When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s, Sesame Street was a good friend on the television. My parents knew it was safe to leave me in front of the TV for an hour. And when the Electric Company was on, it was a two hour event. Now as a parent, I know the content has changed but the quality remains high and I trust Sesame Street to educate and entertain this new generation just as well as educated me.
The Sesame Street: 20 Years and Still Counting documentary was produced in 1989, covering the first 20 years of its continuing run on PBS. The series has continued to have another 20 years of success since then, so I can hardly wait to see what the show looks like in another 20! The documentary, hosted by Bill Cosby, provides a look back at the beginnings of the series, from its humble beginnings in 1969 to the worldwide acclaim and adoption it’s seen since then.
Watching with my two daughters, the video looks out of date but offers a great historical perspective on the series’ amazing legacy. Not only do you get some wonderful musical performances from Ray Charles and Plácido Domingo, but you get to hear from some of the actors who have called Sesame Street their home forever. What was more interesting to me was that Jim Henson appears to introduce the show, only a year before his untimely death. Neither of my girls knew him on sight, but when I mentioned the name they knew immediately who he was.
Seeing a much younger Luis (Emilio Delgado), Maria (Sonia Manzano), and Bob (Bob McGrath) really took me back to my childhood. It was quite obvious that the trio believed in the series from the beginning – not only as an integrated cast, but the first educational show to focus on using a curriculum to teach kids the alphabet, their numbers, language skills, shapes, colors, science, and much much more. Though the series went through occasional cast changes, such as when Mr. Hooper (Will Lee) passed away in 1983, that core trio has remained in place for more than 40 years now.
Add to that the many characters who call Sesame Street home – Bert and Ernie, Grover and the Grouch, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Kermit, and the whole gang – and you end up with a snapshot of that wonderful world. Cosby, with his usual humor and style, manages to interact with them all and give us a walking tour of the street most kids across America (and around the world) know and love.
It was very interesting to listen to the Sesame Street theme in different languages and see how different countries and cultures had adapted the show for their own children. Big Bird as a parrot instead of an eight foot yellow bird was fun to see, and listening to the theme song in Spanish, French, and Hebrew was intriguing. It’s amazing to think that kids in Germany, Israel, the West Bank, the Netherlands, and elsewhere are all benefiting from the pioneering work done by the show creators Jim Henson and Joan Cooney.
I have to admit that it’s a bit odd to me that Lionsgate chose now to release this special on DVD, but I think it proves the staying power of one of the tent poles of public television. Today, just like every day for the last 40+ years, children around the world have tuned in to learn and have fun at home.
Though I think this documentary will appeal more to parents than to kids, Sesame Street: 20 Years and Still Counting provides a historical record of the great work Sesame Street has done for four decades and will hopefully do for my grandkids over the next 20. Hopefully we will see more of these “messages in a bottle” from the past to inform the viewers of tomorrow about the enduring legacy of this series.
This article first appeared at BlogCritics.org here.
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up this and other great Sesame Street DVDs below!
What is life? At its most basic level, it is a state of being alive at a cellular level or greater. And yet, we live on a world teeming with life in such abundance and diversity of form that it is so much more than that. Ultimately, I think that is what the most recent production from the BBC’s Natural History Unit is about.
Life was four years in the making from the producers of Planet Earth and The Blue Planet and takes us on another amazing journey around the world capturing on film the dazzling diversity of life we are blessed with on Earth. As with their previous productions, these filmmakers have provided us with the shock and awe of the natural world and shown us things we may never see otherwise.
Characterized by shots in real time and slow motion, we get to see creatures, alone and in groups, doing what they do best – surviving and perpetuating their species. From the tale of the gobie fish in Hawaii climbing waterfalls to spawn in perfect pools at the top of rocky cliffs and flying fish to the cycle of hunter and hunted played out in countless environments each day we are presented with crystal clear imagery that mesmerizes with almost every frame.
Originally broadcast at the end of 2009, the ten episodes of Life each focus on a unique aspect of living organisms on Earth.
The series starts with the “Challenges of Life” where the filmmakers present examples of how plants, animals, and insects manage to find enough food to eat and find ways to reproduce to ensure the continuation of their kind. Amazing footage of what a small mother strawberry poison dart frog does to keep her tadpoles safe in the rainforest canopy and the Pacific giant octopus sacrificing herself so that her children may survive show the lengths to which some creatures will go to protect and care for their young.
