For your viewing pleasure or displeasure. - My last DVD review for A&E Shops was the fabulous DVD Set, The Complete Nero Wolfe Collection which you can read here.
This review is for the DVD set, The BBC Presents: The Planets. I am not being paid for this review, though I was sent the DVD set free of charge for the purpose of reviewing it. Like the Nero Wolfe collection, I told the A&E folk what items I would be interested in reviewing and this is one of the items they sent me to review.
That said, on to the review of The Planets.
This DVD set contains four DVDs. Each DVD contains two episodes in The Planets series; eight episodes in total. They break down this way.
- Volume 1 contains:
- Different Worlds
- Terra Firma
- Giants
- Moon
- Star
- Atmosphere
- Life Beyond the Sun
- Destiny
Volume 2 contains:
Volume 3 contains:
Volume 4 contains:
The production quality, meaning sound and images is high. They make use of a lot of computer generated video which is pretty good considering that these DVD's were copyrighted in 1999 and 2000.
Of course given those dates, you will find that some science spoken of is in question in my mind. For example Pluto is spoken of as the last planet in our solar system and as I recall there was a reclassification of that planet as a moon or some such solar object by some scientists here recently. But for my money, Pluto remains a planet.
The back of the box describes this DVD set as:
In this spectacular, comprehensive presentation, The Planets draws on interviews with over a thousand leading astronomers, engineers, scientists and astronauts. Featuring seldom-seen NASA archival footage, awe-inspiring imagery from instruments like the Hubble space telescope and stunning computer graphics and special effects, this unprecedented series explores both the alien beauty of our local space environment and the extraordinary technology that enables us to unlock its secrets.
Tracing our exploration of the heavens from its earliest days to the present, The Planets reveals a story of personal achievement and technological triumph. It's a story seen through the eyes of dozens of leading authorities on the cutting edge of planetary exploration - and those from both sides who were in the high-stakes Cold War race into space. From our first glimpse of Saturn; from the search for extraterrestrial life to humanity's possible future on alien worlds. It's an epic journey of cosmic discovery, amazement and adventure... like nothing on Earth!
Several of the episodes left me scratching my head and going, "Huh?" In particular the first episode, Different Worlds, then Star, and Life Beyond the Sun. The latter episode wasn't for the same reason of the first two. Though intriguing, Life Beyond the Sun, struck me as mere conjecture and left me surprised to the lack of evidence that there really is to show that life exists beyond the little blue marble we live on. Which isn't to say it was a bad episode, it just left me scratching my head over some of the conclusions that scientists make about life which appeared to me to be terribly biased to their conceptions of what life is like on this planet. Plus the whole theory of life being seeded on this planet from meteorites just left me shaking my head.
The first episode I listed, Different Worlds, just wasn't cohesive to me in presentation and it left me wondering what the theme of the episode was. This may have been because the theories presented of what could create theses planets were mere conjecture. There was also heavy reliance upon computer graphics to try and convey those unproven theories. Left out the creation of the planets of course is the Christian world view that God created them. An overlooked concept in pretty much the entire series, though a number of men of God are talked about and credited with work on important discoveries about our solar system.
The second, Star, left me with more questions then answers with bold statements that go unchallenged like the sun being seen as the first god by man. How does one make that blanket statement without presenting evidence? It was interesting that this episode notes that it was Angelo Secchi, S.J., a Catholic priest, first used spectroscopy and made the discovery that the sun was indeed a star. The assertion in the show was that his discovery caused religious problems but it did not detail what those problems were, so it left me wanting.
The bold statements of theory presented as fact always turn me off, and this happens a number of times throughout the DVD's.
What was cool was the openness of genuine scientists in other episodes who in their enthusiasm for discovery of the heavens were honest when their expectations based on the knowledge they had on the workings of Earthly environments were blown away by discoveries about the planets in our solar system. I couldn't help but think of the verse where the Lord declares:
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa 55:9 NIV)
What was sad to me was that they didn't, or at least the episodes didn't, show a recognition for the wonder of God and His power of creation.
I think one of my favorite episodes was, Atmosphere. I had no idea that the first man in space was Joe Kitencher. He did it by riding a balloon into space. Even cooler was that in order to get down he had to jump and then parachute. The video and description from this man on his trip was captivating.
Also, it was interesting to see that the Russians were the first to send a probe to Venus because they wanted to know what was under the atmosphere that surrounds that harsh planet. Curious is what scientists now have discovered through NASA satellites; the peaks of Venus seem to be covered in metallic snow. Also interesting is as it was presented the Cold War really influenced man's race into space.
To me the most amazing statement in this episode was that out of all the planets in our solar system, the Earth has the most unpredictable weather. The scientist who said this added, "You learn humility" in the face of such knowledge.
Another fact that struck me in the episode, Giants, was that the Voyager mission to the "Giants" in our solar system was a serendipitous event because it just so happened that we had the technology and ability to launch that mission at the time when the planets' paths came together just right to enable navigation to them all. It is an event that only happens something like every 150 years.
In the first episode and carried through all of them was that scientists spoke of planetary things in terms of human analogs. Like saying the lava of our planet is the life blood of the Earth.
I did find it sad in the episode, Life Beyond the Sun, that the thought for looking for extraterrestrial life was so that we could better understand our origins. Sad because God has given that understanding already in His Word. It is also an odd statement because when the scientists have looked out and made concrete discoveries about the properties of the worlds in our solar system they've learned that things don't work as they understand things to work here on our planet. So what makes them think that alien life will explain Earth bound life?
The final episode, Destiny, looks into the far, far future and notes that some day our sun will burn out as stars do based on our limited knowledge of such things. So mankind will of course, as they theorize, have to seek other planets in other solar systems. Basically, this interesting episode is a bunch of "if's".
An interesting statement from the last man to set foot on the moon, Captain Gene Cernan, of Apollo 17, is near the beginning of the episode. He says:
"The Earth itself is three dimensional and it moves through this blackness with logic and purpose and with beauty beyond comprehension."
It's a spiritual statement to me that speaks to of our Creator. Interesting too, is the music of this episode, it's rather religious in tone. In fact I think I caught some Handle going on.
The background music through all the episodes is rather good.
On whole I'm glad I watched this DVD set. Though humanistic in its outlook, I was remind just how awe-inspiring our heavenly Father is in His power and wisdom.
The data is a bit outdated now, but the historical information on our race to space and the work of scientists across the globe is still good. I would've like to have seen info on the Mars Rover, but that scientific coup takes place years after the episodes were released. You do however get to see some of the work that went into preparing for the Rover.
Given my coffee scale of rating, 1 coffee cup being terribly poor and 5 coffee cups being stellar, I will give The BBC Presents: The Planets DVD set a 3.5 coffee cup rating.
