NOVA - Origins
by Alice Harper, Julia Cort and Larry Klein, Thomas Levenson
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Neil Degrasse TysonDirector: Alice Harper, Julia Cort and Larry Klein, Thomas Levenson
Brand: WGBH BOSTON VIDEO
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 240 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-12-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS
Movie Reviews of NOVA - Origins
Movie Review: Highly Enjoyable Scientific Speculation
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoyed this Nova series and think that Neil DeGrasse Tyson did a great job as host (fortunately, my local library has many fine Nova and other PBS productions). His engaging narration echoed the drama of what the early Earth must have gone through. We see simulations of constant meteroroic and asteroidal impacts and collisions on a then-toxic Mother Earth. He references Earth's evolution to a 24-hour period, with us humans coming along about 30 seconds before midnight.
We ponder the evidence for non-Earth life within our own Milkyway and learn how spiffy instruments let us deduce the gravitational pull that only planets could have over their corresponding stars. If a star is wavering, then scientists will check that out as a sign of the star's gravitational interaction with an orbiting planet.
With deductive skills that surpass Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes combined, these modern scientific detectives have culled for themselves a wealth of probable scenarios about how life first began (electrically charged meteorites and space debris introduced our planet to the building blocks of protein), how the moon was formed (gravity and colliding sperical bodies), how Earth's atmosphere went from toxic to biospheric (oxygen-producing bacteria morphed our planet's atmosphere from a noxious 1% oxygen component to a hospitable 21%), and how time plays the key role in accommodating and tracing the "origins" of life.
The early Earth was violent, volatile, and fiery (with lava oceans and molten rock; molten metals made their way into the planet's core--this hot core has many implications, including life itself); a far cry, says one scientist, from a Garden of Eden. (Even the Garden of Eden would depend on the planet's initially harsh conditions that would eventually--4.3 billion or so years later--lead to lush vegetation and life as we know it.)
The Earth is home to fantastic biodiversity, representing the unlimited imagination of God. I am in no way less impressed if God chose billions of years to bring about life as we know it than if God accomplished the task in less than a week. We're only splitting hairs to worry about time frames and "modus operandi" (to quote another reviewer) in terms of accommodating our belief systems. Personally, I believe that God took his time creating the necessary conditions for life to originate and evolve. I'm glad that this program examines "the long and winding road" version of creation.
Summary of NOVA - Origins
Has the universe always existed? How did it become a place that could harbor life? Are we alone, or are there alien worlds waiting to be discovered? NOVA presents some startling new answers in Origins, a groundbreaking four-part NOVA miniseries. New clues from the frontiers of science are presented by dynamic astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. As the host of Origins, Tyson leads viewers on a cosmic journey to the beginning of time and to the depths of space, in search of the first stirrings of life and its traces on other worlds. The series' first hour, Origins: Earth is Born, gives viewers a spectacular glimpse of the tumultuous first billion years of Earth ? a time of continuous catastrophe. Episode two, Origins: How Life Began, zeroes in on the mystery of exactly how it happened. Join the hunt for hardy microbes that flourish in the most unlikely places: inside rocks in a mine shaft two miles down, inside a cave dripping with acid as strong as a car battery's, and in noxious gas bubbles erupting from the Pacific Ocean?s floor. The survival of these tough microorganisms suggests they may be related to the planet's first primitive life forms. Hour three starts with a bang ? the Big Bang in which everything began. Origins: Back to the Beginning explores how the colossal, mind-boggling forces of the early universe made it possible for habitable worlds to emerge. In episode four, Origins: Where are the Aliens?, Tyson explores such provocative questions as: Would "E.T.s" resemble "us" or the creatures of science fiction? And are there planets on which life can flourish rare or common in our universe? Special DVD features include: materials and activities for educators; a link to the NOVA Web site; scene selections; closed captions; and described video for the visually impaired. (Final features TBD) On two discs (disc size TBD). Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: Letterboxed.Similar DVD Movies
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