What are the best science documentary DVD's?

If this belongs in the TV area forgive me.

I have a couple of box sets of science documentary type programs mainly dealing with the universe and the solar system. They are Carl Sagan's Cosmos and Stephen Hawking's Universe. I love these types of programs. I was wondering if there are any others similar to those worth checking out. It doesn't have to be about cosmology or anything, it could be about biology or evolution, anything related to science that is interesting I guess. That's kind of vague but you get the idea. Any suggestions?

Several episodes of PBS's unmatched NOVA series are available on DVD and can be purchased directly from PBS (www.ShopPBS.com).

Then there's the set of The Living Planet with David Attenborough.

Not exactly a science film, but the documentary on the Apollo program, For All Mankind is very fine and is available from Criterion.

The IMAX Space Collection is pretty good. I believe all of the titles can be purchased individually as well.

All of the BBC's "Walking with ______" - Dinosaurs, Beasts, and Cavemen.

The production values are AWESOME and they cover from the time the Earth evolved till present day, discussing the evolution of all animals and life on Earth.

The Full "Walking With" collection which are also sold separately

I forgot all about those. I saw them in a store once and have been meaning to get them.



Those look pretty interesting. I've watched NOVA from time to time when I had PBS. It was very well presented.



Those look awesome. I'm ordering that ASAP.

Anyone have any of these Space Films releases? They seem to be more or less just footage of the early space programs. Do they have a voice over at all? They'll be worth getting either way, I'd just like to get an idea of what they consist of.

Check into "The Right Stuff" It's all about the Apollo Space program. I think it's a doc, might be a movie based on actual events, not sure. Either way I still need to get it sometime.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...v=glance&s=dvd

As far as the Walking with collection...It doesn't appear to include the Caveman series (probably because the Caveman series came out after the collection was put together), but you can get that separately.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...v=glance&s=dvd

Although the Caveman series wasn't the better of the 3 (mainly because I was impressed with the 3D in the first 2 and the Caveman one featured real people in costume), it was still interesting. The Dinosaur one was the best one.

They took an interesting approach as if they were filming a documentary during the time of the dinosaurs. When the camera gets close to a dinosaur, they'll animate spit all over the lense...They even have a couple of shots where a running dinosaur knocks the camera over.

And speaking of space documentaries, "From the Earth to the Moon" was great! It follows all of the Apollo missions and was produced by Tom Hanks. If you've ever seen "Band of Brothers", this follows the same format and same production value.

Yep, I have both The Right Stuff and From the Earth to Moon, both are excellent.

Come to think of it I think I've seen some the Walking with... series on the Discovery Channel a while back. I never did see all of one episode, just bits and pieces. It looks like a great watch.

"The Right Stuff" is not a documentary, but it is an excellent, fact-based film focusing on the Mercury and Gemini programs - not Apollo.

-Scott

http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=BBC016520

Seas of Life is a great addition to any science documentary collection. It isn't up, but down can be just as well at times.

Great price too. Saw this msrp'ing at the Discovery store in Boston for 80.00.

Cheers

Top Gun -- Eroll Morris' great true-life documentary about a young fighter pilot trying to make it in the Navy. The climactic showdown with the Evil Country with Black Fighter Planes is especially gripping. Amazing music score by Phillip Glass and Kenny Loggins.

If you enjoyed this, the you ought to try to find A Brief History of Time, which is both a documentary about Hawking's life and a reiteration of many of the ideas in the original edition of the book. It's available on VHS only (Paramount, 1992).

Also: I recommend Fast, Cheap and Out of Control. It defies ready description, but it is, essentially, a documentary about four men who could loosely be called "inventors." Unusual but interesting, and available on DVD.

Yeah, I was thinking of From the Earth to the Moon, not the Right Stuff. Both movies I need to get though.

You should definitely check out The Blue Planet. It is amazing! Also, Life With Mammals is pretty great as well. Basically, you can't go wrong with any of the David Attenborough / BBC productions.

Are you reffering to the Seas of Life (4 part collection)? I was considering that, but wasn't sure how it was.

Has anyone seen the Life of mammals series? They look interseting:
The Life of Mammals (all 4 volumes)

Actually, the fictionalized The Right Stuff goes from the Bell X-1 supersonic flight to the Mercury program. Gemini is not part of it.

Let me second A Brief History of Time -- an amazing film.

Ted

There's a great box set called The Planets. 5 disks. Great stuff.

