Customer Reviews

Stargaze II - Visions of the Universe

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

+++++

As in the first StarGaze, this program presents astronomical images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). However, images taken from other sources (examples: CHANDRA X-ray telescope, Spitzer space telescope, and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO) are also included. All images are accompanied by New Age music. (A different New Age band is used from that of the first StarGaze.)

Before I say anything else, the images presented in this program are magnificent, awe-inspiring, and jaw dropping. These images should be seen by every Earthling so everybody can experience the extraordinary beauty of the universe.

The main menu for this program is as follows:

1. Play
2. Chapters or scenes (there are 12 chapters)
3. What's that?
4. StarGaze II HD (read the on-screen instructions for this option)
5. Audio and Subtitle Selection
6. Credits (for all images and music presented)

The first item in this menu to go to is "5. Audio and Subtitle Selection". The only subtitle language selection available is English. Turning this on enables the name of the celestial object to be displayed on the bottom of the screen. (It's important to have this on. I'll explain *why later.) For audio background selection, you have two choices. Choose the one that works for your DVD player. (For those people who do not like New Age music, it is possible thus not to have any music by selecting the choice that does not work for your DVD player.)

This program has no narration. Instead when you come to an image, you press the menu button on your remote that brings you to an information screen about the image. (*This is why it's important to have the English subtitles on since they alert you to a new image.) After you've read the information screen, you get back to the main program by pressing the menu button again and the program resumes. All this is explained in the "3. What's that?" part of the main menu. (For those with poor eyesight, I suggest moving close to your screen as the printed information for each image is quite small.) So the idea is to do this "menu-information screen-menu" routine for every image in this program. Sound easy? It is. However, there's a **problem with this that I'll explain below.

The information screen for each image has three sections:

(i) Still image of the object in question
(ii) Five facts about the object: (a) its position (b) constellation its in (c) its distance from Earth (d) the instrument used to take its image and (e) a credit for the image. (I feel facts a and b were unnecessary.)
(iii) A detailed description of the image.

All of this takes time to read.

The fantastic images in the program can be divided into three parts:

(I) Covers chapters (1 to 5) and lasts just over 25 minutes. There are nearly 70 images for this part. Here there are visuals of deep space that include nebulae, distant galaxies, galactic clusters, and other exotic objects. These are static images but the camera keeps moving across them giving the illusion of movement.
(II) Covers chapter 6 and lasts nearly 5 minutes. Here you get composites of the solar system's planets (including Pluto and its moon) as well as a comet, meteorites, and the sun. A 3-D look is created which I found acceptable but some people may find this strange.
(III) Covers chapter (7 to 12) and lasts about 30 minutes. There are more than 85 images in this part. The same types of objects as in part one are imaged but with different instruments to reveal greater detail. Some new objects are also presented.

For those keeping track, there are over 170 images in this program. This brings up the **problem alluded to above. There are just too many information screens to access and read! In fact, I found it impossible (without getting bored stiff and having my eyesight going) to access them all in one sitting. Instead I viewed this program over twelve sittings (one sitting per chapter).

Finally, I think the way to get around the above problem was to have narration that abbreviated the information given on the information screens for each object. You could still have the detailed information screen for each image available as an option.

In conclusion, barring the one problem mentioned above, this is an incredible visual, audio, and educational delight, demonstrating just an infinitesimally small number of cosmic wonders that are in our vast universe!!!

**** 1/2

(2004; 1 hr; wide screen; 12 chapters)

+++++

First things first. The images are spectacular! The music is better! But no narration? I know we all complained about the Stargaze I narration being bland (me included), but damn! What a major pain in the a** to flip back and fourth in the menu to get information on the image being shown. The text is great, but they could of gotten Patrick Stewart to do it or someone that does not put you to sleep. I like to hear about I'm seeing. Even that being said the pics are worth 4 stars. Those 3D images are kind of silly, but acceptable. We need stargaze III with narration please. GO HUBBLE!!! Go to www.space.com !

SGII delivers where SG1 didn't and that is in the informative department, and a higher quality of footage.

Now, you can see more information about what you are exactly looking at by accessing the image detail screens, which give you more then what the subtitles use to give you.

Gone is the dull narration. The music is much better on this one and the imagery is just simply AMAZING! The newer images from hubble are very colorful and it makes you wonder just how things are formed and how the heck that got there. The animations are improved with wide pan shots so you can see more of the celestial objects.

It's a great title if you are into astronomy, or like having some really cool eyecandy that is more then just a screen-saver. You aren't getting Discovery channel movie here, but more educational/eye candy entertainment. It's very relaxing and enjoyable.

Go in knowing with what you are getting and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Just received, via UPS Express (4 days) I'm in Australia - Melbourne most impressed, the DVD of "Stargaze II" in short, Unbelievable, move over Carl Sagan and your ship of the imagination this DVD puts a different meaning to the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe" literally, this is brilliantly put together as is the musical backing with the low bass my Sub woofer was working really well on, but what makes this DVD particularly good is the written references to each image giving all details about what you are looking at, but the imagery is fantastic, who needs a telescope!
Just joking...

