Rating: 
Summary: An Enya fans perspective on this wonderful DVD set
Review: I purchased this DVD set even though I already have the VHS version mainly so I could get the special features related to Enya. I'm writing this review first and foremost as an Enya fan.The packaging of the VHS version was really wonderful but packaging of this DVD is absolutely gorgeous! There is gold trim around the edges of sections and titles and the inside of the digipak case has a fantastic mountain and countryside landscape with castles. The special features is a total of 80 minutes making the 2 disc's total running time 405 mins (6 hours, 45 mins). There are no subtitles but it includes CC (Closed Captioning) for the main feature only. It has very well designed and themed menu's. The documentary series itself is quite good overall although also quite long. It shows the history and traditions of the Celtic people through the ages from ancient times through to the late 1980's with gorgeous countryside and Enya's beautiful music throughout. There are even some battle reenactments. At times it can get a bit drawn out and boring, but not anymore than any other history lesson would. Overall its quite good. Probably one of the best in-depth documentaries on the Celts ever made. There are six episodes on these discs. In the third episode at the end, there is the Enya music video of "I want tomorrow" which is very interesting to watch, very different looking and acting Enya than we're used to in her other videos. Near the very end of the final episode Enya performs the song "Aldebaran". I hesitate to call it a music video. It features Enya singing in darkness with a warm light shining on her face only near her eyes. Special Feature Reviews:
- Gaelic Weekend: A Musical Journey Around Ireland (30 Mins) (No Enya Content) This is a show from 1981 which shows many scenes of people from Ireland going about their day-to-day lives rich with music and song. Many different styles of Irish music is played and performed throughout and there is no narration. I found it quite enjoyable to watch the various lifestyles and just people going about their daily lives. A beautiful slice of Ireland both visually and musically. - Breakfast Time Enya Interview (4 Mins) This is a snippet from the BBC Breakfast Time show, even though it's short, it's quite good. It's probably from 1988/89 around the release of Watermark. It shows some snippets from the Orinoco Flow video and a young Enya talking about her music and how she defines it. We also see a younger Nicky and Roma in this video. Nicky talks briefly about the process of studio recording Enya's music. Enya also mentions "The Frog Prince" movie and her involvement with it and they show a very quick snippet from the film. Of course, she also talks briefly about The Celts documentary series. - Nationwide Celtic Connections 5 (15 Mins) (No Enya Content) This is part of a BBC show series called "Nationwide" probably from the early to mid-1980's which talks about the fact that the Celts hardly ever wrote down anything about their myths, legends and laws. It was all passed down from generation to generation through the spoken word. It also discusses the efforts being made to maintain the Celtic languages as many of them are dying out. A very interesting add-on to the The Celts documentary, even though it isn't a current update on the topic. - Val Doonican's Enya Interview and Performance (17 Mins, 30 sec) This is by far the best Enya-related addition to the DVD set! Probably created not long after the release of Watermark (I'd say 1989 or 1990), it shows Enya and Val Doonican driving up in the Irish countryside to a few of Enya's favourite places, places that remind her of her youth. She is interviewed very casually as they walk around the beautiful locales. She performs the song "Na Laetha Geal M'Óige" while we see her walking around a castle and by a tree and some beautiful Irish scenery. The song from the album is played while she sings and that is all your can hear. No live performance. Then they go into her fathers pub - Leo's Tavern and we see Enya sitting beside her father and they get interviewed together. They talk about their musical family and background. Right behind them is Enya's Watermark album hanging on the wall along with some awards for the album. They go to a beach that Enya is very fond of, that she used to visit a lot with her family as a child. Val Doonican and Enya talk a bit more. This beach also has a lot of ties to her grandparents who are the inspiration for the song "On your shore" which she performs here as well. She walks along the beach singing the song and then as she sings, it shows many scenes taken from the first special feature on disc 1 - "Gaelic Weekend: A Musical Journey Around Ireland" with a faint transparent woven cloth overlay, as if the scenes are being projected onto a woven cloth material. A very nice effect. Again the song from the album is played while she sings and that is all your can hear. No live performance. Enya seems very casual and very relaxed throughout the interview and its very nice to see. All-in-all, this DVD set is very good and considering all of the Enya content throughout the documentary and in the special features. It would have been nice if they included a featurette like an addendum to the series updating us on anything new with regards to the Celts and their languages now that it's 2004. It would also be nice if they included subtitles in English, Spanish and French for this North American release. But these are minor things to gripe about really. I'd say that this is a must-have for any serious Enya fan/collector.
