The Universe - Complete Season 1

Good golly! It looks like we may not be alone after all. This mind-blowing, brain-busting documentary series raises as many questions as it answers and was, for my money, one of the most engaging fortnights TV viewing I have had in a long time.

Yes, I know there'll be plenty of cleverer folk than I who will complain about the dumbing down of complex ideas but I was perfectly happy for someone to explain how gravity helped create our solar system whilst drawing parallels to a Ferris wheel in the back of shot. Or the abundance of computer generated animation, simplifying complex scientific theorising. In fact, I loved all that because, for the first time (since abandoning Stephen Hawkins best- selling book 'A Brief History of Time') I began to really appreciate the vastness and complexity of our universe, and our relative insignificance within it.

'The Universe' kicks off with a bang (literally it would seem) and then delivers a compelling series of documentaries covering many areas of related space antics. What caused the Big Bang? What happens when a star dies? What might life be like on an alien planet? What's a super-nova? What's a black hole and what happens to the stars that disappear into one? How big is our universe and how many universes might there be beyond this one? What is our role in this giant cosmos and when was it created and why and by whom and....AAAGH! Well, at least this series gets you part way there. Maybe the rest of the answers are in Season 2!

It's surprising just how much research is underway into our solar system and beyond and the results are truly mind-stretching. Using a potent (and very imaginative) mix of short expert interviews, animations, video footage and stills from giant satellite based telescopes (like the Hubble) each 'chapter' unfolds with more revelations about our universe. As each episode focuses on a new chapter, it's entirely forgivable that animated sequences and photos appear again and again, as well as the same interviewees. The only downside is, perhaps, the terribly earnest deep voiced US narrator which often goes off the scale of the 'cheesometer'  with a script dripping with superlatives like 'awesome' and 'astounding'. But given the nature of the subject matter, perhaps, for once 'awesome' really is the only word that works.

The quality is variable but when it's good it's really very good with a lovely crisp high definition look on BluRay. Occasionally it's absolutely stunning, and I feel sure is well worth the extra few pounds over the DVD.

I didn't see this air on the History Channel (2007) but I understand that it has been updated since then for this release with many new interviews, as well as a Blu-Ray only exclusive extra: 'Beyond Big Bang'.

There are 13 x 45 minute episodes in total across three discs: 'Secrets of the Sun'; 'Mars: The Red Planet'; 'The End of the Earth: Deep Space Threats To Our Planet '; 'Jupiter: The Giant Planet'; 'The Moon'; 'Spaceship Earth'; 'The Inner Planets'; 'Mercury & Venus'; 'Saturn: Lord of the Rings'; 'Alien Galaxies'; 'Life and Death of a Star'; 'The Outer Planets'; 'The Most Dangerous Place in the Universe' and 'Search for ET', plus a special feature-length bonus episode, 'Beyond the Big Bang'.
  
 "The Universe" may not be quite as high brow or serious as Carl Sagan´s "Cosmos" or Brian Greene´s "The Elegant Universe," but it is, in my view, well worth watching, regardless of how much you already know or don't know. It's thoroughly entertaining too so doesn't feel anything like a college lecture. Recommended - and now on to Season 2!