Product Details

• Actors: StarGaze
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Surround Sound, Widescreen, Digital Video Transfer, Digital Sound, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: DVD International
• DVD Release Date: May 11, 2004
• Run Time: 65 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001US5PQ
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #54,742 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #52 in	Movies & TV > Documentary > Space Exploration
  #75 in	Movies & TV > Music Video & Concerts > New Age

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Stargaze II doesn't deviate much from the previous Stargaze DVD, and that's a good thing. Galaxies, nebulae, and other astronomical elements simply float across the screen in brilliant clarity, fueled by New Age music by Opus 27. The images are mostly from the Hubble Space Telescope, along with some unique mosaics from several sources. The bigger your screen, the better for "plasma art" that could serve as the background at a party or a valentine to any star freak. You can even view the program in high definition if you have the right media set-up. Sometimes the images float in front of a wallpaper of stars that causes a 3-D effect or looks kinda hokey, depending on your point of view. You can find out what you are looking at by activating subtitles or by clicking a menu button that goes to a page-by-page detail about the subject and how the image was rendered. With literally out-of-this-world colors and textures, the beauty of the heavens is glorious to behold. Produced the same year Congress debates the fate of the Hubble (2004), this program serves record of the extraordinary worlds that are seen only by this workhorse satellite. Lobbyists may have no better weapon to use than the Stargaze DVDs. --Doug Thomas

Product Description

Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 05/11/2004

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars See for yourself why the Hubble Space Telescope is called the mirror of the universe!!!!!, March 4, 2006

By	Stephen Pletko "Uncle Stevie" (London, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

+++++

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)

+++++

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome but not easy to get information, July 6, 2004

By	David Ward (Salt Lake City, UT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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 !

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stargaze II....a better sequel, June 16, 2004

By A Customer

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.