Life then walks through an episode for each major group of creatures on the planet – “Reptiles and Amphibians,” “Mammals,” “Fish,” “Birds,” and “Insects.” Each episode shows the cycles inherent in all living things – from the groupers spreading fertilized eggs in clouds beneath the waves that get eaten by predators to the damselfly’s chance to lay eggs interrupted by a leaping frog. Opportunities abound for all creatures in the food chain to do their part to survive.
The series then shifts to “Creatures of the Deep,” where photographers managed to show a seal carcass beneath the Antarctic ice provides food for urchins, sea stars, and nemertean worms proving that creatures big and small will find ways to eat and reproduce even in the harshest conditions. The amazing footage of hundreds of thousands of spider crabs moulting in the shallows off South Australia was amazingly bizarre, yet memorable.
In “Plants” we see the other side of the equation, from the forest floor to the canopy, the ocean floor to the desert – flora has also found ways to adapt and thrive in inhospitable places. The exposed roots of the Epiphytes in the rain forest canopy trapping water and leaves for nutrients provide a stark contrast to the Bristlecone pine trees that can live up to 5,000 years with a six-week growing season above 9800 feet.
And lastly, the series focuses on the “Primates” – our distant cousins on the evolutionary chart. These intelligent, social creatures – from baboons and macaques using troop dynamics and bloodlines to determine the outcome of disputes to the White-faced capuchins using rocks to break open clams for dinner. It’s impossible not to see similarities to the human condition that we experience every day.
Though we weren’t able to catch each episode as it aired in the Discovery Channel, we were excited to see the series become available on DVD recently. It’s another amazing achievement for the BBC Natural History Unit and their dedicated, amazing photography teams scattered around the globe.
Each episode on the DVD was accompanied by a “Life on Location” special feature, which documented some of the challenges the film crews faced while trying to get footage for the production. Though short, each provided a glimpse into the commitment necessary to become a world-class nature photographer.
My one complaint with the series is that they chose Oprah Winfrey to do the narration this time. Though Oprah is a force to be reckoned with in her own right and the scripts were well written, her voice has an interesting tendency to put me to sleep. The visuals were stunning and I wanted to hear the stories, but found her narration monotone enough to make it difficult to watch.
And as if they wanted to rub in how boring Oprah’s narration was, they had David Attenborough narrate the extras for each episode that describe the challenges faced by the crews sent out to get the footage. Though nearing retirement, Attenborough’s voice seemed infused with energy and life compared to listening to Oprah.
Though tempted to use the “Music Only” viewing option, we managed to get through Oprah’s droning and enjoy the entire series at my house. Hopefully they will find better narrators in the future. Jim Carrey would be a good choice (he recently narrated Under the Sea for IMAX) and James Earl Jones would also be great.
Don’t let Oprah stop you from enjoying Life on DVD. It’s another amazing documentary series from the BBC that you won’t want to miss. Hopefully they’ll have a better narrator for the upcoming Frozen Planet series to air in 2012 on the Discovery Channel!
Honestly, I’m not someone who watches many documentaries. Though I admire the use of television and movies to educate, I typically look to those media as ways to escape for a while. That said, occasionally a documentary will slip through and catch me completely off guard.
In my own life, I’ve seen glimpses of what alcohol and drugs can do to a person. And more recently, I’ve caught glimpses of what bipolar disorder can do to a family. And though you can find help for people with these diseases and addictions, they have to somehow acknowledge and accept the help or it doesn’t really help. You can see this again and again in the entertainment industry with folks going in and out of rehab like it has a revolving door.
So learning that an accomplished actor like Joe Pantoliano has been fighting his own battle with mental illness and is doing everything he can to help others likewise afflicted is not only motivating, but a sign of hope in a time when most of us are concerned about things beyond our control like the economy that others are focused on making a real difference in people’s lives.
Pantoliano started a foundation – NKM2 (No Kidding, Me 2!) – to fight the stigma of mental illness and raise awareness across the board. Largely focused on education, NKM2 is really trying to open the eyes of the general populace and get them to understand how mental diseases affect individuals and their families to hopefully break down the barriers between so-called “normal” people and folks with “issues”… Since according to the NIH one in every four people has some sort of mental illness – there is no “us” vs. “them” mentality – we are all affected.
