Customer Reviews

BBS: The Documentary

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This documentary is so much more than a bunch of nerds talking about the pre-Internet days of Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes). In this three-DVD set, Jason Scott has truly captured the Zeitgeist of the personal computer revolution of the late 1970s and early 80s.

In terms of both value for your dollar and the scope of the project, the BBS Documentary is on par with the epic productions of Ken Burns. There are eight episodes (named above so I won't reiterate them) and countless hours of bonus material about all aspects of the BBS and personal computer phenomenon including an overview of the history of computer-to-computer communication; the conflict between hobbyists and "professionals"; Fidonet, a pre-Internet email system that leveraged "networks" of BBSes; the computer art scene (previously unknown by laypeople until now); hacking, phreaking, and software cracking; and a sense of the fascinating people who drove this movement.

In the films, Jason reveals the characters of hundreds of movers and shakers from the period, including heavy-hitters like TCP Creator Vinton Cerf and Fidonet Creator Tom Jennings. Regardless of the interviewee's prominence, however, Jason presents each one with respect, dignity, and a strong sense of story.

Besides being a computer and BBS enthusiast, Jason has a degree in film, and every episode shows the polish of a true filmmaker. Unlike many documentaries that ramble or seem to be little more than soapboxes for their creators, the BBS Documentary is a cohesive set of episodes, each one with its own story arc and deep sense of content.

Jason uses historical documents, archive footage, and a grab-bag of directorial tricks (backgrounds, lighting, split-screen, and smart, copious editing) to tell his story. The result?...A set of eight riveting films.

When you consider the depth and breadth of this project, it's amazing how few problems there are with the Documentary and how insignificant these issues are in relation to the film as a whole. For example, in a couple instances, the background music is overbearing, making it difficult to focus on what the interviewee is saying. Also, once in a while Jason brings the narrative to an abrupt halt with on-screen information captions. While these nuggets prove essential in most cases, there are a few times when the text is either too large or the message is patronizing--even for the layperson. Overall, though, Jason displays great faith in the viewer's intelligence and patience, so these issues are minor at best and go a long way toward showing that the films were made by an actual human being. Because they're not perfect, you get a sense of the profound amount of work that went into them and therefore have even more respect for their creator.

In all, you don't need to be an expert in computer history or technology to enjoy the BBS Documentary. More than the knowledge you'll pick up about this period, you'll come away from these films with a tremendous feeling of humanity. Jason displays great love, knowledge, and respect for the subject of every film in the series, and he reveals his interviewees to be much more than a bunch of smart nerds. Time and again they will surprise you with their wit, sensitivity, and depth on a host of topics as they relate to BBSes and computing, including economics, history, and philosophy.

For any intelligent person with the slightest interest in computers or this period in history, the BBS Documentary is a must-own DVD collection. You'll love this series, if for no other reason than it will afford you the opportunity to spend several hours listening to dozens of very smart, knowledgeable, and creative people talk with passion on a subject that is now part of history.

What is the point of buying a DVD like Spiderman 2? It will always be available on rental, or UMD, or Bluray or Pay-per-view or Video-on-demand, or whatever other format comes along. You'll always be able to watch it.

But BBS is one of those DVDs you ought to buy, because it may be your only chance to watch this gem of a documentary. It's a tour-de-force of 250 hours of original material edited down to 8 variable length "episodes" on 3 DVDs. It's very well edited - given its length, it amazingly does not descend to rambling, or aimless reminiscing. Even the special feature "out-takes" are informative or funny or poignant. More than that, it is a labour of love by one man with the passion to capture an obscure but pivotal moment in history and the men and women that made it and witnessed it.

Some reviewers clealy appreciate the material because of a sense of nostalgia, and who can blame them. But even if you are too young or too new to computers to have ever dialled into a BBS, this DVD is still for you - perhaps even more so. It's a view of an era of computing where everything was hard, and expensive, and new; where computers were miraculous tools, not pedestrian domestic appliances.

