What are the best science documentary DVD's? (1 Viewer)

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

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.

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.

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.

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.