I feel compelled to disagree here.
Awful series, IMO.
Annoying narration by Miss Stone.
Very, very dry.

Again, just my 2 cents however.

I assume you refer to the A&E "Planets" series. It, however, is only 4 discs, not 5.

(I never had the DVD version though. Only the severely-overpriced VHS box. Needless to say, it's been since sold off. The DVD set is ridiculously high as well, with a towering $80 MSRP, for just 6.6 hrs. of material.)

The Blue Planet/Seas of Life is mesmerizing. I have the Region 2 version, but as far as I know that's basically identical to the Region 1 version. That's not the case for all BBC productions (such as Walking with Dinosaurs and The Planets), which sometimes have different narrators and some differences in content between R2 and R1 versions.

Whichever version you get, if you enjoy ocean life, I think The Blue Planet is a safe bet. Enjoy!

I'd throw in MicroCosmos as a great documentary (scientific look at nature and insects), along similarly facinating lines. But, I have only the VHS as I think this is still being waited for on DVD... Any info on it would be greatly appreciated...

For All Mankind: Criterion Collection is a great film to go along with the ones you already have. FTETTMoon on DVD was the original inspiration behind my purchasing a DVD player way back when and is still an amazing series (though the packaging leaves something to be desired)...

I have both the Cosmos and SH's Universe sets as well, and appreciate them greatly... I kinda like the NASA Archives sets of Gemini and Apollo 11 - Don't have the Apollo 8 and Mighty Saturns yet... They're more recorded films taken directly from the NASA broadcasts and don't have a full documentary feel at all, but they're fascinating if you're into the space thing...

I'm a big documentary guy, and while not on the exact same subject, I've found that even some of the inexpensive A&E/History Channel sets are amazing too... I'm particularly fond of the Myths and Legends set (Holy Grail, Atlantis...) and the Mysteries of Egypt set (Sphinx, Building the Pyramids, Tombs and Mummies...) Each of the two disk sets can be found retail for $15 or so, and they've all got four 1 hour long show on them. The Las Vegas set is also very cool...

Lost Civilizations (Time Life Collection) is also a cool set... Found for about $45, it has 10 hour long documentaries, detailing ancient civilizations (Aztecs, Babylonians, Celts, Greeks, etc...)

Last Days of the Civil War (History Channel) is also a very good box, personally... Very interesting features, plus a few episodes of A&E Biography for Lincoln and J.Davis to boot...

The Endurance, narrated by Liam Neeson, is also excellent - Much easier to get through than the long and drawn out Kenneth Branaugh A&E film adaption (personal opinion only...)

And as the proud owner and lover of 33 PBS Gold disks (the pride of my collection), you can't go wrong with most of these - Watching my latest one on MacArthur later tonight...

Hope there are some things here to have piqued your interest... I know, I know, I can't shut up about these things...

"Connections" and "The Ascent of Man" are 2 titles I'll mention since I own both. I'll disagree with Mr David VP about "The Planets", I find it quite interesting.

Just browsing Amazon I'm amazed at the amount of these programs available. So far the ones I'm getting are The Walking With... set, The Blue Planet set and The IMAX Space Collection. I want to get A brief History in Time, but I don't even know where my VCR is anymore.

Thanks for describing what the Space Films Apollo sets are about, Brian. If they're just footage I'm going to hold off getting them. The Lost Civilizations and Myths & Legends sets sound decent. I'm going to look into those.

One that I'm surprised to see on DVD already is The History Channel's Barbarians. It just aired a couple of weeks ago. Naturally, I was only able to watch a little of it. What I did see was very good.

Ugh, I know...My wish list just went up $160.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Evolution

Holds a place of honor next to Cosmos on my shelf.

Bought Cosmos on dvd, and I also got lots of good ideas here for science documentaries
BBC and Horizon documentaries tend to be great as well.

I recently watched this one on HDTV which I really enjoyed:
http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Most-Amazing-Events-Blu-ray/dp/B001W79MQS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1249739027&sr=8-2

Well, I *was* going to mention my top shelf series: cosmos, but you already have that covered. Past that, I've loved Walking With Dinosaurs. But then - who doesnt love seeing Dinosaurs tear shit up? Another series - I dont know if this is on DVD yet or not - that I've been getting a kick out of is Life After People. The premise is: what happens to the world if every human were suddenly to up and vanish. It's kind of repetitive when watched back to back (dont do a marathon), but it's still kind of cool.