Product Details

• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 5
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Passport
• DVD Release Date: October 3, 2006
• Run Time: 676 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000GNOGCO
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #84,130 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Hosted by internationally acclaimed horror-meister Christopher Lee, this remarkable 5-DVD set features the very best of science fiction and fantasy from a century of cinematic magic, told in 26 haunting half-hour shows.

Trace the evolution of the science-fiction film from marvelous early trick shorts such as Melies' A Trip To The Moon through classic sci-fi like The Day the Earth Stood Still and War of the Worlds to more recent mega-hits such as Independence Day and The Terminator.

This scintillating set features classic film clips, rare behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with such sci-fi and movie legends as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Costner, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Vincent Price, Ray Bradbury, Charlton Heston, Sharon Stone, just to name a few.

Discover the secrets behind a hundred years of science-fiction magic and adventure!

DISC ONE

After the End - What "things to come" will there be after man destroys himself - and the world? Here's a passel of post-apocalyptic pictures poised to please!

Alien Life Forms - We are not alone. Not by a long shot. We're surrounded by sci-fi flicks filled with strange visitors from other planets with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.

Amazing Inventions - Time machines, disintegrator machines, shrinking rays - they're all here - and more!

Artificial Intelligence - Computers can be our friend, or they can be H.A.L. from 2001.

Dinosaurs - Long before Jurassic Park, dinosaurs roamed thru a variety of horror films, going all the way back to The Lost World in 1925.

DISC TWO

Final Frontier - "Science fiction" has become almost synonymous with "outer space" - and with good reason. Take a delightful trip among the stars - at warp speed.

Future Worlds - What will the world be like a hundred years from now? A thousand years from now? A million years from now? Science-fiction loves to play this particular game of "what if."

H.G. Wells - A salute to the brilliant Victorian mind that gave us The Invisible Man, The Time Machine and War of the Worlds.

Jules Verne - A fantastic voyage through the work of the 19th century French fantasist who gave us 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and From The Earth To The Moon.

Lost Worlds - Could there really be saber-toothed tigers, cave men, and dinosaurs on isolated islands and atop towering mountain peaks? These lost worlds are finally found.

DISC THREE

Mad Scientists - How many times have sci-fi films centered on mad scientists? (And what were they mad at?) Many legendary performers have taken their turn playing sinister scientists and deranged doctors, working on fantastic formulas.

Mutations - An experiment with radiation and nuclear energy - and something goes terribly wrong. Let us count the different ways sci-fi films have dealt with this intriguing notion.

Powers of the Mind - This fascinating chapter takes a look at such mental manifestations as ESP, mind control, and telekinesis.

Queens of Sci-Fi - Zsa-Zsa Gabor played The Queen of Outer Space, but there were so many other sinister sci-fi sisters, as you'll discover!

Ray Harryhausen - A salute to the king of stop-frame animation, who brought to life Jason and the Argonauts and The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, amongst many others.

DISC FOUR

Robots - From the sexy Art Deco robot in Metropolis to the low-budget gorilla-with-a-space-helmet robot in Robot Monster and on to R2D2 and C3PO, audiences have been fascinated by mechanical men (and women).

Sci-Fi Heroes - Just as westerns have cowboys and Indians and crime films have cops and robbers, sci-fi films have their Flash Gordons and Mings the Merciless; Luke Skywalkers and Darth Vaders, among so many other heroes and villains.

Sexy Sci-Fi - Science fiction isn't all cold chrome robots and the freezing abyss of outer space. Hollywood wisely injected a large quotient of lovely ladies into their strange tales - and we're all luckier for it.

Spawn of the Atom - The A-bomb. The H-bomb. From the conclusion of World War II thru the 1950s (and beyond), people were fascinated by - and frightened of - the atom bomb and its horrible power. This made it a natural subject for sci-fi movies.

Stars - There are the stars that astronauts travel to and then there is that "other" kind of star which, in the world of sci-fi, included John Agar, Ken Tobey, Richard Carlson, Charlton Heston, and so many others.

DISC FIVE

Strange Invaders - Not all aliens come in the form of little green men with disintegrator guns. Here's a salute to the germs, blobs, viruses (viri?) and bacteria that sci-fi filmmakers have unleashed on audiences over the years.