The No Kidding, Me 2! documentary clearly expresses Pantoliano’s own road from being a victim of mental disease to having it under control with the help of medical professionals, friends, and family, but it goes beyond that and shares the stories of several others on their own roads to recovery. People from all walks of life – a surgeon, a psychologist, a war veteran, and three high school students – share their stories of where they were and where they were as of the filming of the documentary. These are heartbreaking stories but also hopeful ones and that’s the key I think. Not only must we figure out what we can do to get this type of disease into the limelight but we must listen to the people who deal with it every day to better understand what we can do to help them, and therefore ourselves, not only cope with it but improve their quality of life.
The lesson to take away from NKM2 is that we must listen because the lives that we help may be our own. Pantoliano and NKM2 have done an amazing job so far, but they need your help. May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. A portion of the DVD sales will go to the NKM2 foundation, but they can always use more help. Let’s do what we can. It’s an eye-opening documentary that everyone should see. Check out the NKM2.org website for more information.
This article originally appeared at Blogcritics.org here.
Though my family loves seeing films of all kinds on a huge IMAX screen, I will be the first to admit that it’s a bit expensive to do so regularly. Instead, we find ourselves watching some of the beautiful documentaries on DVD. That’s certainly the case with IMAX: Under the Sea, in which Jim Carrey narrates a few colorful, entertaining, and cautionary tales about the denizens of the deep blue sea.
Originally released in IMAX theaters in 2009, this short (41 minute) film presents some absolutely stunning video of some of the most beautiful spots in the blue waters of Papua New Guinea, Australia, the Great Barrier Reef, and Indonesia. From the vents spouting gas bubbles like undersea fountains to the amazing array of colors and types of undersea life, the film does an amazing job of giving viewers just a glimpse of the Coral Triangle – home to a majority of the marine species in the world.
The crystal clear waters were unbelievably perfect for filming, showing the brilliant blues, bright oranges, reds, greens, yellows and shadows beneath the surface. The patience of these videographers to capture just the right shot gets you right into the action. How they ever found a crab willing to wear a jellyfish as a hat is beyond me.
But the show stealer for me was the courting dance of the female cuttlefish and her two male suitors set to “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” by Doris Day. Carrey speaks quietly about their mating technique as the males try to get her attention long enough to perpetuate the species. The dance seems perfectly timed to the music as the female tries admirably to ignore her suitors. Her “playing hard to get” shows that we’re not so different as a species after all.
Though Jim Carrey is more well known for his comedic roles in movies like Bruce Almighty and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, he does an admirable job of maintaining an even tempo to the narrative track written by Howard Hall, who also directed the film and acted as the director of photography. Carrey’s humor slips in now and then, as when describing a wobbegong shark as a shag carpet or a stone fish having waited several days getting frustrated after missing a meal. But there’s a seriousness in his voice as well and it’s easy to hear his own concern for this delicate environment and what humankind has done to affect it.
As with many documentaries, the film serves to entertain and educate, showing not only the beauty that remains brilliantly alive but how changes to seawater temperature and acidity due to air and water pollution affect the coral reefs and the thousands of species that depend on them. Ultimately, we must be more aware of the environmental impact of our decisions on the surface or film will be all we have left to remember these beautiful undersea vistas.
Watching with my wife and children, we really enjoyed IMAX: Under the Sea even on our much smaller screen. This film, from the makers of Deep Sea and Into the Deep, does an amazing job of showing the beauty beneath the waves and expressing the urgency with which we must take better care of our planet’s wonders.
For more details, be sure to check out the film’s website at UnderTheSeaMovie.com. The film is available in a Blu-ray Combo Pack, on DVD, and for download.
Article first published as DVD Review: IMAX: Under the Sea on Blogcritics.org
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up Under the Sea and other great documentary DVDs at Barnes & Noble below!
As a nature documentary junkie, I’m attracted to shiny objects like the ones shown in the Discovery Channel‘s upcoming series – LIFE. This 11-part series premieres on Sunday, March 21st at 8PM ET/PT featuring stunning video and Oprah Winfrey providing the narration.
