39 replies to this topic

[FirstnameLastname]

Did anyone else enjoy these over the years? With modern tech like YouTube I’m not sure they are super relevant, and with the length of the seasons they’d be about 8hrs long now

I used to get the VHS every year, I just had a trip down memory lane after I found the 1998 season review on YouTube… I’d forgotten how corny the reviews were! I must have watched my copies so many times though.

Need to google now and see if they still do them, or when they stopped.

[FirstnameLastname]

Just had a look, they still make them but the ‘style’ is different I think. Looks like now they are just a montage of the YouTube highlight packages! The 98 one felt special as you saw bits you hadn’t seen on the terrestrial telly - but nowadays you see everything worth seeing at the time or over the course of the few days post-gp

[PlatenGlass]

I still get them every year as a present. They're fairly soulless and bland now. As you say, the races are just highlights with the commentary from the races rather than a narrative that knows what's coming up. It seems lazy.

 

But yes, I used to really enjoy them!

[PayasYouRace]

I think the last one I got was the 2010 one. Got bored of the lack of style and the increased length. Found I never watched them. Did go back and get some 80s and 90s ones on DVD. Definitely noticed a change in 1997, when they went to a “live commentary” style. The 1996 one is a very watchable 90 minutes, as is the 1993 one with the Jonathan Ross narration.

 

Obviously the Clive James narrated ones are classics, but some aspects haven’t aged well. The French Grand Prix “atmosphere” intro showing “a big girl”… Yeah these videos were definitely made for for a male audience.

 

Edit: I do also like the 1994 soundtrack. https://youtube.com/...oDAAUca2VX5R3_H

[JimmyClark]

I think 2008 was my last one - as per above, they became too long and bland.

It's a great collection to have though. The 90s were definitely the heydey of these reviews.

[Ruusperi]

I always liked the late 90s / early 2000s style story-telling:

 

Each round would start with a montage of the scenery, the fans and the atmosphere with appropriate music playing (like samba tune for Brazilian round), and then the review would start showing footage from FOM cameras instead of the international feed, so all the material was new for most people. Thanks to the material from FOM they would also cut to interviews from the pitlane (like Ross Brawn or Ron Dennis) or retired drivers, which was a nice addition. Then we got the results and the standings, after which there was a short feature of latest F1 news or in-depth content from the race.

 

The only thing that was lacking was that they hardly showed any material from the practice or the qualifying, probably due to the limitation of VHS duration and because they think that people are only interested in the race. I think it's the same reason why F1TV archive still doesn't have old practice or qualifying sessions. They just think it's a waste of space.

 

But yeah, that was the golden age of season reviews. I think they went downhill when Ben Edwards started narrating them. Not saying it was his fault, but it coincided with the change of style of the presentation. Also the shut down of Bernievision meant that unseen material got really thin, although in extras they would usually have onboard pole laps and some other goodies. But after F1 started their YouTube channel, new season reviews got obsolete, mainly because they started putting the highlights from YouTube straight to the disc. Why would you pay for something that you can watch for free? And if you have F1TV, you can watch the whole sessions instead of mere highlights.

 

At least Drive to Survive is trying to be something different than mere highlights. So in fact, they manage to capture the style of old season reviews better than current Duke reviews.

[messy]

I bought some of these a year or two ago digitally off their website - 1995/97/98 F1, 1998/99 WRC, 1998 BTCC. Then I changed computer when my old one died, tried to redownload them and found I couldn't, and they were gone forever because you lose access to download after 30 days or something. Wasn't impressed at all.

Used to love these back in the day. Won't be giving their site any more money.

Edited by messy, 28 September 2024 - 14:30.

[FLB]

I have this one... on Beta 

 

F1 Review 1981 - Start to Finish VHS : Duke Video

[IrvTheSwerve]

The 1996 one is a very watchable 90 minutes, as is the 1993 one with the Jonathan Ross narration.

 

Fun fact: His favourite driver is Leris Hamilton.

[OO7]

I think the last one I got was the 2010 one. Got bored of the lack of style and the increased length. Found I never watched them. Did go back and get some 80s and 90s ones on DVD. Definitely noticed a change in 1997, when they went to a “live commentary” style. The 1996 one is a very watchable 90 minutes, as is the 1993 one with the Jonathan Ross narration.

