Wonders of the Solar System

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.

I am happy with this series and the Wonders of the Universe too. The videos link the cosmos to us like no other since the Cosmos by Carl Sagan. Brian Cox said that the Cosmos influenced his career choice on his seeing the series as a child. The influence is clear, at least to me, in the two series. Like Cosmos, the Wonders series link the Universe to us in a significant and personal level.If you think that the Universe and the Cosmos are hard sciences, separate and apart from our existence both in the distant past and the present, these videos will change your mind.Cox is 44, but he brings a youthful zeal to these videos that exceeds the passion for science that Carl Sagan demonstrated in his series. This helps to hold my attention and to ponder what makes him so excited that doesn't grab me the same way.The series ponders the visible universe based on physics and goes further by hinting on how the visible universe shaped our religious and philosophical thoughts down the ages. One example of this is his comment on the need by worldwide civilizations to explain birth and death. He concludes by offering his belief on life and death based and linked on the physics of the birth and death of stars.But he cleverly ignores that the scientific belief in the truth of the Laws of Physics as interpreted by the language of mathematics can be fallible. Who knows, maybe 100 or 200 years from now scientist may look back to the 21th century and smile at the misinterpretations of the Laws of Nature by our generation of scientists just like our scientists look back 100 years and smile that the best minds of the early 20th century believed that the Universe was unchanging, with no beginning, and consisted of only the Milky Way. New discoveries and advances in technology and can make the best and brightest minds look silly in hindsight.Already, physicists appear confused to me. Within my lifetime, if a scientist believed in the Big Bang theory he/she was considered a crackpot. Now, if a scientist does not believe in the Big Bang Theory he or she is considered a crackpot. But the crackpots who don't believe in the Big Bang are starting to make noise that cannot be ignored. The theory of Multi-verses, for example, is offered as an alternative to the Big Bang as an explanation for why the Universe is expanding at an accelerated rate. Maybe Hoyle was more right than wrong when he ridiculed the Big Bang theory.The fact that Cox does not go into detail on any of the above theories, I believe will give his series a longer-shelf life than the Universe Series sponsored by the Science Channel. We will have to wait 20 years or so to find out. The Sagan Cosmos series is still being offered. Now in DVD from the original VHS format to show how a well done series can have a very long shelf life indeed.Finally, the DVD and Blue ray contains scenes that were cut by the History Channel since the videos go beyond 55 minutes on average and some beyond an hour--nice to own and see the full versions.

As a person who has a strong interest in the stars, skies and the planets this seemed like a natural buy for me; and I wasn't wrong.Presented by the brilliant Brian Cox, this follows the story of our solar system as it leads from planet to planet, including moons, asteroid belts and even massively active volcanoes that you see close up. Brian Co is enigmatic and superb as the presenter, explaining things in simpler and easier detail for those less-able to easily understand. this makes the program open to all audiences - and this series is even used within schools to teach the kids about our solar system and the universe around us.Top-notch graphics help explain this as we whizz around our universe seeing unseen things and travelling to distant worlds, where Cox explains about the planet, its features moons and even how habitable it is.If you are interested in the solar system, you should definitely get this. Following this, there is also the exciting Wonders of the Universe that is just as entertaining, exciting and egotistically rammed full of facts. This comes highly recommended both in a personal and academic sense.5*****

I've watched the BBC shows (but I'm writing this before the DVD release, so extras and any editing are beyond me at the moment) - completely by accident - catching the first episode one day.Professor Brian Cox presents the show in a way which honestly invigorates and charms you as you watch - there's no pretentious attitude, and even better, no need to dumb things down - the show is presented in such a friendly manner that you feel you're having a conversation with him as you learn.Professor Cox travels around the world viewing the phenomena of his weekly subject matter as well as partaking in special effects shots, and when you see him savouring this journey so very much, and joyously explaining his work while he interacts with simple elements in his environment (such as viewing an eclipse in Asia, explaining sunlight and colour in a rainforest, etc), it's when you realise you're so keen to learn and watch. Truly an excellent show, and almost an experience.I look forward to the following series, "Universal".

Professor Brian Cox's style of presentation throughout the five episodes contained on this box-set was both informative and enthusiastic, bringing to life (in stunning detail) a subject matter that can be dry if not handled well.No expense seems to have been spared in a budget that allowed the professor to fly to the upper reaches of the atmosphere, submerge deep under the ocean and travel to far flung areas on Earth to share observations about hostile environments found elsewhere in the solar system.I have been fascinated by astronomy from early childhood when my Dad would point a telescope into the day and night sky pointing out the many wonders. We both felt that this series was amongst the best we have ever seen on the subject (and that is praise indeed coming from my Dad). This is a simply stunningly informative voyage around the solar system presented by an individual that is able to pass on knowledge of the subject with ease and enthusiasm.

Proff Brian Cox, what a fantastic chap! The potential for a series of prgarmmes on the solar system to be a complete turn-off is massive and yet, the brilliant Brian Cox manages to make it a spell-binding and enthralling journey of knowledge.The really great thing about these programmes though is, I can sit down with my young daughter and watch them together and she finds them as fantastic as I do.The real skill of Proff Cox though, is his ability to bring all the potentially dry and dull facts together and explain it all in a clear easily understood and interesting way.It does have to be said though, the special effects and graphics act as a great prop in supporting the themes of each episode. When it is all brought together and pumped out in the form of this DVD, the finished article is truely inspiring.So next time you want some quality time with the younger ones and some covert education to boot, turn to the dashing young Brian Cox.

Having an interest in Astronomy, I was transfixed watching this documentary when it first aired, and now with the Blu-ray release, the advent of high definition gives it an added sense of wonder.Each episode is absorbing and doesn't set out to confuse the viewer, but to invite you to learn the principles of our solar system in an easy to understand manner.The series is such that even the physics calculations and experiments are addictive viewing, and told with such ease that upon conclusion you can't help but become emotional as you grasp the size of our solar system and its wonders within. From sunsets on Mars to solar eclipses on Saturn, watch in wonderment as to what humans are now able to film millions of miles out into space.With exceptional picture and sound quality, this is a truly breathtaking series for all ages, and I relish the forthcoming sequel 'Wonders of the Universe'.