Here’s an amazing clip of some flying fish!
LIFE comes to us from the makers of Planet Earth, which was amazing.
According to a recent Discovery Channel press release:
Narrated by global media leader and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey and more than four years in the making, the 11-part series LIFE is the definitive exploration of the adaptability and diversity of life on earth, revealing the most spectacular, bizarre and fascinating behaviors that living things have devised to thrive. The premiere episode of LIFE, Challenges of Life, provides an overview and sets the stage for the ambitious series. A special Making Of episode caps the series and tells the incredible stories of the dozens of men and women who spent days, weeks and months patiently waiting for a perfect shot. Other episodes showcase Birds, deep sea marine invertebrates (Creatures of the Deep), Fish, hunting mammals (Hunters and Hunted), Insects, Mammals, Plants, Primates and Reptiles & Amphibians.
Following its premiere across the seven Discovery U.S. networks, LIFE will air in two-episode installments each Sunday on Discovery Channel and Discovery Channel HD from 8-10PM ET, culminating with The Making of LIFE at 10PM ET on April 18.
Tune in to watch these amazing spectacles of nature caught on video. I know I’ll be watching!
Sometime in the mid 1980s, I was exposed to Monty Python. It was, of course, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which of course stunted my growth and imprinted itself upon my brain to the point where Python lines began creeping into every day conversation. My parents were appalled. Neither could stand the humorous antics of these men dressed up in costumes banging coconuts together to make clip-clopping noises.
Yes, it’s true. I’m a Monty Python addict. But nothing really prepared me for the depth of Monty Python: Almost The Truth. As a Monty Python fan, I learned things I had never known before in each and every episode. Because of this, I will recommend to all of my closest friends (most of them Python fans) that they must watch the series on A&E and pick up the DVD set.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here. So why is this such a ground-breaking documentary series? Because, like all great documentaries, it presents information that you may or may not have heard before in such a way as to make you think about things more deeply. I never knew how the Monty Python troupe came together or what they did before. It simply wasn’t something I considered prior to watching this series.
Starting with Episode 1, we learn the humble beginnings of each member of the troupe and how they found their funny bones on their own or in pairs before eventually finding their way together for Monty Python’s Flying Circus. By the time you get to Episode 4, you realize that not only are they very funny and talented, but they’ve all gone through some rough times as artists and people. And by Episode 6, you come to find that they’ve all found ways to move beyond Python and find their own ways in the world.
Some of the startling facts that I learned from Monty Python: Almost The Truth:
Terry Gilliam had a life before Python in the magazine business.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail was financed by a bunch of big name bands in the 1970s, including Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Jethro Tull.
Graham Chapman was an amazingly functional alcoholic. I always knew he had alcohol issues in the Flying Circus days, but I didn’t realize how much.
Documentaries are often long, dreary, boring affairs. But Monty Python: Almost The Truth couldn’t be further from the norm. All the way through I felt entertained and educated.
When you arrive at Disc 3, you find a collection of sketches, extended interviews, interview outtakes, and the Terry Gilliam Picture Gallery. Among the sketches are three of my favorites – “The Parrot Sketch,” “Ministry of Silly Walks,” and “The Cheese Shop.” The fact that these guys could sit down and write lines like “He’s off the twig! He’s kicked the bucket, He’s shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!”, the absolutely insane list of cheeses from around the world that is somehow made funny by the fact that the proprietor of the cheese shop has no cheese at all, and then the simple yet odd physical comedy of John Cleese doing his silly walk… It makes me laugh just to think of any of them.
As I said at the beginning, this collection is a must have for any serious Monty Python fan. Rush to your favorite retailer and pick up your copy of Monty Python: Almost The Truth today. You won’t be sorry!
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up this and other Monty Python DVDs below!
Though I’ve never been to Yellowstone, it’s hard to ignore its beauty, let alone its importance to conservation efforts around the world. Yellowstone was the first National Park established by the U.S. Congress in 1872. It spans an area nearly 3,500 square miles at nearly 8,000 feet above sea level and is crisscrossed with geysers, rivers, forests, and Yellowstone Lake. Home to nearly 60 species of mammals – wolves, lynx, elk, grizzly bears, moose, pronghorn, and many others – Yellowstone attracts nearly 2 million visitors every year.