 

Obviously the Clive James narrated ones are classics, but some aspects haven’t aged well. The French Grand Prix “atmosphere” intro showing “a big girl”… Yeah these videos were definitely made for for a male audience.

 

Edit: I do also like the 1994 soundtrack. https://youtube.com/...oDAAUca2VX5R3_H

I like the 1988 intro using Pat Benatar's 'All Fired Up', as well as the 1991 intro.  I had the 1985 to 1994 season reviews, but threw them all away.

[Ali_G]

Simon Taylor did commentary on a lot of the late 80s ones if memory serves?

[FLB]

Simon Taylor did commentary on a lot of the late 80s ones if memory serves?

He did it for the 1981 review I mentioned above.

[Myrvold]

I bought some of these a year or two ago digitally off their website - 1995/97/98 F1, 1998/99 WRC, 1998 BTCC. Then I changed computer when my old one died, tried to redownload them and found I couldn't, and they were gone forever because you lose access to download after 30 days or something. Wasn't impressed at all.

Used to love these back in the day. Won't be giving their site any more money.

 

A bit like I was very unimpressed when all Duke content suddenly left motorsport.tv

 

Then again. It is Duke. They claimed copyright on content posted by the original broadcasters (that also has the rights still). So, ye.

[Ali_G]

Were these ever rereleased on DVD or all just on VHS for old seasons?

[PlatenGlass]

Were these ever rereleased on DVD or all just on VHS for old seasons?

 

I think they're all on DVD here:

 

https://www.dukevideo.com/F1

[PayasYouRace]

Simon Taylor did commentary on a lot of the late 80s ones if memory serves?

He did a few. He does the race narration in the 1996 one, which I rewatched this afternoon because of this thread. Someone else did the bits in between.

Annoyingly these videos didn’t have narration credits for the most part. Or any credits at all.

[PlatenGlass]

I remember a while ago looking up the guy who did the 1983 narration - Brian Kreisky - and finding he'd died in a helicopter crash. http://news.bbc.co.u.../uk/1085486.stm

 

There was a woman as well (pretending to be his wife I think) who was Barbara Rosenblat. Not sure if this is her: https://en.wikipedia...rbara_Rosenblat

 

Also, Peter Ustinov is on the 1987 video!

Edited by PlatenGlass, 28 September 2024 - 20:14.

[FirstnameLastname]

A lot of them are on YouTube these days

[Sterzo]

I remember a while ago looking up the guy who did the 1983 narration - Brian Kreisky - and finding he'd died in a helicopter crash.

Brian Kreisky was a cameraman, photographer, race reporter and "organiser of things" who was talked about in this thread:

https://forums.autos...g-photographer/

 

I vaguely remember he had some involvement in organising teams to attend (I think) the F3 Macau Grand Prix at one time.

 

Edited to add this link which is about the light aircraft accident, but also tells us more about him:

 

http://news.bbc.co.u.../uk/1085486.stm

Edited by Sterzo, 29 September 2024 - 10:14.

[balage06]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the short 12 min highlights on the F1TV archive are also from the Duke season reviews, just cut into separate videos per race. At least for certain seasons.

[Bleu]

From the older stuff I preferred slightly longer videos - I think around 10 minutes per round is good. Therefore something like 1988, 1989 and 1991 tell enough of the race.

[PlatenGlass]

I preferred the longer ones too. But not for the modern ones!

[Jellyfishcake]

Had the 1999 and 2000 season on VHS, absolutely loved them.

Have got the 2007, 2009 and 2010 seasons on DVD, but the feeling of the production wasn't as good as the 99/00 ones to be honest.

 

I've been tempted to pick up some 90s ones on DVD, because I like the style, and good to look back at that era of F1 

[TennisUK]

Was it the 1986 one that was unwatchably bad? 85 maybe. Very bad indeed. Ustinov and Clive James one were great.

Edited by TennisUK, 29 September 2024 - 18:19.

[PayasYouRace]

86 is a good Clive James one.

 

There was one narrated by the drivers. Was that the one you’re thinking of?

[PlatenGlass]

1985 was narrated by the drivers.

[SB]

I think they're all on DVD here:

 

https://www.dukevideo.com/F1

 

I've bought the DVD boxsets of 80's and 90's review during Covid 'work from home' period to kill time 

[chdphd]

I had all the VHSs and they all went to the dump when I moved house 12 years ago. I moved job very quickly and didn't find anyone who wanted to collect them.

