Customer Reviews

The Universe: The Complete Season Two (History Channel) [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I ordered this series with the thought 'what more can they do?' I seen it all in season one, it cannot top that. Was I wrong!
It was even better.

To realize that the universe is about 13.7 billion years old, and so vast, that it's totally beyond our comprehension and still expanding. A truly unimaginable thought, that.
There are so many amazing episodes, one of which shows the largest objects in space. They are seriously big, like the so-called "cosmic web" of galaxies, which is a hundred million billion times bigger than Earth. Then there's the fascinating Lunar transient phenomena, the pulsar planets, the hot Jupiters, the weather in space, dark matter, dark energy, and much more. Really mind-boggling stuff, this!
For instance it's estimated that the impact of the asteroid that landed on the Yucatan Peninsula about 65 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs, this was equal to that of dropping a Hiroshima-sized atomic bomb every second for 140 years!

And another mind-boggling thought, where did we really come from...hmmn. Still, I'd like to go to heaven eventually:)

This series had me riveted to my screen. The computer-generated imagery and other effects is so realistic. It makes one feel as if one is truly there experiencing this phenomenal aspects. And it's explained so simply that anyone can understand it.
My favourite episodes are:
Alien Planets, Dark Matter, Astrobiology
Space Travel,Unexplained Mysteries &
Colonizing Space.

A truly awesome series! Enjoyed every bit of it.

First of all, let me start out by saying that this is an excellent collection of documentaries about the universe. However, for those of us with widescreen televisions, we should be aware that this collection, much like season one, is NOT optimized for our widescreen televisions. It is presented in 'Letterbox' format, meaning that on widescreen televisions it will be presented with large black bars on all sides, with the feature occupying a window in the middle of the screen. For those with 4:3 televisions, it will appear as all widescreen features do, but for 16:9 screens it is a major disappointment.

The History Channel knows science, and they're good at making complex systems and ideas easy to understand - and approachable - for the everyday observer. The Universe, Complete Season Two on Blu-ray is no exception. This four-disc set features all 18 episodes, nearly 15 hours of content, including covering topics like Dark Matter, Exoplanets, Cosmic Collisions, Supernovas, and more. And while episodes are only loosely tied together by the fact that the subjects covered are part of - or take place in - our universe, it doesn't seem overly odd or disjointed- especially for the younger viewers.

Fantastic phenomena and alien worlds are re-created through extremely realistic computer animation, which is shockingly detailed and stunningly beautiful. The visuals take viewers inside wonders that man has only viewed from afar, giving a close-up look at the fascinating inner workings of the cosmos around us.

The series also includes documentary style interviews with experts in the field, as well as footage from both past and current scientific exploration programs and an introduction to some of the tools and devices these scientists use to explore the universe. A nice contrast to the computer re-creations, this live-action documentary aspect of the series does a good job of providing balance, grounding the concepts and reminding viewers that there are actual people working to find answers and discover new information about the space around us- it's not simply Star Trek.

Whether used as an educational tool or simply for entertainment value, The Universe - Season Two on Blu-ray is interesting and enthralling.

Special Features

There aren't a lot of "extras" on The Universe, but given the nature of the series - and the fact that it is a television series - that's not surprising. There is one Bonus Feature, a featurette called Backyard Astronomers, which explores the world of amateur star-gazers- men and women who spend their spare time learning about - and exploring - the universe... from their backyards.

The biggest benefit to the Blu-ray release lies in the presentation - true widescreen and HD.

And of course the subject matter itself.

You cannot say much more than Awesome. This series is truly interesting and will have you staring into the night sky immediately.

I have my DVR set to record whenever this show is on, so I have seen all of Season 1 and 2 to date. They are wonderful! There is so much fascinating information packed into these shows that you want to watch them over and over again!

If you liked the first season, you will enjoy this one also. It breaks the various chapters down quite well without too much repetition which you would expect in a lecture mode. This documentary draws enough analogies to relate to the layman. sometimes the Jazzed up music detracts somewhat from the seriousness of the material. For that any BBC production wins hands down. I would also like the History Channel production to be more broadminded and global in their coverage. Too much coverage on discoveries and talks from inside the USA. Is there no groundbreaking astronomy conducted anywhere else on the globe?

Ever since I saw this series, I was hooked. Beautiful CGI and down to earth explanations. I have always been interested in Astronomy and this was a winner. There aren't too many series like these anymore so to see this one was amazing.

The season two of the History Channel serie completes perfectly the season one. The only regret, for me as a non English speaking viewer, is that there is no subtitles, even closed captioned as written by mistake on the Amazon.com website. But the whole pictures and special effects are wonderful, and the scientists speeches are perfectly understandable by foreigners. For all those interested by astronomy, it's a must to buy, like the season one.

The History Channel delivers with the series The Universe. So far, through 2010, there have been five seasons. Probably my favorite is Season Two, which aired from November 2007 to April 2008.

Here are the individual episodes in Season Two:

Alien Planets
Cosmic Holes
Mysteries Of The Moon
The Milky Way
Alien Moons
Dark Matter/Dark Energy
Astrobiology
Space Travel
Supernovas
Constellations
Unexplained Mysteries
Cosmic Collisions
Colonizing Space
Nebulas
Wildest Weather In The Cosmos
Biggest Things In Space
Gravity
Cosmic Apocalypse

Each episode is well done and easy to understand. I had two astronomy courses in college, so I had pretty good knowledge of astronomy before ever viewing this series. However, I don't feel that the narrator and scientists/scholars dumb everything down for the viewing audience. Astronomy is a complex subject that can be quite technical and hard to understand at times, so I think the comments by scientists throughout the series strike a good balance - not too technical, not too simple. Just right.

Throughout the series you'll hear fascinating facts, theories, and explanations. You'll see well done computer generated images of everything in the cosmos - moons, stars, galaxies, nebulas, planets, etc. My favorite episodes in this second season are Wildest Weather In The Cosmos, The Milky Way, Mysteries Of The Moon, Nebulas, Supernovas, and Cosmic Holes.

I highly recommend this second season as well as the entire series.

I bought this DVD set for a U3A (University of the 3rd Age) discussion group on Astronomy, but it has been a major failure. The group only tolerated half of one DVD (The Milky Way). The audience, all over 70, could hardly hear the commentary because it was overwhelmed by very loud background sounds of booms and weird electronic noises - more like modern so-called music than the silence of a space vacuum. The graphics were terrible - fast zooms, rotations explosions and rapid strangeness which presumably come from video games. Astronomical images have a grandeur and beauty which has nothing to do with this teen-age idea of changes too fast for the brain to take in. It would be much better to use real Hubble images and professional pictures created from radio telescopes, gamma ray receptors and infra-red, which have to be derivatives since we cannot see in those wave-lengths. Such images were there, but only briefly flashed and usually over-layed with some nerd's idea of what space might be like, but is not. Numerous outstanding images from professional astronomers are available on the internet without need to artificially derive anything jazzy and noisy. The information from the commentators is excellent and right up to date - for those of us who could actually hear it. The BBC do these sorts of programs superbly and we will be looking to change over to their versions since 15 people were unanimous they did want to see or hear any more like this.