The Day The Universe Changed
by Richard Reisz
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: James BurkeDirector: Richard Reisz
Brand: PBS
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: NTSC
Running Time: 550 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-01-31
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Ambrose Video Publishing Inc
Movie Reviews of The Day The Universe Changed
Movie Review: Bringing Home The Burkean
Summary: 5 Stars
James Burke is a fellow you would love to have at your dinner party. Affable, articulate, avuncular, with his friendly nimbus of windblown hair crowning a broad forehead with dark thick eyebrows behind heavy framed glasses, his impeccable Oxford diction coddling every phrase with dry wit and charming colloquialisms, he is the perfect paragon of the beloved college professor. You and your guests would never be bored because he can talk agreeably about, well... everything.
Art, architecture, astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics, math, medicine, languages, philosophy, social movements, political history - you name it. Other than in your living room or in a classroom, there is no better place for James Burke than on television.
From its earliest days, psychologists have been skeptical of television's suitability for education because the medium plays to a passive audience and is not designed for the mind's active participation. This view is valid as far as it goes but may slight the power of drama to edify, of well-executed productions to transport and the appeal of charismatic individuals to engage the imagination.
Burke enjoyed a long association with the British Broadcasting Corporation, commencing in 1966, both behind and in front of the camera. In July 1969 he covered the Apollo 11 moon landing for the BBC. From 1996 to 2001 he wrote a regular final page column for "Scientific American" magazine. His discourses maintained a chatty air, constructed with a satisfying circularity, beginning with a fascinating scientific observation, retreating to a salient historical moment, retracing steps and knitting up stitches until returning to his original point. He followed this general outline in four popular science and technology programs for the BBC and PBS networks.
In 1978, "Connections", Burke's series about discovery and inventions, aired in 10 half hour episodes. The 20 segments of "Connections 2" appeared in 1994, with 10 more parts arriving as "Connections 3" in 1997.
In 1985, "The Day The Universe Changed" followed a more leisurely pace, highlighting the social and philosophical ideas that influenced science history in 10 one-hour episodes. Its central premise is that we are "what we know" and that our definition of "knowledge" and our means of ascertaining it arise from cultural frameworks that change over time. The series features:
1. "The Way We Are" The birth of rationalism. Thales of Miletus and the Ionian Greeks begin to see nature as impersonal and explainable in its own terms rather than as a product of supernatural agencies.
2. "In the Light of the Above" The fall of Toledo to 11th century Spanish crusaders yields vast accumulations of ancient learning previously lost to European culture that had been preserved by the Islamic civilization. After a century and a half of translation efforts, medieval scholars gain enough knowledge to found universities and launch the Renaissance.
3. "Point of View" The recovery of the principles of perspective drawing initiates new approaches in art and architecture. Grid lines applied to cartography enable maritime exploration of the African coastline and the discovery of the New World.
4. "A Matter of Fact" Gutenberg's invention of the moveable type printing press banishes human memory as the repository of wisdom, engenders the spread of literacy, empowers free communication of ideas, transforms the meaning of factual information, and undermines the authority of the Church.
5. "Infinitely Reasonable" Copernicus overturns Aristotle's celestial notions that had dominated scholastic thought for nearly 1900 years by locating the sun at the center of the universe. Kepler and Galileo confirm the Copernican worldview through observation and experiment. Newton's "Principia Mathematica" demonstrates in precise mathematical language the laws of motion and gravitation that explain the mechanics of the observable universe.
6. "Credit Where It's Due" Great Britain adopts the Dutch banking and credit system that provides the capital to build canals, harness steam power, spur technological invention, expand factory production, distribute goods to broader markets, transfer labor from farms to cities, and create the Industrial Revolution.
7. "What the Doctor Ordered" The work of surgeons and the survival rate of their patients is improved by the invention of anesthesia and the discovery that deadly sepsis is caused by microorganisms that can be destroyed during medical procedures and controlled during recuperation. Chronic outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and plague are traced to their sources in contaminated water and city planners learn to separate sewage from water intended for consumption.
8. "Fit To Rule" Advances in zoology and comparative anatomy applied to collections of fossils lead to recognition that past species have become extinct. The new science of geology proves that the Earth is far more ancient than anyone knew. Wallace and Darwin propose theories of evolution to explain the diversity and inter-relationships of species. Darwin's ideas are appropriated by social theorists to rationalize utopian ideals.
9. "Making Waves" Electromagnetic phenomena, the wave theory of light, and the discovery of sub-atomic particles force a reevaluation of Newtonian classical physics. Einstein's ideas on gravity and relativity, along with the application of probability theory to quantum mechanics, lead present day physicists to increasingly complex models of the fabric of nature.
10. "Worlds Without End" What is reality? Different societies coexisting in the modern world apprehend different structures of reality. Is there anything objective and ultimate that human beings can universally accept?
With impressive geographic scope, "The Day The Universe Changed" was filmed in the locations where the events occurred that precipitated conceptual departures, often depicted in realistic mini-dramas with period costumes and authentic props. It is James Burke himself, however, who stands front and center, narrator, guide, exhibitor, storyteller, and wit. We are "what we know". "The Day The Universe Changed" is James Burke.
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