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Wonders of the Universe (Blu-ray)
by jonboyfixit
Wanders of the universe by Brian Cox
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This is a truly magnificent series. With Professor Brian Cox telling the story. He tells us all about space, galaxies, the stars and the planets in a very interesting and fascinating way. The images shown are beautiful and clear.
Before watching this ... series I knew hardly anything about the stars, universe etc. Brian Cox told the story of the universe in such an interesting way I was glued to the television. All the remarkable facts that he told were done in an interesting way, that allot of the facts are easy to remember.
The series takes you through loads of interesting facts about......
Space and the universe and our stars , planets etc
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Galaxies
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Brian Cox talks about how many galaxies are in the universe and how many millions if not billions and trillions of stars there are in each galaxy.
I could not believe how many stars there were in just our galaxy.
Light and sound
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The story goes back in time and tells about the inventors and discoverers like Galileo, Einstein and Maxwell's discoveries and ideas. In this chapter it explains about sound and how sound travels. Also how light travels and how he doesn't think it is possible to time travel.
Light years....What are light years and other questions such as ,how long does it take to get to different planets, how fast does light travel are all answered.
Hubble telescope.... How the new telescope was sent into space late, and shows us the amazing photo's of the light of other galaxies far away that we have never been able to see before.
Life itself ... Where life started? the basics of life, what are we made of? All food for thought. As professor Brian Cox tells us about these things in the sound of his calm and captivating voice.
Have you ever wondered why the sky is blue, the grass is green and why there are different colours in a rainbow? You will have the answers for these questions and many more from this amazing series.
Red stars, the big bang what are stars made of? These are all among lots of other things talked about in this series.
Over all
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I think this is a wonderfull series, a real must see for anyone interested in astronomy . I didn't think I would be that interested in this type of thing until I started watching this documentary. I truly enjoyed watching this program on blue ray as it just made it that little bit more special. I think this series covers so many things about our solar system the Milky Way and other questions about the universe that we ask.
Cost
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Around £25 on Amazon
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Human Planet (Blu-ray)
by xlPROoToTyPElx
We know more about space and the universe then what is said to be known on our planet. After receiving a final exam project about the natural world, i quickly snapped this up from Amazon for £24. I had already seen other documentaries around the same subject, so i didn't know what to expect from this.
After opening i noticed ... there was 2 discs packed full of information ready for me to soak up and grasp. Each disc has an easy to use menu feature and category selection (Scene selection) to help you quickly find information on the topic your looking for. Which is a perfect time saver if you need information on a certain species or culture, however if you want it for a nice interesting learning experience to watch. You can use the play all feature and just let the documentary run through, which is good to just watch on a Sunday and soak up the amazing information stored in this set.
The documentary goes very in-depth into the subjects it covers. From marine life to land and air species, to cultures and tribes to modern day and a vast array of other topics. Which is perfect for anyone wanting an in depth description and insight to the topic they are studying or if you want to learn more about a certain aspect of our planet. Human planet is a definite must buy.
Quality: 5/5
Informative: 5/5
Navigation: 4/5
Sound: 5/5
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Survival With Ray Mears (DVD)
by dangaroo
Ray Mears is mostly known for his extreme survival programs, if you want to know how to survive in severe conditions using things like stones, berries and shrubs then Ray is your man, the former SAS officer has an extensive knowledge of flora and fauna and I find his programs informative, he also has a very human way of presenting his ... programs, he comes across as a likeable chap and my mother seems to think he looks like Winnie the Pooh!
The somewhat misleading title "Survival with Ray Mears" would perhaps be better named "Tracking with Ray Mears", the series is about the survival of 3 species of animal, Ray meets specialists studying and protecting the animal in question and they use him as a tracker, with a different task in hand in each one hour episode.
I have to say, I was a bit surprised as I didn't know Ray Mears was a tracker, some people have commented that he seems a bit of an unexperienced one but the three teams of people he works with all seem happy with the outcome and he's succesful in his duties. He also explains certain aspets of tracking throughout the documentary in an educational but not obnoxious way (I find the BBC's usual explanation of things treat the viewer as a moron)
This programme was described as the return of the Survival wild life documentary series that graced the TV screens for 40 years. Episode 1 sees Ray Mears visit Namibia, where he meets the surprisingly glamorous Tracey and they hope to catch an alpha male leopard to tag him, the scenery and footage of animals is spectacular in this wildlife filled part of Africa.
Next up Ray Mears ventures off to Canada in search of the white spirit bear, a close relative of the black bear. Again the scenery and wildlife is amazing but life isn't looking too good for spirit bears and the end of the program is quite sad and moving.
In the final episode, Ray visits the wild US state of Idaho, where wolves were reintroduced after initially having been wiped out, tracking and watching the animals is fascinating but again the program has a sad side because the wolves have been doing so well that they are about to be taken off the list of protected species.
Whilst the bears suffer due to starvation because of low salmon stocks, indirectly humans fault because of overfishing, the wolves and leopards are at risk directly because of human's seeking to kill them. Both animals are unable to tell the difference between wild animal and farmed animal and enrage local farmers by their tendency to kill their livestock as a food source.
The program is great at showing you the struggles of the animal to survive and informs you of their habitat, it is not overly biased towards the animal either. This may be a new type of material as far as Ray Mears is concerned but he seems quite accomplished at presenting the programme and getting stuck in as a tracker.
Ray Mears updates his website with information on how the three species are getting on after his visit, unfortunately it's not all good news.
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