Rating: 
Summary: "I have sold more books on physics, than Madonna has on sex"
Review: It very well may be that Stephen Hawking is the greatest mind since Albert Einstein. The material on this DVD is nothing less than great, but falls short in the area of production, and presentation. I think most physics/science fans still hold all documentaries of this type, in comparison with Carl Sagan's: Cosmos.
With all fairness, the structure or style of the production, is more on the lines of a news documentary, with lots of interviews, a more mystery feel to the presentation. Editing seems a little ameture'ish, it would have been nice to leave out the sponsor slots, and the usual PBS station calls, these detract heavily from the entire experience really, even though they are done at the beginning and end of the episodes only. The musical score seems fitting, but don't expect any Vangelis like tracks, as in Cosmos. The nararator does a decent job, but personally, I would have liked to hear it more from Mr. Hawking himself, via his voice synthesizer. Of course that would have made it a longer DVD, but there could have been more graphical content to accompany the dialog too.
A good DVD set, that is packed with a wealth of knowledge, but killed by production. I suggest, If you haven't already, pick up Carl Sagan's: Cosmos.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommended..
Review: Its a great program..all the way. A must for teen-agers, it gives a great exposure to physics and astronomy. I recommend to watch 'Cosmos', a TV series by Carl Sagan before seeing this one.
Rating:
Summary: 3 stars for information content, 1 star for replay-ability
Review: Let me start out by saying that I read A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and really enjoyed it. But, then what a sad disappointment this series turned out to be. One could turn off the picture and just listen to the audio and get about as much interesting information. I realize that Dr. Sagan raised the bar pretty high but the makers of this documentary didn't even seem to care. Watch video sequences repeated over and over - sometimes not even relating to the narration that drones on in the background. Squint hard to see what is going on in the darkly lit sets as the camera super-slow pans into something that is supposed to be significant...but really isn't. I watched the entire series just waiting for a sequence that would capture my imagination. It never happened. As for replay-ability? I defy anyone who have made it through the entire series to watch it again. Dr. Hawking deserves better.
Rating:
Summary: My teen son's favorite video.
Review: My son Jared and I both highly recommend this video. It is informative, scientific, and historical without being dry and is enjoyed by my teen son, his parents and his grandmother. We initially purchased this tape so my 12 year old son could write a report on Stephen Hawking. At first we watched it several times but now, 3 years later, we still watch it about 4-6 times per year. When Jared is looking for something to watch instead of junk TV it is one of his first choices. He has loved this video for years and it has caused him to read Hawking's books, published research papers, web page articles and has encouraged him toward a degree in astronomy and/or physics. This film helps him question his universe and search for answers.
Rating: 
Summary: Informationally boring but definitely worth my time.
Review: Starbucks played an integral role in the success of this series with me. However, I thoroughly enjoy cosmology so I like getting the big picture delivered by this set. The series definitely provides a clear understanding of the history of cosmology as well as current theories with as much explanation as you will find on any DVD out there. After watching Hawking's other video production, "A Brief History of Hawkings and Time", I was glad to find this series focused on the science instead of Hawkings himself. I believe the more you know about cosmology the more interesting you will find this program. Some of the information in this program is not easily understood unless you already know a little. Overall I found this program very useful. This set is an effective, comprehensive learning tool, not a day at the movies. Hawkings has definitely clicked out a pretty good program here!
Rating:
Summary: Genius alert.
Review: Stephen Hawking is a genius, plain and simple. I find him and his theories fascinating, and this DVD is a great addition to my Oxford and Cambridge lectures and his first novel. If you are intrigued by S.Hawking (and let's face it most people are) then grab this great DVD now.
Rating:
Summary: Truth, Honesty, & Total Science
Review: Stephen Hawking is among the finest Cosmological minds that has ever graced this planet. In an event to change the way we understand and comprehend the mysteries of the universe we have six hours of non-stop Honest science.Six episodes ranging from the first cosmolgical discoveries to how we are currently trying to define Dark Matter, leaves no stone unturned. The series is much like Mr. Hawking's books where you start off simply and navigate into difficult and thought provoking territory challenging the reader (or in this case viewer) to put the pieces together. If you find entertainment in education this series is invaluable. I am sure there are those who may find some of these concepts difficult (I am unashamedly one of them) however the program makes special note of these and documents it from all angles and from different approaches to get a more worldly view of the particular subject. Not to mention it being on DVD (and owning it as you hopefully will do) you can watch it over and over never being bored with the many new pieces you notice the next time through. For those fearful of learning the very latest in astonomical and cosmological studies and questions you may want to try Carl Sagan's Cosmos, equally interesting although slightly outdated, is an excelent foundation for many of the concepts elaborated on with this series. With wonderful computer animated sequences and an all star scientific community cast I recomend this series to those out there willing to challenge not only their own minds but their beliefs in an attempt to get to the bottom of how everything began.
Rating: 
Summary: Lack of Visual Aids
Review: Stephen Hawking's Universe covers all the important points in Cosmology, but when one buys a video documentary on the subject, one expects more than just lucid explanations by talking heads (or even a head that uses a computer to talk). I was disappointed that for all the good work put into the making of SHU, the visual component was so poor; why not just make it into an audio book instead? Most of the time, throughout the entire series, the same set of bland, information-free starfield images and lame optical tricks (we're not even talking cheap computer animation!) accompany narration of (relatively) deep, conceptual scientific ideas. The rare instances in which camera footage is included -- say, to show a scene at an earth-based telescope -- quench the viewer's thirst for visual aid only long enough to underscore the series' basic dearth of such resources. Better luck next time, Stephen.
Rating:
Summary: There is no beter video set you can buy
Review: There is no beter video set you can buy, It show in detail the events that took place to get where we are now. You can not rate it poorly. I have the Tapes, I will be buying the DVD's cause it opened my mind for greater learning, It leaves out the Math, Witch is the How of Science. Never the less It does teach Who, When, Where, etc. And you can go from there. Oh Yea its 6 Hours :)
Rating:
Summary: See Stephen Hawking roll. Roll Stephen Hawking, roll!
Review: This is a very interesting program that is slightly belabored by a couple problems. First, the initial episode covers very familiar ground for anyone who's had a course in general physics, which is pretty much anyone who's been through high school... it's still interesting enough to sit through, but they could have done without it. Secondly, some of the topics are presented somewhat vaguely or are hard to keep track of (for instance, the interviewee presenting the phenomena or describing the breakthrough will do so in an extrememly roundabout way, telling a story... although this is interesting, i wished there had been some segment right before it that clearly explained the idea before going into the details of thought process). Also, ideas such as the superstring theory and quantum mechanics, at least for me, require more in-depth explanation to get a grasp on the concept, and this documentary seems to have a problem because it is balancing the accessibility of a documentary like BBC's The Planets with more scholarly aspects. It also could have used more of a graphic style, both to make it more entertaining and to help explain concepts to those of us who tend to prefer 'big picture' type visual learning. It's four stars because its worthwhile coverage of interesting topics, but I have to agree with others that this would have made much better radio program or audiobook, because of the mostly uninteresting, unenlightening visual aspects. Otherwise, Stephen Hawking's Universe is an engrosing documentary that covers a lot of interesting ground, and is definately worth watching by anyone with a passing interest to the subject matter (astral phenomena, creation-theory, black holes, etc...), although I'd give it a low rating for repeat-viewings, so it's probably best to pick up on your local PBS before deciding to purchase. I think if I had seen this in high school, I would have been inspired to do well and maybe working on physics-type major in university, instead of languishing at home in a dead end job >_<
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