Yellowstone: Battle for Life should encourage many more visitors to take the journey. Narrated by Peter Firth, this documentary from BBC Earth contains three hour-long episodes that focus on nearly an entire year in the park, as well as some cool extras.
The series starts in “Winter” and introduces viewers to this harsh, frozen world dominated by the Druid Peak wolves and stalwart buffalo herds in the park. The longer the winter goes, the weaker the animals in the park become, making them easier targets for the wolves. And at the end of winter, the bears emerge from hibernation, hungry and eager to find any food hidden under the snow and ice.
One of the amazing scenes in this episode was of a red foxhunting mice. As the mice would move beneath the snow, the fox would listen from above – cautiously and quietly moving close enough for an aerobatic dive to get at its dinner. Simply beautiful.
From Winter we move to “Summer”, which encompasses Spring and the beginning of Summer in Yellowstone. As life returns to the park. Grizzly bear moms and their cubs are on the hunt for shoots, berries, and fish to fill empty bellies. But they are not alone – male bears are also on the prowl and are a danger to her cubs. As the Spring thaw begins, bison move down to pastures soon to become lush and green once more.
And when “Autumn” arrives, Winter isn’t far behind. Male elk begin their battles for supremacy before retreating to warmer valleys to wait again until Spring. However, what really caught me off guard was the footage of the beavers working in the ponds along riverbanks building their dams and storing food for winter.
In addition to the three episodes, there are three extras that tell stories of some of the people who keep Yellowstone going. One about the man who clears snow off the many man-made structures in the park for five months out of the year. One about the folks who watch the geysers erupt in an attempt to both document the events for scientific study, but to also inform park guests about likely eruption times. And the last is about a man who swims in the Yellowstone River and is passionate about making sure the indigenous cutthroat trout of the region win their battle against the lake trout imported for sport fishing in the region.
As always, the BBC has done an amazing job capturing the breathtaking beauty of Yellowstone. Add to that the depth of the information provided through narration and the music by E dward Butt, and you have an engrossing and entertaining documentary. At times, with the amazing flyover footage of the park, I almost felt like I was watching a feature film.
If you are a fan of nature documentaries, especially the latest series of great shows such as Planet Earth, Earth, and Nature’s Most Amazing Events, Yellowstone: Battle for Life should be at the top of your list. Be sure to check it out at your local rental or retail video store.
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up this and other great nature documentaries from Amazon below!
On September 1, 2009, Walt Disney Studios released Earth on DVD. Originally released on big screens this past April 2009 on Earth Day, this is a wildlife documentary in movie theaters the likes of which has never been seen before. And that may be a good thing now that there’s a race against time as world climate changes threaten habitats around the globe. We have entered an age where documentary filmmakers have unprecedented technology at their disposal that grants us never-before seen close-up footage of animals in the wild. And this is a great time for Disney to get back into the nature documentary game.
Earth paired filmmakers Alastair Fothergill (The Blue Planet) and Mark Linfield (Planet Earth) with the latest camera equipment to bring stories of polar bears, humpback whales, elephants, and more to the big screen. Add to that the fact that Disney had James Earl Jones narrate this 90-minute feature and you make compelling visuals that much more compelling to viewers. DisneyNature is a new motion picture label that follows in the footsteps of past Academy award-winning movie series True Life Adventures from Disney such as The Living Desert (Best Documentary, Features, 1953) and The Vanishing Prairie (Best Documentary, Features; 1954).
We wanted to see this when it was at the theater, but schedules never worked out to get there. As such, my family and I were excited to see this movie on DVD. And it didn’t disappoint.
The filmmakers did a remarkable job of getting footage from multiple continents and oceans to bring us a complete story with some simply shocking video. When you see a Great White Shark leap from the ocean to nearly swallow a seal whole – not once, but twice – it leaves a lasting impression. So does the footage of the cheetah streaking across the African savanah after a young antelope. And the stories of the animals involved in daily life-and-death struggles are absolutely compelling.
