Mankind - Die Geschichte der Menschheit

I see all the reviews which criticize this series. If you are looking for hard core, detailed documentaries you probably should have abandoned the history channel about 10 years ago. As a vehicle to spark the interest high-school kids and provide images and concepts for discussion, this series has worked very well in my classroom. Biases and inaccuracies serve as the seeds for deeper dialogue about cultural perspectives and historicity. Indeed, the reputations of some of the talking heads have evolved over the years. It's colorful, its loud, and it keeps the kids' attention better than the stuff that came before.

I concede that there are better series out there for serious folks who like a deeper dive.

Not everything is correct and the fact about history is some of it is based on opinions which obviously will have bias. It's very entertaining that covers a lot. It's heavily US biased which is expected when watching that is US produced

A collection of cuts and pieces from everything and yet nothing. Basically they try to summarize human achievement in 12 episodes. Resulting in a rather biased detailed depiction of the west and ignore most of the east. Plus, everything is crammed in and really the details are left out. Even if this is heavily aimed towards a western audience, so much are just completely omitted. And I just have to ask myself, did a high school student do this the night before it's due? Leaves an unsatisfying tastes in the viewer after watching. Overall an ambiguous and not well planned out project. And finally, did they REALLY try to summarize the human civilization in 12 episodes?

Unlike some other harsh fake name critics and spotty reviews posted already, i give this series two thumbs up for interesting story and video, maybe some facts are not 100% accurate or shown in a different light, at least these people took the time and money to tell those of us who haven't had our noses glued to history books some interesting details of our past, there will always be those critics who will slash through others hard work in five minutes to try and undo what many have spent a good part of their lives investigating to bring us something tangible, i for one thank them in making this extraordinary piece of work and allowing us to view it.

Of all the epic History serials I've seen so far, I liked this one the least. It is a daunting task to retell the entire history of human civilization, but a lot of the potential is destroyed through a very unsympathetic presentation.

It begins with the tediously dramatic narrator, who puts so much emphasis on every single sentence that before long you wish you could tune him out. It doesn't help that most sentences are kept extremely short, which is at first irritating, then starts to feel condescending. You'll wish the narrator back, though, once you start to meet the interviewees featured. Not only are many of them completely absurd picks for the topics at hand (a Navy SEAL? A writer? A news anchor?), but a couple of them are downright annoying to watch and listen to. They couldn't find any historians, archaeologists or anthropologists who could give well-founded information—without all the theatrics?

The parts I disliked the least are, surprisingly, those I usually hate most in documentaries: the CGI scenes and reenactments. The reenactments work remarkably well because they're not overstated and, funnily, not overly dramatized. At least their pathos fades in comparison to that of the narrator and "experts". While reenactments usually feel like a very cheap and childish part of a serious documentary, those in Mankind were not at all bad. Similarly for the CGI scenes, which somehow seemed way less cheesy than the usual fare. They're allowed to be dramatic, and there's a few ridiculous ones, like for instance the Sphinx at the end of the first part, but overall they knew their place and were pretty well done.

The story is, no doubt, a fascinating one. What might be a matter of personal preference is that I felt the series spent too much time on the latter stages. I would have preferred the final 4 parts compressed into 2, leaving more room for detail in the earlier chapters. But all in all, if you're not just looking for the next History box-set but have an actual interest in the topic, and considering that this 9-hour behemoth is a considerable time investment, there are many better alternatives out there.