Are We Alone in the Universe?

Rating:
Summary: Are We Alone
Review: Me being an avid ufo buff and reading others comments, which convinced me to purchased the DVD I was disappointed with the film . It seems to be a little misleading in the effect that I thought there would be more time spent covering ancient text and ruins, instead of poor video production of the cosmos. The beginning of the film made it really hard to stay focused in hopes of waiting for something really good to be reviled. Out of an hour long DVD only 15minutes of interesting information really intrigued me and this is coming from a fan of Zecharia Sitchin. I wish he had a better since of presenting information when it comes to putting it in video form., i'm glad that i purchased it used.

Rating:
Summary: Are We Alone
Review: Me being an avid ufo buff and reading others comments, which convinced me to purchased the DVD I was disappointed with the film . It seems to be a little misleading in the effect that I thought there would be more time spent covering ancient text and ruins, instead of poor video production of the cosmos. The beginning of the film made it really hard to stay focused in hopes of waiting for something really good to be reviled. Out of an hour long DVD only 15minutes of interesting information really intrigued me and this is coming from a fan of Zecharia Sitchin. I wish he had a better since of presenting information when it comes to putting it in video form., i'm glad that i purchased it used.

Rating:
Summary: Good overview, but video shows its age
Review: The good points about this DVD include the fact that it provides a tidy overview of some of Zecharia Sitchin's theories about the origins of man on earth. The premise explored here is that there is a tenth planet in the solar system whose orbit is so huge that it comes into the rest of the solar system only once in a very great while. Sitchin bases this on ancient Sumerian tablets that clearly show the other nine planets accurately (which is in itself quite extraordinary) in addition to this tenth planet.

The Sumerians tell the tale of how the earth was originally formed due to an interplanetary collision millions of years ago. The earth's moon, Sitchin says, was actually the moon of the other planet and was captured when the collision occurred.

Sitchin further claims that beings on the tenth planet were responsible for the creation of the human race on earth, via genetics. We were originally bred as workers who would mine the planet for precious metals that were needed on the home planet. Mars has been a base for these other beings as they have travelled to the earth, although it is not their original home. There are indications of monuments on Mars that are very similar to the ancient monuments on earth, including the pyramids in Egypt. There is some evidence that these bases might still be active. Why, for instance, did the Russian Mars probe Phobos 2 suddenly become disabled and stop sending pictures back -- right after it detected an unknown object approaching it?

The production includes interviews with Russian and American scientists as well as Sitchin himself. There is also video of the mysterious Mars structures as well as the Sumerian materials that play such an important role, and brief bits of animation that depict the planetary collisions and the orbit of the speculative tenth planet.

The ideas are interesting and, in some cases, compelling. The main problem is that the video itself, despite the DVD release date of January 2003, is actually from 1992 and looks older than that -- about 10 to 15 years older. (I confirmed the 1992 date by reading the final credits.) It is reminiscent of the reel-to-reel movies you'd watch in public school classrooms in the 1970's. That is to say, the video quality is murky and the sound is flat and tubby. In all it is not a quality transfer to DVD. It's so substandard, in fact, that I will not be selling this DVD on eBay like I do many other of the others that I purchase and watch -- I wouldn't feel comfortable putting my feedback rating at risk.

A couple of other details -- there are no extras on the DVD other than scene selection, and the total time is a few minutes less than the advertised 60 minutes.

This makes for a nice overview of Sitchin and could lead a viewer to explore his writings in more detail, but if you're looking for good production values then you should look elsewhere. I also have to believe that in the last 10+ years more information has come to light that might make Sitchin's case even more compelling. It's too bad we have no way of exploring that here.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: Very good depiction about what scientists already know to be true but are scarce to say because of the repercussions of such knowledge.

Little known history about our civilization. Had we already reached the space-age by the year 6000 BC? The answer may lay, here, in an in-depth survey of ancient Sumerian tablets, the knowledge they contained, and the haunting similarity between that knowledge and what we know, via scientific discovery, about our solar system, today.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: Very good depiction about what scientists already know to be true but are scarce to say because of the repercussions of such knowledge.

Little known history about our civilization. Had we already reached the space-age by the year 6000 BC? The answer may lay, here, in an in-depth survey of ancient Sumerian tablets, the knowledge they contained, and the haunting similarity between that knowledge and what we know, via scientific discovery, about our solar system, today.