The stories told focus on a polar bear mother and her cubs, a humpbacked whale and her baby, and a group of elephants. The distances these animals have to go to survive is simply astounding, as are some of the environmental difficulties they now face. With global warming, the Arctic ice pack disappears faster and faster each year, forcing polar bears to go to great lengths to find food to eat for themselves and their young. The whales traversed 4,000 miles from the tropics to their feeding grounds near Antarctica. And the elephants navigating across the Kalahari Desert in the dry season to finally arrive at the Okavango Delta and the seasonal flood that turns the area green and teeming with life.
These aren’t the only stories in the film, just the main threads through which everything else is woven. My daughters also loved the footage of the mandarin ducklings falling from a great height to land safely in the leaves on the forest floor and the baboon troupe moving across the flooded plains of the Okavango.
As with all Disney documentaries, they do their best to avoid showing actual bloodshed. As such, you see the cheetah catch the antelope and sink her teeth into its throat as the footage ends. And you see a group of lions surround and attack an elephant, but don’t see the brutal end except for a few drops of blood on the ground in the morning sun. This is a documentary meant for family consumption and I think even Walt Disney himself would have been proud of how it turned out.
In addition to the 90-minute movie itself, there is also the “Earth Diaries: The Making Of earth The Movie” feature. Here you get to hear the tales from the filmmakers themselves – from the cameraman who had an appendicitis emergency while filming in the Antarctic to the cameraman who had a new high-speed high-definition camera at his disposal to capture a cheetah on the attack and Great Whites leaping off the shore of South Africa. These dedicated men and women risked their lives to capture the footage for the film and deserve some serious recognition for their efforts.
Overall, DisneyNature: Earth is an amazing acomplishment. I can’t wait until Earth Day 2010 when we see DisneyNature: Oceans hit the big screens! If you are looking for a great nature documentary to share with your family, DisneyNature: Earth is a perfect way to spend an evening. Look for it at your favorite retailer!
–Fitz
p.s. Be sure to pick up this and other nature documentaries from Amazon below!
Somehow, I managed to miss all of the episodes of The Universe when they aired on the History Channel initially. So when I sat down to watch the 12 episodes on The Universe: The Complete Season Three DVD collection, I found my inner “space geek” like I was as a child.
The Universe focuses on the sciences pertaining to our knowledge and understanding of the universe. This includes everything from traveling at light speed to distant galaxies and the potential of a “multiverse” of parallel universes to the possibility of planetary devastation due to an asteroid or comet strike and the many possible shapes and purposes of life on other worlds. Watching with my family, we were glued to the screen for each and every episode, learning from of the greatest minds in the space sciences.
Each episode uses a combination of interviews, narration, and computer imagery and animation to explain a topic, providing an incredible glimpse into the probable and the possible in terms of manned or robotic space exploration, theoretical physics, and the profound beauty, complexity, and simplicity of the stars.
Among the episodes I found the most interesting were “Parallel Universes” and “Alien Faces.”
“Parallel Universes” touches upon the prevailing theories of multiple universes. One theory is that the universe is simply so huge that there must be a duplicate of our own solar system somewhere else, right down to the individuals on planet earth. Another theory is that other universes exist in the same physical location as ours, but in different dimensions. (This was a theory recently explored on the TV seriesFringe on FOX this past year.) And then there’s a theory that all of these other universes exist in a “multiverse” of possibilities.
In “Alien Faces” we go on a fictional safari into deep space in the future where we’ve discovered planets capable of sustaining life like we’ve never seen before. From artificial robot-like species to animals and plants adapted to high-gravity or water worlds, artists and scientists created an amazing array of computer animation to show us some imaginative and amazing creatures in these alien habitats. Among our favorites were the insect who started its life in the water, built a cocoon under water and then uses a balloon to rise to the surface and drift to dry land elsewhere.
But not all episodes flowed as well for me from beginning to end.
For example, “Sex in Space” is a sensational headline to get you to watch an episode about reproduction in space and space tourism. The content of the episode for the most part was great, discussing the difficulties that reproductive systems that have developed in an environment with gravity would face entering a microgravity environment. And the discussion of space tourism and a planned space cruise ship was interesting, since it focused on the commercial space race instead of government-sponsored space travel. But couldn’t they have come up with a better title?
Overall, I think The Universe is an amazing series for space junkies like myself. It’s great to once again become swept up in the enthusiasm and optimism of human travel in space and our ever-expanding knowledge of the universe around us. If you’re interested in any of the space sciences, I’d encourage you to pick up The Universe: The Complete Season Three to learn some of the current thinking about space travel and beyond!
