Alien Planet

...just don't live in it. Yet?

The film may not be for self-proclaimed serious scientists....or for "serious creationists"...but for curious six year olds this was more than watchable and raised interesting questions in the xenobiological realm. So for me, as their Dad it was a success.

But even for all those serious science fans, with the commentary of Hawking, Kaku, Venter...what is the quibble about? Admittedly we are talking about something that if it happens will happen well after my children's children are dead, but trying to estimate what might be still is fun, and ideally incentive enough to continue to search the stars. Kaku works in a message of how rare and treasured life should be, even here on our own planet. Have any of the participating scientists rebuked this film?

As for all the "serious creationists", I still think this movie is more captivating than a discussion of how many angels could dance on the head of a pinhead.

The probes, with their wide eyes and narrow dots inside, gave a nice illusion of shock as each new creature was unfurled. The DVD came packaged for the sake of TV with commercial inserts, and sneak previews for something coming in the next three seconds. I found that a bit annoying.

Anyways, I can see some of the criticism, overly sleek animation leaves the creatures devoid of texture...more insight into the animals behavior (eating, socialization)...but I think this was mostly a chance to introduce the basic concept of life on another planet (hence disappointing to the two groups above) and a chance to display Wayne Douglas Barlowe's artwork...with whom I was regrettably unfamiliar, so I'll look forward to sharing some of his library books with the boys.

Not sure if he has done illustrations for the Book of Revelation, but that might appeal to some.

Yours for heresy and fantasy,

Thurston Hunger

7/10

I just love this program and watch it quite a bit. Not only is it full of very imaginative creatures, but it does so logically. The makers realize that a biosphere of a planet must follow the rules of evolutionary descent and unity of common body plans. Things like bipedalism, bioluminescence and facial shape are kept consistent through all of Darwin IV's creatures. Their oddly shaped "eyes" are really creepy looking, kinda looks like the thing that Alec Baldwin turned himself into in BEETLEJUICE. Some of the creatures are bordering on the far-fetched, but they're so well-conceived and fun, who cares. My only criticism would be the name Darwin IV. It just seemed a little too obvious.

When I first watched this years ago, it definitely caught my attention. I know it was fake and meant to be strictly entertainment, but it still holds up after 20 years because it went hard on the so called "scientific realism."

I won't be alive when the day we explore other planets becomes a reality, but I at least have some fun media to look at and imagine what it might be like. In all honesty, this would still make a great movie, maybe with some better creature designs and more realistic backgrounds. Of course, no one would spend that kind of money on that type of project.

I will say this, it was a lot of fun. The speculative science of the film shows the reality of how difficult space exploration would be. The pitfalls and challenges prove it will take decades to really make this all possible.

Ordinarily, I hate documentaries. And I mean *hate*. So why is it that I love "Alien Planet"?

Simple. Using cutting-edge animation technology and fascinating (not mind-bogglingly boring), jargon-filled interviews with experts in various fields, the makers of this real winner have successfully created an interesting testament to the fact that mankind is not even a drop in the bucket, cosmically speaking. This fantastically done doc almost plays out like a motion picture as it interweaves the documentary with pieces of interstellar adventure and drama. Particularly interesting is the segment featuring an alien life form called a "groveback."

Take it from someone who is usually bored stiff by documentaries-- one look at this astounding, mind blowing extravaganza, and you want more. Immediately.

The documentary is based off of a novel called expedition and two probes from earth are sent by the von Braun to search for alien life. Alien planet is a really good documentary in my opinion and I'm sure others as well. The two probes also come equipped with mini probes like the spider probe witch can crawl into spots too small or dangerous for the two probes as well as speedy disk like probes that can fly and are called camera disks, the probes also come equipped with water ballon like that monitor the weather. The creatures too are quite fascinating like the daggerest witch lives on trees and hunt for their prey the trunk sucker witch is cool in my opinion, the daggerest uses its claws to pin its prey down in witch it falls to ground and the daggerest comes down and uses a third claw attached to it's chest in witch it sucks up all the tree sap that the trunk sucker sucked up earlier on the tree, ones the daggerest sucks up all the tree sap from the trunk sucker it then leaves to find new prey in the tree tops leaving it's prey dead on the floor. Another interesting creature is the gyro sprinter a fast two legged animal that runs from predators like the arrow tongue at Rex sized carnivore. Over and all the documentary is a really good impression of the book people who read the book first will probably be amazed seeing the creatures moving. I my self give it a good rating of 8 and I highly suggest you check it out.