Rating: 
Summary: Terrible!!!
Review: The prenatal techno music from the 70's/80's sinks this DVD from the start, but that is just one of many horrible aspect to this DVD. It is impossible to sit through without being completely annoyed not to mention the narration by Patrick Stewart. One would think that would be a selling point, but they manage to screw it up by making Stewart read in what is best described as a generic god-like voice. To make matters worse, the imagery is older than old school. No polished CGI here. Yes, I know this is a remake of a great classic, but that just does not cut with this title. Let Patrick Stewart read in a normal voice, update the CGI, and for the love of god find less outdated techno trash music to play. Sorry, this is not worth your money!! Mike
Rating: 
Summary: "The Planets" Never Leaves Earth.
Review: The Solar System boggles the mind. It is filled with so many amazing images and scientific anomolies that I take in just about every documentary on the subject. And so, when this came available on VHS, I got it. After all, the production would take me on a drive through the planets while Holst's music THE PLANETS played on the radio. And to top it off, Patrick Stewart acts as tour guide! How could it fail? 8 years ago, it didn't fail, but today... Firstly, much of the film uses computer generated imagery and NASA animations. Some of them are excellent but many of them would fit in a classroom in the 50s. Today, we are spoiled with the wonderful crisp images from the hubble telescope. Next, the soundtrack. One of our earthly pleasures is music and what better way to express the size and scope of the universe then by using a large symphony orchestra performing the PLANETS. Well, the large symphony orchestra is replaced by one person. Although very talented, the music comes across very small and digital, sounding like something from the Disney Movie TRON. But most of that does not matter, because its difficult to hear the music under Patrick Stewarts narration. He often speaks of interesting things but, most of it is very basic. Where this film really shines is in its ability to show the state of space travel in the last decade of the 20th century. If that is what interests you, this is the film for you. If you are a fan of Holst's THE PLANETS or a student of the solar system, there are better, more current pieces available.
Rating:
Summary: "The Planets" Never Leaves Earth.
Review: The Solar System boggles the mind. It is filled with so many amazing images and scientific anomolies that I take in just about every documentary on the subject. And so, when this came available on VHS, I got it. After all, the production would take me on a drive through the planets while Holst's music THE PLANETS played on the radio. And to top it off, Patrick Stewart acts as tour guide! How could it fail? 8 years ago, it didn't fail, but today... Firstly, much of the film uses computer generated imagery and NASA animations. Some of them are excellent but many of them would fit in a classroom in the 50s. Today, we are spoiled with the wonderful crisp images from the hubble telescope. Next, the soundtrack. One of our earthly pleasures is music and what better way to express the size and scope of the universe then by using a large symphony orchestra performing the PLANETS. Well, the large symphony orchestra is replaced by one person. Although very talented, the music comes across very small and digital, sounding like something from the Disney Movie TRON. But most of that does not matter, because its difficult to hear the music under Patrick Stewarts narration. He often speaks of interesting things but, most of it is very basic. Where this film really shines is in its ability to show the state of space travel in the last decade of the 20th century. If that is what interests you, this is the film for you. If you are a fan of Holst's THE PLANETS or a student of the solar system, there are better, more current pieces available.
Rating: 
Summary: The solar system 101
Review: This DVD is pretty cool, but I think it's geared more twords kids and laypersons of space(not that I'm an expert or anything).There are a lot of old NASA footage mixed in with the most recent images(at the time of production). The soundtrack goes from pleasant to highly annoying thoughout the DVD. I would reccomend this for kids or anyone who has a passing interest in space. There just is not much new information or eye-popping pictures. But hey, it has Jean Luc Piccard narrating it. We all like Jean Luc..don't we? Number 1,engage! And tell Data to take out his emotion chip...or something. Bye.
Rating:
Summary: The planets - an amature project
Review: This DVD looks to be a very promising DVD. You have an good actor from Star Trek the Next Generation doing the narration. You have the very fascinating subject: our planetary system. You have lots of good information given. Lots of NASA material from the many planetary space probes. But the presentation is sloppy and inconsistent. There are high quality scenes mixed with scenes that look like a high school student put them together. Some of the animation in this film looks like "cardboard cutout" animation! ...This is not at all an impressive DVD. The "cardboard cutout" animation sequences have bad color, are blurry, and look like they were filmed using a low quality web camera! ...To top it off the narration is way too dramatic. At times the narration sounds like the man is about to have a fit. At other times his voice is so smooth and delicate he sounds like a woman about to cry. This is not a drama. This is a space documentary. ... There are some very good still photos and film from NASA and some interesting facts and theories given in this film. But a lot of the visual material made for the DVD is of very poor quality. Its a DVD. I expect it to look at least as good as VHS. And its a documentary, not a horror film. Why is the narration so extreme at times? That type of narration does not belong in this type of film. Its ridiculous. I have other DVD's on the same subject and all of them are at least 4 stars or more. I gave this film 2 stars because the information is good, some of the animation is quite good, the NASA material is good and some moments of this film are quite good. But the presentation is way off base. This is the type of documentary that would make children in school crack up laughing. Its way over dramatized. I mean WAY OVER DRAMATIZED. We have possibly the producer to thank for that. I'm not sure if its the narrator's fault. He was probably told to overly dramatize his dialog to make it sound more interesting. I feel swindled by this DVD. I've seen many amateur documentaries that are far better than this production. This film could be improved. If they cut the poor quality animated sequences, and toned down the narrator's emotional fits, and cut the 50's style sci-fi music, this DVD could be very good. The poor quality moments in this DVD ruin the whole thing.
Rating: 
Summary: The best of Art and Science combined
Review: This production uses not only the best in CGI technology to show how the planets most be, but it also includes the latest information and photographs from NASA. The music and the scenes are very well mixed. The magnificent interpretation of "The Planets" by Isao Tomita is fully enjoyable thanks to the digitally remastered recording of his quadraphonic version. But, most of all, the superb narration by Patrick Stewart is what makes this masterpiece go far beyond of what you can expect in just a beautiful documentary film.
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