Wonders of the Solar System [DVD]

I have not seen the TV series; but I just spent the last fortnight watching the entire five parts to 'Wonders of the Solar System' on DVD.Professor Brian Cox is clearly a good communicator and his enthusiasm for the subject is plain to see; he was an excellent choice as presenter. Although I consider myself reasonably well read in some areas of earth science as well as astronomy, nevertheless, I found the material presented here to be fresh and original. I particularly enjoyed the way in which the producers placed Cox in various locations on earth which show similarities to some of our neighbours out there in the solar system.I had to smile when I saw Cox visiting certain locations also frequented by the geologist, Professor Iain Stewart in his series 'How the Earth Made Us' (well worth obtaining if you are interested in Earth Sciences). The volcano in Ethiopia, the asteroid crater in Arizona and a few others were among the repeat visits. However, whilst each professor was in the same location, it was interesting to see how they were able to extract their own unique and relevant messages from what was shown on camera - without conflicting with the other.If one was to identify a weak area in the documentary it was when Cox moves to reflect upon the nature of life and its evolution. Clearly, this is not his field, but the introduction of a couple of specialists in this area might have added to the fascinating area of exploration and discovery. I felt that in places his expert knowledge of astrophysics was let down by slightly over simplistic or cursory summaries in the nature of life area.Like a number of documentary-educational programmes, one has to be willing to listen and watch mainly the one presenter in this programme series. The alternative is to simply string together a number of talking heads with a spoken commentary (off-camera) or allow the presenter to meet with specialists along the way. Personally, I think this latter approach (in moderation) might have strenghtened the series. However, setting aside such alternatives, fortunately, Cox is one of those presenters whose style and enthusiasm, plus his knowledge allow one to enjoy his travels as if walking alongside. Hence my opening comment about Cox being a good choice. Not everyone could do this. I would be most surprised if he does not attract extremely high ratings from his students at Manchester University, since he really is very good at taking a scientific phenomenon and illustrating it in a simple and clearly understandable manner. For example, I particularly liked his illustration of how to work out the sun's energy hitting the earth's surface, armed with no more than a thermometer, umbrella and glass jug; which when he had completed his demonstration and a few basic calculations was followed by him looking to camera and saying with a grin on his face that that is why he love physics. It was a wonderful illustration of how the human mind can take some everyday items and work out astronomical measures, quite literally. I think it was the combination of these simple explanations, the location shots and stunning computer graphics woven into the narrative presented in a well-informed but casual style by Cox that made this an exceptional programme series from the BBC.I shall look forward to watching the series again in the not too distant future, when I shall be armed with my note pad, since there is a great deal of interesting and educational material in this programme. I also think it is capable of having an appeal to most age groups, where the viewer is genuinely interested in the subject.I am glad to have added this series to my 'science collection' and would recommend the DVD to anyone who looks at the solar system with awe and wonder.

Wonders totally blew me away when it was on the telly, I've always has an interest in everything astronomical and this explains in easy terms what's going on out there and how everything is connected in fascinating ways. Loved watching this and I would highly recommend this bluray for a greater understanding of our close planetary neighbours and moons to anyone with even a slight interest.1. "Empire of the Sun"The first episode illustrates how the formation and behaviour of the Sun affects each planet in the Solar System. During this episode, Cox visits India to view and explain the workings of a total solar eclipse. The Aurora Borealis is also seen in Norway and an explanation of the power of the Sun occurs in Death Valley, California, USA.2. "Order Out of Chaos"Cox starts this episode in Al-Qayrawan, Tunisia to analyse the orbit of the planets around our Sun, with details on how the tilt of the Earth creates the seasons. He also visits the Atlas Mountains and provides an explanation of the how we see the orbit of Mars. This episode also provides an insight on the rings of Saturn and the geysers of Enceladus, including images shown as seen from the Cassini-Huygens space probe.3. "The Thin Blue Line"The third episode looks at the atmosphere of the planets and moons of the Solar System, with Earth, Mars, and Titan being the main focus. The episode starts with Cox taking a journey in an English Electric Lightning piloted by "Mike Beachy Head" up to an altitude "between 55 and 60 thousand feet" where the "thinness and fragility" of the atmosphere could be observed in the middle of the day transitioning "from light blue to dark blue to black". Later, the Namib Desert is seen and used to give an explanation on how the Earth keeps its temperature, along with comparisons made to Mars. An in-depth look at Titan is seen with footage shown from the Huygens probe descent down to the surface of the moon.4. "Dead or Alive"The fourth episode begins at the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, and immediate comparisons are drawn to Mars and the Valles Marineris. A trip to Kîlauea on Hawaii shows the geological activity of Earth, and again a comparison to Mars and Olympus Mons is seen. An analysis of Jupiter's gravitational effect is given with how it could potentially send an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The same gravitational force is also shown to give the Jovian moon Io geological life.5. "Aliens"The final instalment covers life surviving in extreme environments, and how the search for life on other worlds follows the search for water, focusing on Mars, and on Jupiter's moon Europa. Cox begins by travelling to the deep ocean to draw comparisons between space travel. The Atacama Desert in South America is also viewed, which is seen to explain the lack of life found there. A trip to the Scablands in North-West America is also made with an explanation of the Missoula Floods that once occurred there, and how it shaped the landscape geologically. More examinations of life come with a trip to Mexico and how life survives in caves.All in all a mesmerising journey presently beautifully in bluray format with stunning 5.1 truehd audio.Great value for money, go for it.Billion,Billion,Billion,Billion,Billion,Billion,Billion,Billion,Billion,Billion,Billion lol ;D