–Fitz
p.s. Click on the images below to pick up your own copy of The Universe on DVD at Amazon:
How many stone monuments do you think are in the British Isles? Any guesses? What would you say if you learned that there were nearly 1,000 stone circles in the U.K.? What if I told you that if you added the other monuments, such as stone rows, long barrows, cairns, standing stones, and so on, you’d end up with tens of thousands of monuments?
I was shocked too. The popular media has made us think that Stonehenge is the only big stone monument in the Isles, but there’s obviously much more than that.
With Standing with Stones, writer and presenter Rupert Soskin hopes to share his knowledge and fondness for these mysterious places. A renowned naturalist and writer, Soskin has been exploring the stone monuments most of his life and has a few theories to share. But even with his theories and those he relates from other archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians — we just don’t know enough about these sites to tell how they were used or why they were built.
Some of the monuments have astronomical significance, built to predict the winter and summer solstices or the position of the sun, moon, and stars. Others are remnants of objects used by the Romans to measure distance, like the London Stone which has been used to denote the center of London for measurements. But most of them are complete unknowns.
Throughout the documentary, Soskin takes viewers on a tour of more than 100 monuments scattered across England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and the smaller islands of the U.K. It took Soskin and documentarian Michael Bott more than two years, living in a camper-van for a month at a time, as they traveled thousands of miles recording footage.
Was the journey worth it? Definitely. Whereas nature documentaries such as Planet Earth have stunning high definition video of living creatures inhabiting the planet, Soskin and Bott somehow managed to capture the amazing natural beauty of these stone sites in a way I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. Breathtaking shots of landscapes dotted with these neolithic, bronze, or iron-age monuments left me wanting to hop on a plane and visit them myself.
And Soskin’s presentation weaves humor, humility, and intelligence together as he provides some context for these sites. It’s obvious that he has a passion for them and wants to share it. And he does a wonderful job as our congenial, informative tour guide.
That said, it’s the cinematography that sticks with me. Yes, I listened and learned quite a bit about these many sites I’d never even heard of. But the brilliant shots in daylight, fog, or even the dead of night are simply amazing.
When you add in cool computer-generated graphics of the theories discussed, including how some of the sites may have looked before the stones were removed for other purposes along with the entertaining presentation and beautiful high definition video, you have an amazing experience lasting more than two hours.
My only complaint about the DVD is the gaps between chapters of the documentary itself. I don’t know if it was my DVD player or the way the disc was made, but there were gaps of a few seconds where the picture would go black as it loaded the next chapter.
In addition to the documentary itself, you get quite a large number of extras.
The “Interview” included provides a great deal of background from Soskin and Bott on the making of the film. The project has been in the works since 2001 and the duo discuss how it came to be and their goals for the film.
The “Outtakes” feature includes a number of bloopers caught while filming. Soskin, like any other narrator or actor, sometimes takes several tries before getting a line right. It’s obvious his sense of humor helps him through those rough patches.
Some “Unseen Footage” shows some of the clips cut from the film while they shot it. It was very interesting to see the camera work and how weather affected their shots.
The “Original TV Pilot Film” that was made in 2001 is included on the DVD. Originally the Soskin and Bott’s idea was for a number of short segments on television. But after they shot the first 10 minute film, they decided that it was untenable due to schedules and weather. Instead, the duo took it upon themselves to write, shoot, and edit the film.
Also included is a short trailer for the film, a slide show with 72 slides covering the making of the film, and commentary from Soskin and Bott.
If you’ve ever wanted to know more about some of the stone monument mysteries of the British Isles, Standing with Stones is a great way to learn more. In addition, the high definition video provides a beautiful way to tour parts of the U.K. without actually getting a plane ticket!
For more information about the film, be sure to check out the Standing with Stones website.
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up your copy of the DVD and the companion book at Amazon:
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Add to that the many characters who call Sesame Street home – Bert and Ernie, Grover and the Grouch, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Kermit, and the whole gang – and you end up with a snapshot of that wonderful world. Cosby, with his usual humor and style, manages to interact with them all and give us a walking tour of the street most kids across America (and around the world) know and love.
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