First things first. I love the Hubble Telescope images (that's why I got the DVD). The music is fantastic too, so good that some days I let it play in the background when I'm working. However, there are no menu controls for the DVD to cycle, so even though it does cycle, first it spills back into the main screen showing all the choices. Too bad, because I got this as wallpaper for my big screen and a living painting while working with my patients and consulting clients, and I don't want or need to keep seeing the main screen with choices, and neither do they. I consider this a significant shortcoming, and had I known it worked this way, I would likely not have ordered this DVD. Oh well. Again, the images are (mostly) beautiful (except for the hokey collages) and the music is lovely.

I completely feel opposite to the review about narration. All the people I've shown 'StarGaze' to including me, feel very strong about the reality that words cannot encompass the majesty and grandeur of these productions which allow us to see what we have NEVER seen and allows our minds to move in ways that we have NEVER moved before. I think this work is one of the most important works of our time and only music, being universal, can combine with the images to give some extra infinite enhancement for our finite minds.
Tom Funk, Rancho Mirage, Ca.

Well I will give this one 5 stars, because it is what I expected. Sometimes and as in this case ''Less is more''. If you are not looking for a Discovery Channel or PBS type documentary, but rather beautiful imagery along with nice ''new age'' type music, then I recommend this DVD.

I use it as a ''background'' element when I am reading or doing something else since it is very un-intrusive. You can also play the DVD with other music sources (Steve Roach, Vidna Obmana, Robert Rich). It is fit and OK for 16x9 format. I agree that the images and montage are sometimes grainy and lacks creativity but it is more than acceptable since the photos were intended more for science than entertainment. The music is relaxing and appropriate for this type of visual experience.

This DVD can also be very educational if you take the time to learn the menu options. But it also nice that it can be just a simple visual and musical experience.

This DVD, the second volume of two volume set released in 2004, shows some beautiful lights of the universe. This DVD has more of the same stuff of volume 1 except for more stellar nurseries (nebulas). There are 12 titles and each title has several chapters, which is a little confusing since each chapter covers about one or two minutes. The total running time for the entire DVD is about 65 minutes. The nebulas are full of beautiful lights that correspond to gas clouds (mainly hydrogen) which function as the nurseries for star formation. There are pictures of clusters of galaxies, clusters of stars, stars in various stages of life (young blue stars, dying red giants), supernova (giant stars facing violent death producing spectacular light phenomenon), quasars, pulsars and planetary nebula (nurseries for planets). The background music by Opus 27 adds some depth to watching this DVD; it is very profound. More pictures of the spectacular light of well known supernova 1987A is shown with more structure than the one shown in volume 1. Some of the stars and galaxies show fine structure (sheets of light in various colors due to reflecting light/solar wind from the massive stars in the neighborhood); this is simply breathtaking. The Eagle nebula (also shown in volume 1) with huge pillars of gas and intergalactic dust showing the birth of stars is wonderful. The Centaurs A galaxy is magnificent and so is the 2 micron scan of the sky with literally countless star clusters and galaxies. Milky Way galactic center, galaxies Andromeda, & Black Eye, supernova fragments of Cassiopeia A, Retina nebula (with green background), Horse-head nebula (black clouds with pink background), NGC 2440 (bright red), Orange nebula, Flame nebula, Southern Pinwheel galaxy, Lagoon nebula, Dumbell nebula, Christmas Tree cluster, various spiral galaxies with very spectacular lights, Crescent nebula, Helix nebula, Omega nebula, Tarantula nebula (with patches of brilliant light), Orion nebula (beautiful blue lights), Carina nebula, and Crab nebula are great to watch.

Title 6 shows the beauty and elegance of Halley's Comet; this title also has the pictures solar planets and some well known asteroids. The close-up pictures of Mars is grand. One word of advice is when you are watching this for the first time; right click on the screen and the start from title one to title last manually. The DVD apparently repeats itself from the same title, in addition it springs back to subtitle "disable," the subtitles tells what the nebula or galaxy it is. I had to change the subtitle to option 1 every time I went to the next title. There is also another option to bookmark or capture the image which you can save as screen savers; there are some good images to capture.

1. Stargaze - Hubble's View of the Universe
2. Stargaze HD: Universal Beauty [Blu-ray]
3. The Universe: The Complete Season 1 [Blu-ray]
4. Hubble: 15 Years of Discovery
5. Cosmic Voyage (IMAX)
6. The Visible Universe DVD: A Visual Journey Through Space and Back in Time. (2008)
7. The Universe: An Amazing Journey From the Sun to the Most Distant Galaxies
8. Stars, Planets & Galaxies: Hubble Telescope Pictures from Outer Space
9. The Celestial Voyager

Better than the first video, but still lacks narration suitible to identify images properly.

Prepare to be in true awe and feel the inspiration of the images on your soul. I see so many organic features in these videos. Gas clouds that look like veins or stars in such clusters as to mystify the mind. I enjoy this video year after year one nights when I want the big screen to show more than TV stuff. It makes a great background video to leave on all night when reading and cleaning.