It's quite educational I watched one part on BBC and thought it would be great for the kids.

Großer Unterschied zu allen anderen Weltraumdokus, die ich so kenne: Zeigt nicht nur schöne Bilder und nennt Fakten (das gehört natürlich auch dazu, aber eben nicht ausschließlich), sondern erklärt auch, wieso bestimmte Dinge so sind wie sie sind oder wie man sie messen kann. Der Präsentator läuft die meiste Zeit auf der Erde herum und vergleicht hier befindliches (Geografie/Geologie/Klima/Wetterphänomene...) mit Dingen an anderen Orten im Sonnensystem. Dadurch, dass er aber die Zusammenhänge so schön herstellt, ist es gar kein Manko, dass man eben nicht zu 90% spektakuläre Bilder der anderen Himmelskörper sieht. Trotzdem gibt es genügend spektakuläre Bilder von außerhalb der Erde.

perfect

Amazonデビュー後、初購入が再生できない。返品の仕方がわからなかったので、ゴミ作品

I've watched this Blu-ray discs with my 7 year old daughter, and both of us really enjoyed it. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys scientific documentaries.The basic structure of the film is that the professor Brian Cox introduces a certain topic about the solar system (say how Mars has been geographically dead for past oh so many million years), then discuss this by contrasting that with the Earth by traveling to sites to illustrate the topic (say a volcano in Africa). For a person like me, who already has a reasonable knowledge on the subject matter, this is a somewhat roundabout way of approaching the subject. On the other hand, for someone like my daughter, the footage of the Earth really helps her relate to this otherwise abstract and hard-to-imagine stuff that's out there. Also, to be fair, those Earth scenes are quite gorgeous on their own --- after all, this is BBC we are talking about!I also enjoyed Brian Cox as the narrator. You can see that he's genuinely excited about all that he talks about and sees, and that makes you happy. It felt real and sincere, but not over the top. His enthusiasm is contagious. It made my eyes swell up from time to time.Now, I suppose this focus on scenes on the Earth is also a reflection of a real challenge in a film like this, namely that there just aren't that many *actual* pictures of those celestial bodies, let alone videos! And I think this is where the film is a bit weak. Of the precious few actual photographs taken by spacecrafts and rovers on Mars, the film chooses to show most of them by printing them out in papers and have Brian point to them in his fingers. I wish I could have seen them in larger resolutions up close.The other thing that I think the film could have done better is to convey the astronomical (literally!) time and distance that we are talking about. Let's take distance for example --- if you've taken a trans-atlantic or trans-pacific flight, you should have the gut-feeling sense of how unimaginably large the Earth is, yet its diameter is "mere" 8,000 miles. Sun, on the other hand, has a diameter of 800,000 miles. That's a difference between a quarter coin and the height of an adult human being. But yet the distance between Sun and Earth is more like 80,000,000 miles (aka 1AU.) That is, if you imagine the solar system on your desk, Sun & Earth 3 feet apart, then the size of the Earth is only about the thickness of a human hair! And oh, did I tell you that the nearest star is 270,000AU away? That's just bat-s*** insane!!Yet the film, in an attempt to show more in screen, fails to do justice to this ridiculous vastness of the Universe. I'd have really loved to see the Google Earth-ish zoom-in/zoom-out actions that actually portrayed the accurate proportions and distances of the Sun and the planets. Or when they show you a fly-by CG of the great canyon of Mars, I'd have loved to see the Manhattan island posed in to help us grasp the monumental scale of that canyon. In those computer-generated scenes, the timescale is shifted substantially too, which also has the undesirable effect of making things feel smaller (for example, when you see Jupiter zooms in, you see the pattern of the Jupiter changes rapidly, yet if you actually are on a spaceship approaching Jupiter, it'll look completely stationary.) I don't think it's just me who gets endlessly fascinated by the sheer size of these stuff, right? I wish I could have seen those.Anyway, don't let my nerd comments scare you away. I still thoroughly enjoyed this film after all. A highly recommended buy.