 

I watched them all many times. 1983 was probably my least watched due to the low sound quality and that annoying husband/wife schtick even though it was an interesting year.

 

I have the DVDs from 2004 to 2012 -  I used to get them as an Xmas present. I didn't watched them much. I stopped asking for it in 2013. I have all the 1970s DVDs and a few specials, like a couple of Jim Clark ones and the on board  "Lap of the Gods" one.

 

I've not watched a DVD for many years.

[FirstnameLastname]

^ same - I don’t even have a DVD player in the house these days

Funny how times change.

I remember ‘collecting’ (hoarding) every F1 racing mag from 1997 to the mid 2000’s - and then when I moved house just chucking the lot in a skip! Couldn’t be arsed with the space they took up.

I saw these the other day (Morrisons if anyone is interested)

There would have been a day where I wouldn’t have thought twice about scooping them up… when I used to see them in the back of F1 Racing mag but we were far too poor to waste money on expensive ‘toys’ like these. (Turns out in 2024 they aren’t expensive at all!)

[midgrid]

A couple of dedicated people have spent a lot of time locating the music used in the official VHS (originally) reviews (and the later DVDs) and uploading them to YouTube: https://youtube.com/...geUl_KpWOMQZnrY

[absinthedude]

I have the VHS tapes 1982-1989. From 1990 I started recording and keeping all the races myself until about 2018 when I began to lose interest and kept highlights downloaded from YouTube. THe last couple of years I haven't bothered at all.

 

The Duke tapes are very of their time. I do especially like the ones voiced and scripted by Clive James. The one Peter Ustinov did wasn't great....there's one (1985?) voiced by the drivers themselves. The early ones, it wasn't clear what customers wanted. From 84 onwards they seem to have decided more or less on the format and it works. We get a little bit of every race, some context and the story of the season unfolds over a couple of hours. 

 

Still got them but I haven't played one for a while. I think I have the 2000 review on DVD which may be a more convenient watch than digging out the multiple VHS cassettes I recorded. But it's nice to have those old races as broadcast. 

 

Something really special was the BP film "Formula 1 1956" which was possibly 30 years ahead of it's time. I hope that's still available in some form. The old Brunswick 30 minute season reviews 1970-79 were short, but then they were never intended for home viewing and come from a time when a 30 minute reel of film cost as much as a week's wages. 

[absinthedude]

Formula 1 1956 is available in reasonable quality, albeit watermarked, from the BP online video library free to stream

 

https://www.bpvideol....com/record/172

 

It's the blueprint for every season review which followed.

[DW46]

Love 50’s F1 clips, it has a mystique.

[midgrid]

There were 2000 and 2001 DVD releases together with the official PS2 games of the following seasons, I've just remembered. They featured additional footage compared to the Duke VHS reviews (and different, albeit similar commentary), but this footage was split across several "channels" in a horrendously clunky user interface.

[F1 Mike]

It's still very enjoyable rewatching the old season reviews. I've got the whole VHS collection from early 80s, and the dvds when they started those in the 2000s.
Recent releases are more patchy in the collection for reasons already explained above.

I remember being really excited about the 80s videos as I hadn't watched the sport through those seasons.

As they've been re-released in recent years on dvd and became "available" through witchcraft, I've collected them all in a folder on a hard drive.
Quite astonishing technological progress really! I can probably bin my tapes now.... but I haven't made that leap yet

[chdphd]

Hope you have that folder backed up somewhere 

[TennisUK]

86 is a good Clive James one.

There was one narrated by the drivers. Was that the one you’re thinking of?

It was one with an incredibly unfunny American woman shrieking a lot and I can’t really remember the guy but I think he was trying to be funny. It was literally unwatchable.


I am obviously worried now that the bootleg version I nabbed about 15 years ago had a really shitty joke dub on it - but if it did they were very committed! It went on during the whole thing!

[midgrid]

That was 1983: the schtick was the narrator, Brian Kreisky, being interrupted by a lady bringing coffee who then sticks around for the rest of the video. I like the editing of the review aside from this and the problem with the sound mixing.

[TennisUK]

Yes that was it! It was incredibly ****

[chdphd]

As Gerhard Berger / Clive James would say, it was a shitzing.