Rating:
Summary: A good investment!
Review: I teach ancient history and am thoroughly delighted with this video series. The history is rich yet not boring or dry. The music of Enya makes the experience even more delighful. I will use this as a resource for years to come.
Rating:
Summary: A good investment!
Review: I teach ancient history and am thoroughly delighted with this video series. The history is rich yet not boring or dry. The music of Enya makes the experience even more delighful. I will use this as a resource for years to come.
Rating:
Summary: Factual and Accessible
Review: This series presents facts and information on a hard to define and often misinterpreted people and period. It is heavy in facts and research (supported/provided by top museums and historians), yet it is accessible to both the first time celt seeker and the serious enthusiast.
Rating:
Summary: Celtic history comes alive...
Review: What Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" was to science, Frank Delaney's "The Celts" is to Celtic history and legacy. Historian Delaney takes us on a journey through the colorful and ultimately tragic history of the Celts, and presents his arguments in an accessible and engaging manner. For those of us who always thought of the Celts as being limited to their Irish or Scots roots, Delaney opens up a much broader Celtic world, and explores customs, rituals, and history still alive in the then-modern world of 1987. If there is a drawback to this set, it would have to be the lack of updated material. While I appreciate that the series is on DVD in an unmolested format, and while most of the material does not require any changes, there are some points that could have been given a follow-up segment. Chief among these is the phenomenon of the broadcasts in Welsh and Breton, which were completely in the native languages. Does the practice continue, or has funding and viewership declined since 1987? Are young people still interested in trying to learn their native tongues and customs? Are the parades and festivals that celebrate Celtic heritage still being held? Do the Irish storytellers still wander the countryside spinning tales? The series today leaves too many questions unanswered since the episodes originally aired in 1987, despite the excellent description of the historical Celtic world. For many, the whole point of owning the series is the music of Enya, which was released as a separate soundtrack album, and was her first official solo effort. Enya herself is featured in an 80's music video at the end of one installment, and appears personally in another. The balance of her contribution is to the soundtrack that is still beloved among fans. Included with the series are several interesting and vintage features from the BBC. One is what amounts to a 30 minute music video montage of an Irish weekend, from 1981. There are two interviews with Enya, related to the release of "Watermark", and there is another BBC documentary featurette on Celtic peoples taken from a late 80's news program. Sadly, without any kind of revision, the series takes on a quaint, even dated, quality. Even so, you're less likely to find a better or more intelligent attempt to explain Celticism than Frank Delaney's "The Celts".
Rating:
Summary: Celtic history comes alive...
Review: What Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" was to science, Frank Delaney's "The Celts" is to Celtic history and legacy. Historian Delaney takes us on a journey through the colorful and ultimately tragic history of the Celts, and presents his arguments in an accessible and engaging manner. For those of us who always thought of the Celts as being limited to their Irish or Scots roots, Delaney opens up a much broader Celtic world, and explores customs, rituals, and history still alive in the then-modern world of 1987. If there is a drawback to this set, it would have to be the lack of updated material. While I appreciate that the series is on DVD in an unmolested format, and while most of the material does not require any changes, there are some points that could have been given a follow-up segment. Chief among these is the phenomenon of the broadcasts in Welsh and Breton, which were completely in the native languages. Does the practice continue, or has funding and viewership declined since 1987? Are young people still interested in trying to learn their native tongues and customs? Are the parades and festivals that celebrate Celtic heritage still being held? Do the Irish storytellers still wander the countryside spinning tales? The series today leaves too many questions unanswered since the episodes originally aired in 1987, despite the excellent description of the historical Celtic world. For many, the whole point of owning the series is the music of Enya, which was released as a separate soundtrack album, and was her first official solo effort. Enya herself is featured in an 80's music video at the end of one installment, and appears personally in another. The balance of her contribution is to the soundtrack that is still beloved among fans. Included with the series are several interesting and vintage features from the BBC. One is what amounts to a 30 minute music video montage of an Irish weekend, from 1981. There are two interviews with Enya, related to the release of "Watermark", and there is another BBC documentary featurette on Celtic peoples taken from a late 80's news program. Sadly, without any kind of revision, the series takes on a quaint, even dated, quality. Even so, you're less likely to find a better or more intelligent attempt to explain Celticism than Frank Delaney's "The Celts".
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