Planes Trains & Skateboards - World Cup Skateboarding 2004 Video Review

Planes Trains & Skateboards follows the World Cup Skateboarding circuit throughout 2004. Different from any other skateboarding video I've seen, Planes Trains and Skateboards feels half like a skate team tour video and half like a skateboarding documentary. The footage is crisp and well organized, mixed with great music, and sprinkled with pro skater commentary. If you are interested at all in pro skating, Planes Trains & Skateboards is a video you will want to have.

WCS (World Cup Skateboarding) has worked for 10 years to provide a functional, coherent pro skateboarding competitive circuit. Most people have no idea how the skateboarders who compete in the X Games get there - all have qualified throughout the year and all over the world by competing in World Cup Skateboarding pointed events. Planes Trains and Skateboards shows the highlights of 2004's WCS events, along with comments from top pro skaters.

Video Overview

Trains Plains & Skateboards opens with a montage, showing - get this - plains, trains and skateboards! The feeling is energetic. The footage has a crisp, unfiltered feeling. The whole video is like this. It's almost amateur, but not at all. The video is so clear, the footage so steady, the mixing so well done that the whole video comes across like a very professional documentary instead of cheap competition footage thrown together.

After the into, Planes Trains & Skateboards jumps into comments from pro skaters. They talk about what skateboarding competitions are like, what they think of them, and where they see skateboarding going. Planes Trains & Skateboards has sections like this throughout the video, and I loved 'em.

From there, Planes Trains & Skateboards jumps into the World Cup Skateboarding tour of events:

• Globe World Cup - Melbourne, Australia
• Asian X Games - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Slam City Jam XI - Vancouver BC, Canada
• Latin X Games III - Rio De Janelro, Brazil
• Quicksilver Bowl Riders - Marseilles, France
• Etnies Bowlmasters - Brixlegg, Austria
• World Championships - Dortmund, Germany
• Mystic Skate Cup - Prague, Czech Republic
• Phillips / Fusion Soul Bowl - Huntington Beach, California USA
• X Games X - Los Angeles, California USA

Each of these sections is obviously put together by people who love skateboarding. Planes Trains & Skateboards shows the most exciting moments from each competition, along with images of the local area where the competition was held, and spicy music to keep things moving.

Unless you travel the world yourself, there is no way you'll get to take part in all of these events. And even if you did, you would miss out on the commentary. furthermore, there's no way your own footage would be of a quality this high or arranged this well! If you like professional skateboarding at all, I can't recommend this video enough.

Set between the competitions are three sections that focus on pro skaters who stood out in 2004 (Sheckler, Senn and Dias). In these parts of Trains Plains & Skateboards, other pro skaters or people in the pro skating industry talk about them.

Don Bostwic (World Cup Skateboarding) talks about how Ryan Sheckler isn't just a ridiculously amazing skater - "The guy really has his act together," Bostwic says. Sean Senn talks about how impressive Sheckler is, and how Sheckler shows that age isn't a limit in skateboarding. Senn also adds, "He's easy to knock over if he gets in your way, so that's nice!"

Others talk about Sean Senn, about how consistent he is and how he does his own thing. At the World Championships Senn was the only skater to hit the loop - he pulled off a Frontside Loop Transfer and won best trick for it!

Christian Hosoi talks about Sandro Dias, about how he is, "So thankful for these guys pushing the limit." And that's what Sandro did, being one of a handful of pros to ever successfully pull off the 900 in competition!

Drawbacks

The only drawback I could find with this video was that two or three of the songs have fairly heavy cursing. So, if you are concerned about such things, you might want to keep an ear out.

Special Features

Planes Trains & Skateboards also has a special features section with three parts: Detour to Bologna (in Italy), loads of footage from the Oregon Trifecta (The Golden Otter in Lincoln City, the Crown Royale in Westlynn, and the Corn Cup at Aumsville skatepark), and a slideshow section displaying photos from throughout the year.

Final Impressions

I love skateboarding videos for several different reasons. Sometimes I watch a video, and it charges me - I want to get out and skate. Sometimes after watching a skate video (especially team tour videos) I'm left feeling good about the team I watched, liking them as people, and I feel a little bummed that I can't really be there with them.

Planes Trains & Skateboards did all of this, but it left me feeling something more. I felt like 2004 was an incredible year for skateboarding (which it was!), and I felt like I really met some of the people I watched. I got to watch them throughout the year, see them have fun, see them grow, and see them succeed. Planes Trains & Skateboards is more epic than any skateboarding video I've seen. It's fun, exciting, and entertaining. I highly recommend it. If you love skateboarding at all, you will enjoy Trains Planes & Skateboards.