Customer Reviews

Connections 3 (5-Disc Set)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The previous reviewer appears to have accidentally pasted the wrong episode titles for this DVD Box Set. Here are the correct titles:

Connections 3 DVD Disc No. 1

Feedback

In the twenty-first century, electronic agents will be our servants on the great web of knowledge. They will use the kind of feedback that won World War II. Feedback mathematics is invented to help guns hit their targets. The concept of feedback originated in the vineyards of France by a wine-maker and physiologist named Claude Bernard. His ex-wife began the Humane Society, created to save people from drowning. Drownings increased due to an increase in shipping. All of this eventually leads to the hiring of a doctor at a sanitarium in Michigan. The doctor tries out new diets on the patients. The most successful product is named after him -- Kellogg's cornflakes.

What's in a Name

A good breakfast leads to corn cob garbage by the ton. This is used for "furfan," and a whole new discipline no one's heard about, called furfan chemistry. Furfan can do amazing things, like creating resin for bonding. This leads to the creation of the tractor and, then the creation of the diesel engine. Believe it or not, James Burke shows how this all leads to the creation of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Connections 3 DVD Disc No. 2

Drop the Apple

Smithson, the benefactor of the Smithsonian Institution, discovered the mineral calamine. This mineral is one of the most useful and unusual because it gives off electricity. The secret is in the shape. This was discovered by J. Currie of the famous pair. The first consumer use of this electricity was 33 rpm records. This eventually leads to Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which leads to the creation of the atomic bomb.

An Invisible Object

This program travels five hundred years into the past and back, to connect mysterious black holes in space with modern fast food, via thrills and spills on the Pony Express, Italian anatomy theaters and stolen corpses, the Sultan of Turkey's disastrous finances, Renaissance German jewelry, the invention of the screw, slide rules and American tobacco plantations, boiled potatoes, Spanish Inquisition thumbscrews, and why beer is served chilled. The show also includes a French Queen's dinner party, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, the greatest disaster in history (for wine-drinkers), squeaky-clean Swiss airplanes, and a fifteenth century French barber-shop quartet.

Connections 3 DVD Disc No. 3

Life is No Picnic

The advent of modern coffee-vending machines spurs the creation of freeze dried coffee. This begins a revolutionary effort by the U.S. Army in World War II to lighten the soldiers' rations packs. The Star Spangled Banner lyrics are adapted from an ancient Greek poem. Mme de Stael of Switzerland drives the Romantic Movement forward in Europe. The Romantic Movement affects all thinkers which leads to future studies of animal development. Based on this research, Darwin proposes his Theory of Evolution.

Elementary Stuff

Darwin's Theory of Evolution is shared by Alfred Russel Wallace who has a strong belief in miracles and spiritualism. British interest in spiritualism is shared by physicist Oliver Lodge who develops the coherer, the device that makes radio reception possible. With the Swiss creation of postage stamp, Switzerland becomes the world postal center. Highlanders fearing oppression from Scottish rulers flee to North Carolina where turpentine is developed. The creation of the vacuum pump is instrumental in the discovery of both Boyle's Law and Pierre Perrault's hydrography. Quarrels about whether or not present language/literature is as good as that of the past leads to the fictional character Sherlock Holmes.

Connections 3 DVD Disc No. 4

A Special Place

Meet a real live man who changed history with a totally new way of identifying you. Plus a four hundred-year trip through 20 locations. Swedish electricity and Dutch wind tunnels use a new type of photography. Aristocratic World War I fighter aces and their crazy mountain-climbing uncles. Touchy-feely times in Romantic Germany. The mysteries of ancient cities uncovered. Female painters in eighteenth-century London theaters lit by amazing new kinds of lights. Saving sailors from shipwreck and helping Caribbean smugglers. Astronomers, poets, fishermen, mathematicians and skeptics, bird-painters and Russian skullduggery lead the program to a final beauty-spot, where hundreds of Americans get drenched every day.