[...] Support documentaries on the history of techology and the film-makers that make them: Buy this DVD.

This documentary is a walk down memory lane for anyone who grew up to the light of a cathode ray tube and the music of a modem trying to connect. The director takes you through a tour of the often misunderstood, frequently underground, always interesting BBS scene, introducing you to people who were movers and shakers, people who were quietly building foundations, and people who were just there all the time. If you or someone you knew spent countless hours playing Trade Wars, The Pit, or Solar Realms Elite - or if you just still remember your full Fidonet address - pick up a copy of this documentary and think back to a younger age.

Jason Scott's independently-produced video documentary is one-of-a-kind and covers a lot of ground, making it a likely must-buy for anyone who wants to learn more about BBSes (or relive the old days when they were popular), but it suffers from a few notable weak spots that limit what could have been a much more enlightening production.

It becomes clear from the first glance at the chapter listing that most of the chapters cover a rather limited amount of territory. There's a segment on the obligatory H/P/A/C scene and a very welcome piece on the artscene (which is actually quite notable simply because it takes a scene that has ALWAYS been underground and places some of its important characters in front of a camera for a proper interview), but given how many hours of material there are here, it's surprising how quickly the material seems to pass, and how little sense of the BBS world has actually been conveyed during viewing.

Far and away the weakest point of this production is its format: It consists primarily of talking-head interviews, where somebody simply sits and talks about things that happened back in the day. While this kind of first-hand testimony is definitely valuable, there's precious little footage of anything actually happening; at the very least, a proper video of someone getting on a computer, dialing up a BBS, and reading a few messages would have been appropriate for those who've never used a BBS. With the exception of the artscene segment, where several actual pieces of ANSI art are shown, there are hardly even any shots of computer screens. It's clear that Jason Scott wanted to focus more on the people of the BBS world than the computers (probably keeping in mind the socialization-oriented folks who aren't all that interested in nuts-and-bolts technology and would have been turned off by too much techie stuff), and this is a welcome perspective that most people have never seen before, but for the seasoned BBS veterans who would have liked to see a little less talk and a bit more action taking place, one can't help feel that this production misses the mark slightly.

Jason weaves together a most entertaining and informative documentary about the age of BBS. I was amazed to hear so many interesting stories told by the people who made it happen. I was surprised at how much these films made me laugh and brought a smile to my face.

This project has been calling out from the geek-brain collective consciousness for some time, and thank goodness it was taken up by someone with real film making talent and diligence to see it through. You can tell this was a labor of love for Jason who has done a wonderful job with this documentary.

The 5+ hours of video is broken up into easy to watch subject specific episodes plus lots of bonus interview shorts for the real geeks. The production value is top notch - He even added an optional subtitle track that clarifies the jargon and insider details. I recommend this title to anyone that knows what the letters 'BBS' stands for.

This wonderfully-made documentary brought back so many great memories of being a sysop years ago, before the Internet put the era of BBSes to an abrupt end. The many thousands of people who have had any experience with the BBS subculture, either running or calling bulletin board systems, would enjoy these very informative DVDs.

Every part of the documentary, from the early days onward, with being a user, a sysop, the competition and emotions, the ANSI artscene sub-subculture, FidoNet, pay BBSes, had been a part of many BBSers lives. It's hard to even find people to talk about this stuff anymore. Without this documentary, much of the history of BBSes would've been simply lost and forgotten.

Of course, not all areas could be fully covered. There are fewer technical details for a more general audience, and there could have been more on the BBS artscene, which didn't just involve ANSI artwork, but synthesized music and animated graphic demos as well. There are probably many more areas that could be covered but would be on a scope that would be too large and general for this documentary.

If you've enjoyed the BBS experience in the past, these DVDs are a must-get. They are worth every penny and parts of it have moved me to tears remembering the good times in our little dial-up communities.

