| Voyage to the Planets and Beyond (2004) |
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Product Details
Think of this BBC two-part TV special as Walking with Planets. One of the makers of the excellent Walking with... dinosaur programs looks forward--into the future--and upward--into space--for another presentation of story-driven science. This fake documentary follows an international crew of five on an extraordinary six-year spaceflight. We hear from Mission Control and view footage of the astronauts in training along with the flight photography and "TV broadcasts" (perfect for quickly explaining facts via Q&As). The flight is beyond ambitious: landing on Venus, Jupiter's volcanic moon Io, the rings of Saturn, an asteroid, and the far-off reaches of Pluto. Certainly, no real space agency would sign off on such a mission, but the dramatics work thanks to the deft handling by writer-director Joe Ahearne (Ultraviolet). Here's a fun way to learn about the crushing pressure of Venus or the risk/reward of slingshot-ing around the sun. With quick pacing (we are on Venus six minutes into the two-hour movie), smart choices (some of the astronauts' hardships are brutal), plus excellent special effects (the mile-long spacecraft Pegasus is a dandy), you have a program with which families can learn together and kids will want to watch more than once. The DVD contains some great making-of features, plus a complete episode on the real-life space probes that have visited--and are still visiting--the planets. They are just as watchable as the main program. --Doug Thomas
Product Reviews
 (5 stars) - Must see for anyone wanting serious information on planets exploration
I started this review halfway into the DVD - but I had by then seen enough to give it a 5 star review (I had just watched the asteroid belt segment - for those who have watched it as well, you know why I was so excited and had to stop to review at that point :-)).
Picture a NASA documentary but add 10 times the adrenaline... It's well acted and credible, and it doesn't downplay the dangers of space travel. It does a very nice work in stirring the next generations in getting the right mindset to go into space exploration.
However this is still science fiction, the closest I have seen to real sci-fi and the closest to heart to its true spirit. This movie is to "2001 - A Space Odyssey" what Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Around to the Moon" are to H. G. Wells' "First Men on the Moon". Verne and this movie dealt with immediately plausible science, whereas Clarke and Wells also delved in alien encounters.
Some naysayers when reviewing the movie mentioned that it was anti-science and anti-manned space exploration. On the contrary, this work will spark the interest of many in resolving the still open issues the astronauts encountered in the movie, from better radiation protection to surgery in space.
One of the giveaways (that I can mention without throwing a spoiler) to this being fiction rather just "science fact", as claimed in the beginning of the movie, is that the mission parameters are just too ambitious. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Io, Saturn and rings, Pluto and a comet - for a single trip - is just too much.
You just need to think about the detailed review of the Space Shuttle infrastructure every time it goes back to Earth for a single trip just outside Earth, then multiply the stress on the ship and crew by a 100 and then you have what the movie is talking about. To be more realistic, it should have been several episodes with separate missions. Most likely it was what the original script talked about - obviously budgetary constraints weighed in - but I digress.
It makes sense to go to many planets over a single trip in a sci-fi movie if the script objective is to explore all facets of manned planet exploration without the burden to reenact a space program with several crews. Make no mistake: before going on a tour of the solar system with the same crew, humanity will send separate crews for each of the planets.
There are other minor issues but I recommend take into account some "poetic license" that you might allow in any sci-fi movie, and not treat it like a documentary. It is not, so expect minor inconsistencies here and there.
(5 stars) - Just Awsome
Well, the other reviews go into detail, just want to add this is the full orginal version of the film, with additional scenes edited out of the Discovery Science Channel version shown in the US.
Definitely enjoyable and a good watch, especial to science/space flight/technology junkies like myself.
 (4 stars) - GOOD SERVICE.
the DVDs came in on time... BUT UBFORTUNATELY you cant watch them on any DVD outside the USA... i brought tham back to Nigeria with me and - BLAM.... what a waste!!! So be careful before you buy them... if you intend to watch them outside the USofA, then think twice!
(5 stars) - This movie ROCKS literally
Of all Hollywood space movie drama and others in the form of documentaries, this one combines the best of both genres. It is realistic in its scope and in the details, albeit futuristic. But not that farfetched. A real ex-NASA astronaut (Moonwalker, Dave Scott) consulted on the making of this film and it shows.
I like the way the filmakers captured the vastness of space with our own solar system as the setting for adventurous journey. With even future space travel technology it will take years to travel to the outer planets. Near the end of the movie, the view of the Sun from the surface of Pluto is awe inpiring. It is so far away it seems totally insignificant from such a great distance.
The same goes for the passage of time while traveling the solar system. To think that the Director of Mission Control "retires" before the mission has been completed, is a good example of this.
Also, the death of crew member after exposure too much radiation in space during the mission, is a gripping reality of the inherent hazzards of long duration space travel.
There are other frequent hazzards of visiting the planets as depicted in this movie and again the mission to land on the surface of other worlds did not seem too farfetched. The atmospheric difference, gravity, travel distances and durations between planets are all portrayed as well. This film and the special features included on the DVD would make for a very educational study of our solar system and very entertaining to young and old alike.
The only thing I did not like about the DVD is the "episodic" TV time slot format. A proper editting job would have been in order for transfer to DVD.
The actors in this dramatization are unknowns and this makes for a more interesting and believable movie. The women astronauts and international make up of the crew also add to the storyline's general audience appeal.
All things considered well worth the price for a uniquely different type of space movie; one which I will watch many times over in pure delight.
(5 stars) - SPELLBINDING
I had originally recorded this on DVR and I kept the recording for months, watching it often. I should have spooled it to DVD media, because it was inadvertently deleted from the DVR drive, and I miss it a lot. All the praises of other raters suffice to describe my feelings, I just wanted to let others know this is a MUST WATCH documentary.
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