Product Details

• Actors: Neil deGrasse Tyson
• Directors: Kris Koenig
• Format: Closed-captioned, 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: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: PBS
• DVD Release Date: May 12, 2009
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001UW59JY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,626 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Public Media Distribution Release Date: 05/12/2009 Run time: 60 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring film, wish it was longer, June 28, 2009

By 

William L. Wilson (Granger, IN United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 400 Years of the Telescope (DVD)

Everything about this film is top notch, except at 60 minutes, I was left wanting more. Every one of the 60 minutes in the film is a gem, but it's so well done that you wish it could have been a 90 or 120 minute piece.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a fine narrator, and his enthusiasm for the topic is present without sneaking through. Dr. Tyson loves astronomy, and sometimes his excitement can overwhelm. Here, he is right on the mark.

If you have even the most remote interest in astronomy or science, you'll enjoy this movie. You may also find yourself looking at telescope prices so that you can have the same experience as Galileo. (Quick bit of advice: if you do shop for telescopes, ignore claims of "power." What you really want is light-gathering ability, or the size of the lens. The bigger the scope, the more you'll get to see.)

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Misleading Title, January 19, 2010

By 

Normand Hamel "Normand Hamel" (Brownsburg-Chatham, Quebec) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 400 Years of the Telescope (DVD)

This DVD is very well made. It is obviously targeted at a general audience. But the title is misleading. When I made the purchase on Amazon I expected to get a complete history of the telescope. To me that is what "400 Years of the Telescope" meant. What we get instead is a bit of the beginnings of the telescope, like when Newton invented the reflector for example; then we switch quickly to modern instruments like the Hale Telescope of the Palomar Observatory. So overall it does cover 400 years, but there is very little material between the time of the invention of the telescope and today's instruments. On the other hand there is extensive coverage of various grand projects of future telescope building. In the process we get a chronological history of various key astronomical discoveries.

So the way I see it, the ultimate goal of this documentary was more to give us a brief history of astronomy than a history of the telescope itself. In the end it was because of the misleading title that I gave it only three stars. Otherwise it would deserve an additional one based on the quality of the presentation alone.

It's too bad, there would have been so much to say about the pioneers of telescope building, like Herschel, Fraunhofer, Huygens, Cassegrain, etc... So if you are interested in the history of the telescope, like I am, you can always read Fred Watson or Henry C. King.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Needs to be longer, December 30, 2009

By 

Harvey Sugar "Embedded software engineer" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 400 Years of the Telescope (DVD)

This program needed to be a mini-series rather than a one hour program. There were too many historic and scientific facts crammed into too little time. As a result much of the excitement and passion of astronomy was left out. The bigger questions, such as "How did the Universe Begin?", "How will it end", and "Is there life in other places in the Universe" were quickly skimmed over or not discussed at all.

If I wanted to inspire someone's interest in science and the Universe I think the PBS series "The Astronomers" would be a much better choice in spite of it being rather dated.