The End of the World - From Biblical floods to natural disasters and plagues of giant insects, it's not always man who manages to destroy the world, as vividly illustrated in these sci-fi favorites.

The Serials - Just as there were western and gangster serials, science fiction also had its fair share of 12-chapter cliffhangers, going back to the 1930s.

Time Travelers - H.G. Wells wasn't the only one who wondered what it would be like to travel forward - or backward - in time. It's a staple of the sci-fi genre, as seen in this overview of time-travel films.

U.F.O.s - Swamp gas? Airplanes? Secret government weapons? Or are they really from "out there"? Here's a look at all the sci-fi flicks that have concerned themselves with flying saucers.

Weird Worlds - A fascinating look at how sci-fi films have portrayed man's desire to travel to other planets, as seen by such early visionaries as Jules Verne, Georges Melies, and H.G. Wells

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Okay, But Not Great, October 20, 2006

By	Terry Sunday (El Paso, Texas United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

"A Century of Science Fiction" is a nicely packaged set with five single-sided DVDs and a fold-out episode guide insert. The DVDs contain 26 individual episodes, each dealing with a separate topic of the history of science fiction cinema. Most of the episodes are theme-based, such as "Alien Life Forms," "Amazing Inventions," "Lost Worlds," "Powers of the Mind" and "The End of the World." Others have a narrower, more specific focus, such as the episodes on "H.G. Wells," "Jules Verne" and "Ray Harryhausen."

The blurb on the back of the DVD case touts that this is "the very best of science fiction and fantasy from a century of cinematic magic, told in 26 haunting half-hour shows." Well, yes and no. There's a little hyperbole in this breathless prose.

First, the shows are not a half hour long--each one is between 22 and 23 minutes, up to the closing credits. No big deal, that's still between 572 and 598 minutes, or nearly 10 hours, of "cinematic magic." It is, however, neither "over 666 minutes" as plastered on the front of the case, nor "approx. 676 minutes" as shown on the back. Even stranger, the label of each DVD says "running time approx. 203 minutes," which is 1,015 minutes total. This is so far off that it's ridiculous. How hard can it be for a DVD producer to figure out how long the feature is and print it consistently on the product?

Anyway, running time inaccuracies aside, the main thing you need to know if you're interested in this set is this: it consists largely of trailers. If you're looking for a thoughtful, insightful analysis of science fiction films that puts them into a historical context, or even relates them to each other within the genre, you won't find it here. The narrator does not do much more than verbalize the name of the film and maybe summarize a few plot points in conjunction with what the trailer shows. In fairness, there are some scenes that don't come from trailers, but not very many.

The other thing you need to know is that this is not exactly a "new" release. While the packaging shows a copyright date of 2006, the copyright date in the credits for each episode is 1998, so this is actually a re-packaged release of material that was first available eight years ago.

The image quality, of course, varies tremendously, but that's forgivable--it's a function of the age and storage conditions of the source material. Many old Technicolor films, for instance, without expensive professional restoration, are very red. Less forgivable is the fact that A LOT of the footage repeats from show-to-show. With 100 years of science fiction cinema to choose from, I would think the producers could find 572 minutes (or 666 minutes, or 676 or 1,015...) without having to repeat.

So, on balance, I rate "A Century of Science Fiction" with three stars. It was fun to see scenes (even trailers) from films that haven't seen the light of day in years, and there are plenty of them. The set has reasonably good production values, and it's pretty cheap. But, in my opinion, it could have been so much better.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable review of sci-fi shows and movies, January 9, 2007

By	J. Winters (Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Very interesting, fun and a new way to view lots of movies/shows. My only complaint is that the same "clips" are used over and over in some parts...as if there weren't enough movies/shows to edit? Over all, I'd recommend for anyone who is a sci-fi addict.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I agree with everyone else..., February 28, 2007

By	Spike Redding (Albany, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

...that this release is okay but not great. Yes, it's nice to see bits of films that I haven't watched in a long time, but, as others here have pointed out, a very limited number of clips are included across the breadth of the whole series. How many times do we have to see the trailer for "Predator"?!

This set is an almost complete waste in the respect that it's aimed neither at fans of SF nor those curious about BECOMING fans of SF. The fan will find virtually nothing new here, and the proto-fan will find nothing interesting or intriguing.

Chris Lee fans beware: Lee hosts but two of the 26 episodes in this set.