Fire from the Sky

How do you go from the majestic beauty of Iceland's geysers to the destruction of the Allied Firebombing of Hamburg in World War II? You stop by Stonehenge, chat with the mystical Caballists, talk to Martin Luther, Ozeander, Tycho Brahe and Mary Queen of Scots, before heading to the magnetic North Pole. The invention of gin and tonic will set you back on course to the discovery that mixing rubber with gasoline makes it burn slower, an integral component of any firebombing. It's all a matter of connections.

Connections 3 DVD Disc No. 5

Hit the Water

If you launch your story in the cockpit of a Tornado Fighter Bomber-- the height of "smart bombs" operated by smart pilots -- dip into the history of margarine and plankton, travel to 18th Century Turkey to investigate small pox inoculations, dance at the ballet Copelia, then blow up a dam in Norway with a British commando team, how do you prevent Hitler from building and exploding atomic bombs? Through the infinite world of unexpected connections - an ingenious look at why and how Hitler never harnessed heavy water and the A-Bomb.

In Touch

An American scientist ponders the problem of nuclear fusion in 1951. This unleashes a series of connections that encompass superconductors, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, King George III, modern oceanography, the Versailles Gardens, Pagoda Mania, and handwriting analysis to arrive at the Global Net. Through this chain of unexpected connections, you, too, can "stay in touch."

This series is quite good, although as it is made for the discovery channel, rather that the BBC as the original series was, the budget is a bit smaller.

Some of the 'connections' are a bit tenuous, but the bits in between are covered in Burke's usual enagaging style. This is science at it most enjoyable.

The programs are pretty expensive, but this is probably to be expected for programs with rather limited appeal.

For some reason Amazon seems to show these DVDs as available, only periodically, but delivers them very quickly. I suggest that if they are shown as 'Out of Print' check back later as they may well be available again.

I am writing this in response to a recent review where the reviewer stated 2 things:
1- that connections 1 is not out on DVD.- NOT TRUE. they don't sell it on amazon but try googling it and you'll find other sellers (I assume I cannot mention any - buy HEY AMAZON why don't YOU sell it?)
and 2- (the reviewer is right that) Connections 1 is by far the best of the 3 sets. Granted, I saw it first, but the other two are watered down versions of similar stuff. If you can only get 1, get connections 1.
update: amazon is finally selling connections 1 but for some reason I am not able to review it

The original PBS "Connections" is the only one to buy. Numbers II and III are largely retreads of the first with the third, courtesy of The Learning Channel, insultingly dumbed down. The power of Burke's original series was in his apparently meandering narratives that came together at stunning points to create a teachable moment. TLC apparently believes that its audience is idiots because they have forced Burke, in his videotaped remake (the first series was shot on film) to pause every few minutes to recap. I'm glad they paid him for the work, but not how they made him earn it. (This is also why one should be very discerning when buying videos from TLC or its sister company, The Discovery Channel). On the other hand, the white leisure suit in "Connections I" was a little weird.

Firstly, this is NOT Connections Vol. 3, it is CONNECTIONS 3 as in Connections Series 3. By saying it is "Vol. 3", people are likely to think it's merely one disc or volume in a series.

There were three series by James Burke in this vein. Connections (10 50 min. episodes), Connections 2 (20 30 min. episodes), and Connections 3 (10 45 min. episodes). Also, there was "The Day the Universe Changed" a series of 10 50 min. episodes.

This is actually a five-disc box set with the entire Connections 3 series. The episodes are as follows:

Connections 2 DVD - Disc. 1

Revolutions

Discover how the steam engine led to safety matches, imitation diamonds and the moon in a wild ride.

Sentimental Journeys

What has Freud got to do with maps? Or prison reform with blue dye? Or the inside of a star with the Himalayas? India reveals the answers.

Getting It Together

Start by examining a SWAT team, which leads to hot air ballooning, the root of many inventions.

Whodunit?

Who stole a set of billiard balls in 1902 and why was he the most famous crook in history? The clues: maps from 1775, Charles Darwin's cousin and the FBI.

Connections 2 DVD - Disc. 2

Something for Nothing

Something impossible happened 400 years ago. And we wound up in outer space, thanks (en route) to pigeon lovers, the Pope, and electric Italian frogs.

Echoes of the Past

On his way to finding the secret of the universe, Burke takes us to the Buddhist tea ceremony, ties it to international spies and Lincoln's assassination.

