DVD REVIEW: ARTHUR C. CLARKE COLLECTION

DVD TITLE:  ARTHUR C CLARKE COLLECTION

REVIEWED BY: CINEMA LATTE

GRADE: 4 OUT OF 5 REELS

UPC: 773848647033

RELEASE DATE:  APRIL 16, 2013

DISC INFORMATION:  8 discs, color, widescreen

RUNNING TIME: 1315 minutes

SPECIAL FEAUTURES: None

RATED:  Not Rated, but probably falls in the PG range due to subject matter

GENRE: Documentary Series/Science-Fiction

STARRING: Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke hosts this science-fiction documentary series which looks into real-life mysteries from around the globe and throughout time.  This collection encompasses his collection of three series from the 1980’s.  The very dated and very 80’s look into well-documented cases of the unknown and unexplained is very entertaining.  The size of the computers, the equipment and vehicles, the clothes, the hair styles are all just as entertaining as the actual episode as it delves into the depths of secrets and mysteries around the planet.

The first series is “Mysterious World” containing 2 discs with 13 episodes as he looks into the enchantment of dinosaurs, the mystery of Loch Ness, and the visitations of UFO’s throughout the centuries as well as across the Earth.

  1. The Journey Begins
  2. Monsters of the Deep
  3. Ancient Wisdom
  4. The Missing Apeman
  5. Giants for the gods
  6. The Monsters of the Lakes
  7. The Great Siberian Explosion
  8. The Riddle of the Stones
  9. Out of the Blue
  10. U.F.O.’s
  11. Dragons, Dinosaurs, and Giant Snakes
  12. Strange Skies
  13. Clarke’s Cabinet of Curiosities

The second series is “Mysterious Universe” containing 4 discs with 26 episodes as he looks into the Pyramids, crop circles, zombies and other strange events.

  1. Snake Charmers, Wolf Children and Holy Men
  2. On the Trail of the Big Cats
  3. Where Giants Walked
  4. Relics of the Saints
  5. Mysteries of the Sea
  6. The Psychic Detectives
  7. Keys to the Past
  8. The Burning Question
  9. A Crop of Circles
  10. At Death’s Door
  11. Callers From the Cosmos
  12. The Evil Eye
  13. Secrets of the Pyramids
  14. Mysteries of Maya
  15. Squaring the Bermuda Triangle
  16. Doom of the Dinosaurs
  17. Cracking the Code-Writings, Runes and Other Riddles
  18. Zombies—The Living Dead?
  19. The Strange Powers of Animals
  20. Into Thin Air
  21. Baffling Bombardments
  22. Meeting Mary—Visions of the Virgin
  23. Secrets of Ancient worlds
  24. Spirits of Place—Haunting and Spectres
  25. True or False? – More Than Meets the Eye
  26. Mysteries of the North

The third series is “World of Strange Powers” containing 2 discs with 13 episodes as he looks into the supernatural world of ghosts and hauntings.

  1. Warnings From the Future
  2. Things That Go Bump in the Night
  3. From Mind to Mind
  4. Stigmata—The Wounds of Christ?
  5. Ghosts, Apparitions and Haunted Houses
  6. Fairies, Phantoms and Fantastic Photographs
  7. Have We Lived Before?
  8. An Element of the Divine
  9. Walking on Fire
  10. Messages From the Dead?
  11. The Roots of Evil
  12. Metal Bending, Magic and Mind Over Matter
  13. Strange Powers—The Verdict

This is a very entertaining and informative series.  Well done but very dated.  Interestingly told with interviews and experiments and moved along at a steady pace with Arthur C. Clarke’s mediating.  It would be very interesting to have someone look at these mysteries with the science that we have now.  This is an early version of William Shatner’s “Weird or What?” and Joe Rogan’s “Questions Everything” series found on the Sy-Fy channel today.  An informative series for any science fiction fan to have in their libraries; even if it has last century’s data and computers the size of hotel rooms.

That’s my review and I’m sticking to it.

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