The National Parks: America's Best Idea

This documentary combines breathtaking scenery with historical narrative. The cinematography is sublime. I watched it for the first time about a decade ago, and just re-watched it now. It is even better than I remember it. My only regret is that image sharpness could be better, since it was filmed around 2008.

You can tell this was done before iPhones, when we all had longer attention spans. The entire series is 12 hours long, but none of it feels repetitive. It starts at the beginning, with the creation of Yosemite in California, moves on to our very first national park, Yellowstone. It's absolutely fascinating to see the historical figures without whom these parks would not exist - Muir and Roosevelt among them - and there are many. John Muir's writing is very moving, and the voice actor does an amazing job.

This may be my all-time favorite documentary and I will probably re-watch again in a year or so. Helps me compile my bucket list for each year's travels. Beautiful cinematography, a moving score, top-notch voice actors. Could not be better.

I absolutely love it! Extraordinary human stories behind the extraordinary beauty. Couldn't help watching it twice every night this week, thanks to WCMU, who broadcast each episode twice. Think I might catch it the third time in this weekend's marathon rerun!

What more can I add? I would love to hear Garrison Keillor's voice as he would be the best narrator for our national treasures (of which he is one himself).

Indeed, our National Parks are a place of love, as one commentator said so movingly in the film.

The history of our National Parks has enriched my appreciation of great nature with humanity... Enough talking, let's go to our National Parks now.

If you can only see one National Park, make it The Grand Canyon. It really is another world. Then buy this 6 DVD set. This is documentary at it's finest. Ken Burns does this extremely well. It kept me enthralled through all 6 episodes. The cinematography is stunning. The history telling is inspiring and spiritual, yet accurate. I discovered some new heroes watching this. This mini-series embodies what democracy is all about. It started with the first National Park and it was an original American idea. That's right, we did it first. This is the kind of pride that shows in this production. This is an excellent addition to anyone's collection, for entertainment and value of American tradition to pass on to upcoming generations.

"The knapsack of custom falls off his back with the first step he makes into these precincts. Here is sanctity which shames our religions, and reality which discredits our heroes. Here we find nature to be the circumstance which dwarfs every other circumstance, and judges like a god all men that come to her."

-A quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson in the movie

While there is no comparison to actually being in nature, the ideas that are presented in this masterpiece of a documentary are so new and refreshingly different to the common non-nature-goer that it can't help but bring the viewer, thankfully, away from their usual rat race-like trance and rhythm to a realization of a greater good and majestic context of reality.

What a beautiful and powerful reminder of what belongs to all us and what all of us, in turn, belong to!

While not a travelogue, it nonetheless contains many stunningly beautiful images. And Buzz-kill from Atlanta, put away your thesaurus. We are not impressed. I guess all us hicks that didn't go to Harvard, (funny how everyone who went there or to Yale never fail to mention it within a couple of paragraphs as though that gives their opinions extra credibility), just don't know what to enjoy without being told. Fact is those of us who have visited several of our national treasures can appreciate them for what they are, just that, and glad that the people responsible had the foresight to set them aside before it was too late. As far as I'm concerned, this was a well made documentary and inspires me to visit some of the parks I never thought of prior to watching it. Maybe Buzz-kill should get outside more often.