The Planets

This BBC series released in 1999 is an excellent source of information on our solar system. We are fortunate to be living at a time when so much is being revealed about our neighboring worlds.

But as more information comes in at an ever-increasing rate, it is always a matter of a 'snapshot' of what was known at the time the series was produced. 1999 now seems like such a long time ago.

The Mars-rovers were still in the works, as was Cassini-Huygens, and thus there is no material from those missions.

And while many of the first-person interviews are interesting, I have a bit of an issue with wasting screen-time on a talking-head astronomer/planetary scientist gushing how "I was the first person to see (X or Y or Z), and that made me feel so special." I did not purchase this DVD set in order to hear someone stroke their own ego.

And why was it felt necessary to re-dub the narration from a British male to an American female (who sounds just like NBC's Anne Curry)?

I consider education to be best in a video format rather than a textual format. This series of documentaries are jewels in educating us about the solar system. I also developed a great deal of respect and admiration for the scientists who worked so hard to show us where the place of earth is in the universe.These documentaries should be definitely shown to all children in schools. This documentary really made me wonder about the place of mankind in the universe. The narration was nice. The visuals were also amazing. It also cleared many of my doubts about how the other planets in our solar system were. I hope there are more documentaries of this type in the future about the future findings.This documentary is a must see. I recommend it to all who have a passion for space exploration.

Another reviewer title their review: This needs a 20yr follow up series.

A few months later the BBC delivered on that request. I bet the reviewer has a new sense of empowerment.

This series is awesome, and also a little melancholy. In episode 1 they make PLUTO the focus of the story. How were they to know the Pluto-intolerance the science community would engage in just a few years after they made this series. Life is funny, in a dark and sad way. But this series is inspirational and uplifting in many other ways.

As far as the 2019 series of the same name from the same organization, I highly recommend that one as well.

I first saw The Planets On the ABC.It ran for 8 weeks on each sunday and i watched it and watched, to cut a long story short i gratefully now own it on DVD. With 8 episodes [ 1.Different Worlds. 2.Terra Firma. 3.The Giants. 4.The Moon. 5.Star. 6.Atmosphere. 7. Life. 8.Destiny.] and footage of the scientists and engineers talking about the events they were apart of at the time,This Documentary produced by the BBC is an eye opener.

This is a more than an "Old Documentary". This was a monumental look into the universe in 1999. We haven't seen something on this scale since the Cosmos series was released back in 1980. The series takes you further and further from Earth. It's an educational experience for anyone who's never really considered what lies outside the Earths' atmosphere. This goes beyond any definition you'll find in any book. You have a front row seat to how and what we knew in 1999.

I have to disagree with those who say its outdated. I think it's more important to leave it untouched, a time capsule of sorts, preserved as a bookmark in time. It chronicles the technology we had up to 1999. Sure a lot has changed since then but how else can new generations have any understanding of how limited our knowledge of the universe really was in 1999.

If i had to point out something negative it would have to be the narration. The version i remember had an America voice resembling Mike Rowe. All i can find is the narration Sam West did.