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Dom Robinson reviews
Take a journey to worlds
beyond your imagination…Distributed by
- Cat.no: BBCDVD 1003
- Cert: E
- Running time: 390 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 48 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Surround (Dolby Digital 2.0)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: 7 languages available
- Widescreen: 16:9 (1.77:1)
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: 2 * DVD 9
- Price: £34.99
- Extras : Scene index, Booklet
Series Producer:
- David McNab
Writers/Producers:
- David McNab, James Younger, Jacqueline Smith and Becky Jones
Music:
- Jim Meacock
Narration:
- Samuel West
Starring:
- Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
and a special guest appearance by The Sun
The Planetsis the BBC’s TV programme from last year, produced in eight parts of approximately50 minutes apiece. Put together in 16:9 widescreen, it was broadcast on digitalTV in that ratio but cropped to 14:9 for analogue presentation, betweenApril 29th and June 17th. So far a 4:3 pan-and-scan video has been released,but now the disc we have all been waiting for has now arrived.
What do we know about our solar system? What more can be found out about it?How long have we got before the sun grows so big that we all just burn upinto nothing, reducing everything including the DVD you’re watching, thefilm stock on which the programme was shot and the server on which this reviewresides, into less than dust? This series aims to answer as many of thesequestions as possible with respected, leading scientists stepping up to speakwhen their turn comes.
Just trying to think of these things is enough to make your brain hurt.Try and imagine how big the solar system is. You can picture the nine planetswe know about, all revolving around the sun at different speeds, each withdifferent atmospheres, the study of which reveal fascinating information andit’ll take you an immense amount of time to get to grips with that, butwhat’s beyond that as well?
Space is defined as being infinite, but surely it’s got to end somewhere.You see the more you try and think about what lies beyond, the more you haveto stop and take stock because the concept of infinity is a difficult oneto understand. Nothing in life that we come across on a daily basis lastsforever, apart from the traffic jams, so where does it all end?
The chapters, including the titles of the sketches on show, are :
- 1. Different Worlds: A look at space travel and the latest planetary explorations.
2. Terra Firma: The story of the pioneering missions to our neighbouring worlds.
3. Giants: Uncovers the secrets surrounding the massive planets in our Solar System.
4. Moon: The answer to one of the greatest mysteries of the Solar System
- – why does the Earth have a moon?
5. Star: The latest scientific advances bring us a new perspective on the Sun.
6. Atmosphere: A fantastic voyage through the skies of the Solar System.
7. Life: A look at the latest robotic explorations of other planets.
8. Destiny: How are the planets going to evolve over the next four billion years?
Sparkling…The picture quality here is spot-on perfect in the main, lacking in anyartifacts in scenes using state-of-the-art computer graphics.The only time the picture does suffer is in some interview scenes where thepicture looks a little hazy and when it comes to archive footage,but the former only really shows up if you sit with your face glued to thescreen like I do and the latter doesn’t look any different than you’d expectso can’t be condemned. I was unable to determine the average bitrate on thedisc, but each episode is placed on the disc as a separate title anyway.
It is presented in the programme’s original ratio of 16:9, as broadcast ondigital TV and watching the stunning visuals on view, it’s hard to believethis can be watched in a cropped ratio as shown on analogue TV and video.
The sound is presented in Dolby Surround (Dolby Digital 2.0) and is equallyimpressive. The dialogue is clear, there is a specially-composed musicalscore from Jim Meacock and where would such a series be withoutthe famous classical work of Gustav Holst‘s Planet’s Suite.
What you might have missed on Eclipse Day.Extras : Chapters :Six chapters to an episode, making 48 in total which is fine, althoughI never say no to more. Languages & Subtitles :Dolby Surround in English only, plus subtitles in English (for the hard ofhearing), Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian. Booklet :Presented in stylish silver, as per usual, this includes brief summariesof each episode.
There’s no other extras in particular to speak of, bar the Dolby Digital”train” trailer, but when the whole show runs for six-and-a-half hours,is there anything else you need to know?
Menu :Subtly animated and scored in some cases, but static and silent for others.They look good either way.
What happens when the Sun says: “No more!” ?Overall :This is one of the DVDs of the year so far. For a start there’s not enoughdecent TV material released on DVD as it is and to get a piece of it alongwith a transfer that’s almost perfect with excellent sound is quite something.The Planets is a must for everyone.
If I had a niggle it’s that you can’t save bookmarks, so you have to go bythe chapters on the disc.
DVD Trivia: Surprisingly, disc one contains a hidden picture menu fordisc two and vice versa.
Scheduled for late March/early April release are :Gormenghast, Walking with Dinosaurs and Tweenies.
As for which DVDs I’d like to see from the BBC in future. They include :Red Dwarf (in their original versions, not the remastered form),The Young Ones, Filthy Rich and Catflap, Fawlty Towers and – dependingon whether I could bribe the new DG with enough cash – Eldorado…FILM : *****PICTURE QUALITY : ****½SOUND QUALITY: *****EXTRAS: *****——————————-OVERALL: *****
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.