Title: The Planets—Epoch 2000 |
Release Date: 2000 |
Nationality and Language: |
Running time: 45 minutes |
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Distributor and Production Company: AIX/ |
Director; Writer: Don Barrett |
Producer: Robert H Goodman |
Cast: Patrick Stewart, narrator |
Technical: |
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Review: I have always looked for films that would show landscapes or dioramas of the various solar system planets, actual footage when possible, or computer simulations. This film has stunning photos of Mars and interesting flickering shots of what Venus might look like. Venus may have undergone a sudden greenhouse conversion about 500 million years ago, and may exfoliate its surface in magma every few million years. There are simulated landscapes of Io, Ganymede and Titan, but there might have been more. There could have been an attempt to show what it would “look like” to descend into the atmosphere of Jupiter and be crushed as you approached a liquid hydrogen ocean. There have been other videos that accomplish this, such as
in the planetarium of the Air and The music is based on Gustav Holst’s hackneyed program music, ThePlanets, converted to synthesizer by Isao Tomita, with a movement for Pluto by Spitz-Tari. Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon
(2005, Imax/Sony Classics/Playtone, dir. Mark
Cowen, narrated and co-produced by Tom Hanks, 40 min, G). Want to visit the
Moon without paying $30 million or so for a private vacation some day? You
can invest $10 at an Imax theater and experience the Moon in Imax 3-D,
walking with the astronauts, and see a very gray and black-and-white world.
Of course, the full screen shots are simulated with advanced editing and
programming, but small screen snippets of the real moon walks from 1969 to
1972 are shown, and then tend to look like amateur video. Moon (2009, Sony Pictures Classics, Liberty Films/Xingu, dir. Duncan Jones, 97 min, R) deals with lunar workers cloned to believe they have lived lives on earth. Blogger. Avatar (2009, 20th Century Fox, dir. James Cameron, 165 min, PG-13). A 3-D journey to M-star planet Pandora. Blogger. In the Shadow of the Moon (2007, ThinkFilm / Film 4 / Passion, dir. David Sington, prod. Rom Howard, 100 min, PG) is a history of the manned lunar landing program told by the only living astronauts to walk on the Moon. The centerpiece of the film is a depiction of the 1969 landing of Apollo 11, with much live unedited video from the original mission, including the flyovers as well as the walk. (Aldrin was by himself in one revolution around the Moon.) The Moon seems to be in black and white. The live video is shown 4:3, which looks small compared to the Imax films; the interviews with the astronauts today (in their 70s) are shown in regular aspect. There is passing mention of Apollo 13. Roving Mars (2006, Walt Disney/Imax, dir.
George Butler, 40 min, G) gives us the same opportunity, although without
3-D, to explore the ferrous-red Following the Water (2006, NASA/JPL, 45 min), cable film about water on Mars. Blogger link here. Exploring Space: The Quest for Life (2005, PBS) provides an optimistic view of finding life in space. Indeed there is compelling evidence (from left-handed amino acids) that the building blocks came from space. There are fascinating simulations of the surface of Europa, with the cracks venting water that freezes out, and a possible ocean below with creatures. Much of the film talks about terraforming Mars. There are graphic discussions of bed rest experiments for the simulation of low gravity. Descendants who live on Mars would evolve into a separate species. Nova:
Voyage to the Mystery Moon (2006, PBS) is a spectacular one-hour
documentary of the Cassini-Huygens mission that landed the Huygens probe on
Titan, the large moon of Saturn, in January 2005. Titan, Earth, Venus, and
Mars (and possibly Triton, a moon of The Privileged Planet (2004, Illustra Media, dir. Ladd Allen, Wayne P. Allen, 60 min, narr. John Rhys-Davies) presents the case for intelligent design without mentioning the concept. The documentary starts out with the discussion of the “Copernican Principle” or “Principle of Mediocrity” and proceeds to enumerate the incredibly long list of incredibly unlikely factors that have to be just right for intelligent, complex life to develop. There is a habitable zone not only in the Solar System, but also within the Galaxy and even relative to spiral arms of the galaxy. Many other factors are mentioned, such as having a large Moon. Furthermore, the Earth is in an ideal physical location for observing the rest of the universe. The mathematics of “improbability” balances the hundred of billions of galaxies (the so-called Anthropic Principle). Includes the time-lapse short “Journey to the Edge of the Universe.” Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008, Rocky Mountain / Premise Media, 90 min, dir. Nathan Franowski, PG, 90 min, narr. Ben Stein) is a whimsical examination of the ostracism by mainstream academia of those who present intelligent design as an acceptable idea. Blogger. 3D Sun (2008, Mongae, 20 min) is a 3D Imax film examining solar storms. Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity is a planetarium film that examines black holes at galactic centers. Blogger for both of these. |
Related reviews: Apollo 13 |
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