Customer Reviews

The Jacques Cousteau Society Box Set - Collector's Edition [VHS]

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These are not the original Cousteau Oddysey films. These are a series produced by Ted Turner Network much later, and though not bad, they are not nearly as good as the original series. The first video,"Pioneer of the Sea," a retrospective of Cousteaus' life is the best one, though the ending, a star studded awards presentation hosted by John Denver and starring among others Loretta Switt and Jamie Farr is laughable. The other videos are just ok, and probably have a lot more appeal to little kids, especially "Lilliput in Antarctica," where the crew drags a bunch of little kids along to antartica where they basically stand around and watch. I remember the first Cousteau series, "The Cousteau Oddysey," I believe they were called, and completely idolizing Cousteau, who to me was a real life James Bond, traveling the world with exotic equipment, boats, planes, submarines, and saving the oceans for the future of mankind. As I was reminded years later in film school, Cousteau was as much, if not more, a superb filmmaker, than an explorer and environmentalist. Occasionally I rent one of these videos and remember the original thrill I got watching these films. This new video set just doesn't do it. Not bad, but not worth the money unless you are buying them for a classroom of kids, in which case the world opened by Cousteau to a younger generation is priceless.

Box set contains: 3042 Alaska: Outrage At Valdez, 3043 Lilliput In Antarctica, 3044 Papua New Guinea: The Center Of Fire, 3045 Tahiti: Fire Waters, 3046 Pioneer Of The Sea, 3047 Amazon: Snowstorm In The Jungle & Rigging For The Amazon. First four tapes are appx. 48 min., Pioneer is appx. 99 min., and Amazon is appx. 73 min. Also includes 32 page booklet on Cousteau history through 1990.

I love them! I want them! These would be the ones that got me interested in oceans and science. I would highly recommend them!