The Universe: An Amazing Journey From the Sun to the Most Distant Galaxies

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Type: DVD
Studio: Universe Productions
The Universe is a spellbinding DVD journey from the Sun to the farthest galaxies.

Featuring incredible NASA images and original orchestral music, The Universe is a never-before-seen guided tour of the cosmos in widescreen anamorphic video and 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound.

Using images from SOHO, Hubble, TRACE and other orbiting space telescopes, The Universe is a dynamic excursion through over 200 magnificent astronomical objects. Beginning with video of the sun’s broiling corona, the program proceeds through the solar system, traveling to the stars and nebulae of the Milky Way, and to galaxies as much as 14 billion light-years away.

The Universe is a mind-expanding trip into eternity. The viewer seems to travel through space, seeing grand panoramas, probing close-ups, and breathtaking vistas, all in full color.

An original score by Paul D. Lehrman and Tim Tully provides The Universe with a rich, Surround Sound tapestry combining symphonic and electronic timbres into a timeless musical experience. Renowned astronomers Alex Filippenko and Karel Schrijver offer insights into the world of contemporary astronomy.

A clear, concise narration names each object as it comes into view, giving its distance from Earth and the data astronomers derive from it. The overall effect is to bring the vast expanse of the cosmos into a clear overview.

The narration can be turned off so the viewer hears only the score: a rich suite of motifs, that weave through an array of variations, mixed in 5.1 surround sound, to take full advantage of the technology. A combination of ambient effects and instrumental placement richly evokes a feeling of being immersed in space with the flowing images of The Universe.

A VHS version is also available without DVD-specific features.

Enchanting voyage
I am a Master Mystical Numerologist. I have many studies and one is astronomy. Since I do not own a telescope, the viewing of our Universe is special to me. This film gave me an enchanting voyage to the Universe in which we all live. What I like most about it, aside from the astounding visuals, is that I can listen to the narration at one time, then turn it off to simply drift out into the Universe in peace. This dvd has aided me in fully explaining to my clients just how expansive and plentiful our lives can be since the Universe is our reflective priniciple. There are no limitations! I HIGHLY recommend this special dvd to anyone at any time who wants know the true value of our existence.

ENDURING CLASSIC
I bought this DVD a couple of years ago and I came here to buy another copy for a gift. I saw a couple of negative reviews and I was frankly amazed. One reviewer negatively compared Tim Tully's The Universe to the History Channel's recent production in ways that are laughable. He faults Tully's video for not having a depth of information comparable to the History Channel's. The History Channel program has more than a 700-minute running time to cover the material Tully does in 60. If the History Channel had not been able to get into greater depth with over ten times the running time, theirs would be one sorry video. Tully's is short, theirs is long. Don't criticize a horse for not being a duck. They are different. Anyway, not everyone wants to spend ten hours watching an astronomy video.
The reviewer's criticism of the music here is telling. Any one person's subjective response to music can't really be argued with. But to compare this score to "generic loops" makes you wonder if this reviewer was maybe listening to Star Gaze. An objective person who is actually able to listen will hear that this music is a rich and complex post-modern orchestral piece that employs easily a dozen different themes and motifs suggesting the different qualities of the different classes of astronomical objects. These themes recur throughout the movie in many, many variations, like in a good symphony. Several specific musical elements phrases, orchestration, and harmonic content, to name a few-- allow variations of the different motifs to appear in different forms and contexts and unify the many elements. The themes play off one another while hanging together in a complex and cohesive whole. These observations are simply factual and anyone who's ever analyzed a complex piece of music would realize that. This is clearly a well-thought-out and executed score. Everyone has an opinion, and mine is that ­technicalities aside--this score is dramatic and powerful; I think it hits exactly the right tone for the astronomical material it complements, and is subtle bit spectacular on a surround system, with or without the narration.

Concerning production quality: it is easy to see that the respective budgets of these two programs must have been astronomically different. Just look at the credits for Tully's program and you'll see there were about four people involved, while the History Channel's personnel list probably hits three figures. Huge corporate productions certainly have their value, but small-studio labors of love have theirs too. It's also notable that Tully's came out about six years before the History Channel's, and it's my bet that Tully's was an inspiration and road map for the later program.

Amazing Journey?
I don't know what all the fuss is about. I have seen over a dozen cosmology videos and "The Universe" is one of the most disappointing. Instead of imaginative computer animation to make your tour through our universe realistic, Tim Tulley uses the cheap "rotate and zoom in on still photos" trick which simply does not work. Much of what you see are familiar photos of cosmic objects which the camera rotates and zooms in on resulting in static and slightly grainy close ups. Yawn.

Keep your expectations at a moderate level
In fairness this was not a terrible DVD but I found it lacking in several important ways.

The first and most obvious thing that disappointed me about this video was it's surprisingly low production quality. Perhaps I've been spoiled by the History Channel's series The Universe, and to be frank this doesn't really hold a candle to that, but I expected more. Granted this video almost exclusively uses pan & scans of actual images rather than using supportive CG animations, but the entire presentation was not very slick (the annoyingly amateurish title animations with their equally annoying sound effects particularly bothered me). But on a positive note there was no shortage of some really stunning images offered.

The second thing that I found disappointing was the narration. It came across as a bullet point presentation with some cursory information but I was expecting something more in depth. The amount of actual information made available on this DVD is limited to general distances and extremely brief overviews of processes and once again this did not hold a candle to quality and quantity of information provided in any one of the individual episodes on The Universe Season 1.

The final thing I'd like to mention is something that I find rather confusing. Before I bought this I read many reader reviews. And the one thing many reviewers mentioned as a positive regarding this DVD was that the music (which can be heard by itself by turning off the narration) was supposedly quite good. I found it far less than that. While it was neither bad nor distracting in any way, it was far from being something I would recommend this DVD for. To me it sounded very "canned". In fact it slightly reminded me of the generic loops or short music tracks you could download online for free to use to create Flash content about 10 years ago. Maybe that's being a bit too harsh, but it really wasn't all that compelling.

I'm not sorry I bought this DVD, I've watched it several times in the last month. It's a decent companion to The Universe Season 1 and it's actually given me something to watch while my friends are borrowing & watching my Season 1. It will also help me fill the gap until Season 2 is released this summer! I'd definitely say that this DVD is worth getting so long as your expectations are set at the proper level - cursory information, pan & scans of some pretty impressive images and no production quality to speak of. I'll leave the music as being a matter of personal taste.

A Journey from the Sun to distant Galaxies
The title says it all. This video takes you on a journey from the Sun out to the farthest Galaxies. You can view the show narrated or with music only. The Chapters are as follows; 1) Telescopes in Space, 2) The Sun, 3) The Planets. Beyond the Solar System: The Milky Way 4) Star Clusters, 5) Stars. Nebulae 6) Reflection Nebulae, 7) Emission Nebulae, 8) Supernova Remnants, 9) Planetary Nebulae. Beyond the Milky Way: Galaxies 10) The Local Group, 11) Near Galaxies, 12) Distant Galaxies. Also has a special feature which I personally have not tried, Windows Screen Saver.

Most of the Hubble pictures, if not all, I have seen before. They are awesome. But the video, not still photos, that you will see of the Sun from SOHO and TRACE are worth the price alone for this DVD. I can only say purchase this DVD and see for yourself what an AMAZING UNIVERSE we live in! Overall running time 67 minutes. Also has Special Features with interviews of Alex Filippenko and Karel Schrijver.