denis Potvin), perhaps the best pure scorer ever (Mike Bossy) and the finest two-way center in history (Bryan Trottier), and supplementing them with top-notch role players like Bobby Nystrom and Butch Goring and the greatest money goaltender of his time, Billy Smith, the Islanders put together a four-time championship squad that set a record that will never be broken in winning 19 straight playoff series.

It's been a while since those glory days on Long Island, but the memories are still fresh, and with the present day franchise in a slump, remembering the past successes has been a popular pastime in Islander Country. So on the 25th anniversary of the dynasty, the team celebrated the feat with a celebration dubbed "The Core of the Four," focusing on the group of players who were on all four Stanley Cup-winning teams, along with Hall of Fame coach Al Arbor and general manager Bill Torrey. As part of the event, the players, with the noticeable exceptions of Potvin and Smith, got together for dinner at Rothmann's, a popular haunt for the players back in the day. Joined by dynasty broadcaster Jiggs McDonald, they sat down in small groups, swapping out participants, talking about the good ol' times.

Moderated by McDonald, the conversation is edited down to focus on a number of topics and stories, maintaining a light, friendly tone throughout (which makes sense, since the disc is meant for fans of the team.) If you are at all knowledgeable about the dynasty years (and especially if you've read Alan Hahn and Peter Botte's books on the team), there's not a lot of new info revealed here. Mixed in-between the conversation clips and one-on-one moments are the top 10 moments from the dynasty years, presented with highlights and really great still photo title cards. The way the content is presented is pretty solid, keeping some decent momentum via a variety show sort of feel, that moves around quite a bit in terms of the themes, though there's a fair bit of repetition in what's said.

While the whole affair is interesting to watch for fans of those four Teams (or really five if you count the season that followed the dynasty), there's not a lot of the dirt or inside scoops you'd hope for from a casual affair like this. Several players actually make mention of not being able to tell certain stories in front of the camera, which is a real disappointment. Also a let down is the fact that Potvin and Smith aren't a part of the piece, as they are two of the more colorful members of those two teams. As someone who has had a meal with Smith and was enthralled by his tales, he would have been a tremendous addition, but probably would have had to have been cut from the DVD, which says it all about this disc.

The DVD
A one-disc release, this DVD is packed in a standard keepcase, with a four-page insert that lists chapter stops and participants. The disc features options to play the show and select scenes. There are no audio options, no subtitles and no closed captioning.

The Quality
Presented with a full-frame transfer, this DVD looks generally good, coming off like a decent TV presentation, with a clean image that suffers from obvious issues with digital artifacts, but there's some shaky camera work and focus issues that can annoy.

The audio is delivered as a PCM 2.0 track that is frustratingly similar to the video presentation, in that it is technically good, but the recording is flawed, resulting in uneven dialogue during the dinner chat segments. The audio is simply not up to par for a DVD that's all about people talking to each other.

The Extras
There are five extended interview clips included, over 16 minutes in all. There's nothing all that interesting past what you get in the main feature, making this basically a one-look extra, which can be viewed piece by piece, or all together.

The Bottom Line
Getting the chance to virtually hang with these hockey legends as they break bread and remember when is a cool concept, but, as we're reminded, there are many stories we aren't privy to, which makes this a very surface-level experience. The visuals are decent, but the audio is unfortunately uneven, while you do get some brief bonus material. Fans of the team, or the era, will certainly want to give this disc a look, but there's only so much of a draw because of how shallow the chat stays.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.