Customer Reviews

Ancient Alien [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A fascinating computer animated journey of mythic realms, the video has several segments, exploring gravity-defying beings, molten chrome oceans, volcanic islands, and other intriguing places. The visuals are combined seamlessly with very cool "exotica electronica" music. I enjoyed it a lot!

I've bought at least 8 other videos like this, most from the same makers at The Mind's Eye. All the others were great, but this one is terrible. I actually found myself hitting Fast Forward on my remote--a terrible comment on this tape. Most of the video is abstract art, unlike previous works from TME. While a few of these abstract sequences are really great, most drag on, get tiresome, and are repetitious. I felt I got about $2 worth of good video for my $14-plus. I thought the sound track was pretty good--not the best from TME, but good. This isn't nearly enough to save this video, however. I noticed that, unlike previous TME videos, the artists are all from a place in Britain that sounds like a government computer-animation school. That would explain a lot. I know some top animators in this country, and they've always said the best animators aren't products of animation classes. If you're creative, you don't need schooling in animation; if you're not creative, no amount of schooling will help. Next time, the folks at The Mind's Eye should go back to the individual free-lancers.

This is nothing like the other Mind's Eyes, which I still enjoying viewing today. This one looks more like the first DVD of X-Mix: a lot of "flat" looking ancient 3-d graphics that crossfade back-and-forth, and end up being repetitive. Hardly anything in the other Mind's Eyes ever repeats. Actually I think some of the scenes in this (like the white rocks flying to and from the distance) were IN the first DVD of X-Mix from 1994, so I'm not sure why they were reused in 1998 (when this was released). And the first DVD of X-mix is almost 3 hours long, while this is only 43 minutes.

This also has that weird Playstation non-interlace problem (unlike other Mind's Eyes) where only every-other horizontal line on the screen is generated...and thus twice as easy for computers to generate, but which looks cheap. So the horizontal lines are jagged, most things are excessively pixelated, and there is no detail. This would probably look better on VHS actually, because the distortion would make the non-interlaced problem smoother. If there were at least more bright colors (like the first X-Mix), that would be SOMETHING, but so much of this is in BROWN and GREY that it looks depressing and ugly like a rainy day.

Most of the movement is the slowest I've seen so far, so this might be good wallpaper for DJs who play slower R&B. But if you play fast music like I do, then the other Mind's Eyes (and even the first X-Mix) are much better wallpaper.

The Mind's Eye series from Odyssey is the best series out there and Ancient Alien is one the best from that series. Lots of color, pretty detailed, good movement (ie flying around), variety between the different scenes, good length, and most importantly....good music! I don't know what the heck the other guy that wrote a review is thinking when he says the music wasn't that good. I don't think he even knows who the artists are...but I do...and let me tell you that whoever did the score on this DVD, they knew a lot about ambient music. IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE TRANCE!!!!! Anyway, this DVD is at the top of my collection. I have, and I will continue to, recommend it, watch it, and play it for others. Peace :)

This one of the better CG videos out there. Very good 3-D, and the music went along very well. You can use other music just as well. Over all, Very good effort.

I consider myself to be a fan of "techno" and "trance techno" music. I have a couple songs on albums and have produced and mastered quite a few CDs so I believe I can speak with a modicum of authority. The music on Ancient Alien is only "fair." None of the tracks stand out as anything one would like to listen to in another place such as your car. But it is cleanly produced and gets it point across. I'm sorry, but it just did not take me anywhere.

And I was also disappointed at the quality of the video portion of the work. But not with the work itself, only the actual transfer. It seemed like this DVD was copied from a VHS tape in EP mode. It did not take any advantage of the quality we know a DVD is capable of.

But the best part of Ancient Alien is the video art. It is actually quite stimulating and hypnotizing. It's just too bad that it looks so poor.

Overall this DVD is a keeper, but just barely.

I'm glad this title is getting better marks than it did
in the past. I felt it was getting a bum rap. This is
one of my favorite CGI dvds. It does what it's supposed
to do. Entertain. It's one of the best in the Mind's
Eye series.

I liked to stick up for ancient alien as being a very nice piece of work! I think I can speak with some authority on the quality of this video, having been involved in creating 3D abstract computer graphics for the rave scene for the past 8 years. I have seen countless video artists work and techno music video compilations. I think that X Mix 1 & 3 comes close to this one in visuals and music. The graphics is very nice and abstract with a good use of colors. The trance sound track is very good and matches the flow of the visuals very well. For the critic who said they could make better techno music than this, then try and release and sell some quality CD's that these great artists have done! Perhaps others might like the inspiring corporate video training sound track for Beyond the minds eye by Jan Hammer. For the people who didn't like this one and thought the music and graphics was repetitive, then you obviously you don't understand good video art and techno music. I suggest you go out and watch tomb raider or play the game and remember to keep your hand on it at all the times! this one is very cool DVD! 4 stars.

If you were ever into collecting Amiga graphics demos, you'll probably enjoy Ancient Alien. The 3D animations are all fairly abstract compared to the Mind's Eye series, with pulsating "plasma" textures, wormholes, "bob" effects, and other very Amiga demo-scene like stuff. On a big screen TV and decent stereo system, this is an _experience_!

The quality of the video on this DVD could be a better, at least with some digital processing (hence, I rated this 4 instead of 5 stars).

The best of the Mind's Eye collection to date. More abstract than any of the previous videos. If you want to turn your TV into a moving painting of beautifull ethereal light, buy this video. The music, finally catches up with the visuals in this one!.