Photo Finish

The Le Mans 24-hour race is the backdrop for linking photography and bullets, relativity and blimps.

Separate Ways

Two trails split over slavery in the 18th Century. One route leads to the Wild West and Brooklyn Bridge, the other coining money and TV. Both end with a threat to peace.

Connections 2 DVD - Disc. 3

High Times

Unwrap a sandwich and you're on a path to World War II radar and Neo-Impressionist painters.

Deja Vu

History repeats itself, when you know how to look. Pizzaro beats the Incas, the first stock market opens. The Queen of England salutes a Mexican beetle and Hitler's plans misfire.

New Harmony

Microscopic bugs inspired the novel "Frankenstein" which aided the birth of Socialism.

Hot Pickle

The connections between a cup of tea, opium dens, the London Zoo and a switch that releases bombs.

Connections 2 DVD - Disc. 4

The Big Spin

The greatest medical accident in history starts a trail that leads to Helen of Troy, 17th Century flower-power, the invention of soda pop and earthquake detection.

Bright Ideas

A Baltimore man invented the bottle, which led to razors and clock springs, and the Hubble telescope.

Making Waves

Hairdressers, Gold Rush miners, Irish potato farmers and English parliamentarians are really tied together.

Routes

A sick lawyer in 18th Century France changes farming and triggers the French Revolution and new medical research.

Connections 2 DVD - Disc. 5

One Word

One medieval word kicks off the investigation into different cultures with the same stories that ends in cultural anthropology.

Sign Here

Dutch piracy starts international law and French probability math, phonetics and Victorian seances.

Better Than the Real Thing

How the zipper started with technology Jefferson picked up in Paris during a row about Creation.

Flexible Response

Robin Hood starts us on a trail from medieval showbiz to land drainage, to the invention of decimals that end up in U.S. currency, thanks to the guy who started the Erie Canal.

Having cleared that up, I wish to say that this is a great series and DVD set. Very eye-opening and educational.

It would make a great educational gift for children or a fun gift for adults. Anyone with an inquiring mind will be fascinated by James Burke's wit and intelligence, not to mention his charismatic delivery.

If this & Connections Vol. 2 are the scientific documentary series by James Burke, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make them available ( especially Connections Vol. 1 !! ). I would buy them in a second, but here there is no information, leaving me ...

... wanting ... waiting ...

First off, I like to say the first time saw the Connections series I was hooked. When Connections 2 & 3 came out I had to watch them as well as the series The Day the Universe Changed. James Burke really knows how to make history interesting. He made connections you wouldn't see or even think about. Wish he made more of this kind of stuff can't get enough if it.

OK, now a word of warning. These great series are now public domain; people are starting to put together copies of their own disks and selling them. These copies may not be of good quality and may even be duplicates of the disks made by Ambruse Video. If you see a new seller or just listed with a price less than $80 it is probably one of these copies and I don't recommend buying them.

James Burke's Connections 3 is another entertaining way to learn. Not as tightly linked as his previous series. Too bad he sold out to The Learning Channel (TLC). It was pretty blatant when he held a mug with the TLC logo next to his face.

The world is still waiting for the release of the first, and best, series, Volume 1 of Connections. I will definitely be in line to buy that one. I presume that it's being held up for copyright issues.

I bought all Connections (yep, this one too) series... Of course, had no time to watch all discs in a timely manner. One of the disks (so far) freezes and would not play. I contacted AMBROSE VIDEO PUBLISHING and they say that since the set was not bought from them directly, most likely is a illegal copy so they will not replace it.

The DVD is most likely original (I can tell a DVD-R from an original) but it will not play.

On one hand, AMBROSE VIDEO PUBLISHING wants to increase the sales by using Amazon but on the other hand will offer NO support from purchase made outside their site (if even this is true).

Other customers complain also about this kind of problem. Frankly, until this DVD, it never occurred to me to find an original, brand new DVD that would not play.

I suggest avoiding their stuff...

$150 per a 5 DVD set is not cheap so if I pay them money, the least I expect is that the DVD would play.

If there is anyway you can bring these DVDs back I would love to buy them. They are great and you will never tirer of them.