Yep, I have been in the BBS scene for a while. All the information compiled on this DVD set is from interviews with people involved in BBSing for many years, even some from before I started... like the ones who "invented" the first BBS.

You could say many of these people in the interviews helped start the Interent, local BBSes were the only way to gather in "cyber space" 20 years ago, and these people provided many of the systems others dialed into for "email", files, online games etc.

I'm honored to be a no-name included in this documentary for about 30 seconds or so, but disclaimer aside, this needed to be made. Another generation has come along now with no idea of what factors led to the Internet as we now know it.

Jason did a tremendous job with this set of DVDs. Professional, artful, insightful and ultimately fascinating. My only complaint would be that the Commodore artscene was neglected in the ANSI artscene segment, but that's nothing compared to what's included here.

If you were a BBSer or are just curious about what we did before the entire world was connected with such ease, check this out. I learned a lot even if my formative years were spent on BBSes during almost every free moment.

...and for some, a great way to reignite neurons that have laid dormant for many many years.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
1) Do you remember PC Talk? Qmodem? Procomm?
2) Do you recall companies like Hayes? Racal Vadic? Everex? US Robotics?
3) Can you describe the differences between v.32, v.32bis, and v.32HST? And what was MNP5?
4) Do you remember the great war between ARC & ZIP? Heck, did you ever use SQ.EXE and LBR.EXE before archival tools?
5) Can you explain the differences between Xmodem, Ymodem, Zmodem, & HSLink?
6) What was so special about ANSI.SYS?
7) Did you ever use PCPursuit? Or Wardialers? Or Snatchit? Or a BlueBox?
8) Have you ever picked up a copy of 2600 magazine?
9) Did you ever pick up Assembly language? Do you remember what was so special about INT13?
10) Have you ever connected to any of the following? FIDONET, RBBS, Emulex, PCBoard...

If any of this makes sense to you, you're part of an 1337 club of folks that will 'GET' this DVD set... and you'll 'get' it in a big way. If you own a copy of "Wargames" just 'because'... you'll defintely 'get' this documentary.

This documentary brought up so many happy memories of my adolescence, I found myself welling up with tears during parts of it. If you were the type that woke up in the morning and went straight to your terminal to see, 'What happened while you were asleep', you'll truly enjoy this stroll through memory lane.

I was one of those 200 people Jason interviewed. (Bootleg)

Finally the truth about the beginnings of the computer explosion of the late 70's and 80's is revealed by the main players of that era....not the lies told by the press and law enforcement.
Jason traveled for over 3 years, crossing the country multiple times in search of legendary people that all had been a major factor in shaping the way everything began and progressed.
He interviews the people the press never could and they all tell him the true stories of their experiences and intrigues.

Finally the truth to many age old questions are answered by the people that know and participated in the early pc revolution.

Jasons interviews covers the early BBS software publishers and their private wars. He covers the early hackers, crackers, phreaks and pirate scenes with interviews and true answers from those early legendary people that were part of the beginning of the hacker scene. Learn the REAL truth from them about the beginnings of hacking, etc.. NOT the lies published by the press nor the fantasy fables made up by popular book writers that had NO experience as hackers. Here you hear the truth strait from the people that became Legends.

Jason doesn't hold back on the Truth. He doesn't lie nor edit the interviews. He reveals the mysterious answers to questions never before revealed about the inner circles of the early software entities and their constant wars with each other and their battles with the hackers that never before has been told from both their side and the hackers side.

You can trust my word on this! This is the BEST and most accurate product EVER made about the early secrets of the PC
beginnings, told by those that most influenced PC History, Legends and PC Folklore.

Check me out doing a google search of my handle "Bootleg" and the word "Hacker" to see decades of my infamouus and mischievious exploits as one of the earliest of the hackers.
You'll find I'm still an active and respected hacker by the hacker community and my word is my bond! PERIOD!

If you only buy one thing this year, buy this! It's sure to become a collectors item immediately, especially this 1st edition.

Nuff Said-
BOOTLEG