Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking

The narrator of this series is Stephen Hawking, one of the leading scientific minds of the day, whose voice morphs back and forth between his familiar computer-generated sound and the voice of an actor speaking the lines. For me, perhaps the most memorable highlight was the introduction to each of the three episodes on the disc. As he sits crumpled in his wheelchair, Hawking's computer voice says "Hello. My name is Stephen Hawking, physicist, cosmologist and something of a dreamer. Although I cannot move, and have to speak through a computer, in my mind I am free..." When any member of my family wandered innocently through the living room, I had them listen to the introduction.Produced by Discovery Channel, the video quality of the Blu-ray is wonderful, with computer graphics that look like photographs from the Hubble telescope except that they are in motion. The three episodes are: "Aliens" and "Time Travel" which are about 50 minutes each; and "The Story of Everything" which runs almost 90 minutes. Aliens consists of conjecture about the likely existence of extraterrestrial life and what possible forms such life might take. Time Travel discusses "worm holes" and orbiting a large mass such as a black hole as possible ways to travel in time. Ultimately these are dismissed as unlikely, and Einstein's theory of time slowing down as one approaches the speed of light is deemed to be the best hope for time travel.The Story of Everything is the real mother lode of information, and perhaps was saved for last in order to prepare the audience by starting with the shorter episodes and the trendier topics. It is the story of the universe, how it began, how it developed into what we see today, and what fate is thought to lie in store for it. The narration is remarkable, threading a fine line between cutting-edge physics and cosmology on the one hand, and providing information in a manner that is palatable and understandable to the intelligent layman on the other.Watch and listen, and have unimaginable vistas open up before you. Steven Hawking cannot move, but he will move you.

I'm fascinated by our Universe and all the wonders contained in it, so this disc is a must-have for me. The fact that it is (partially) narrated by one of greatest minds of all times, Mr. Hawking is a pure bonus! When I say partially, (SPOILER!) I mean that Mr. Hawking starts talking and then another narrator takes over, usually mid-sentence. I guess producers thought that his somewhat robotic voice will annoy people. I myself don't care, I wouldn't mind listening to him but either way works.This disc is full of interesting things and is very well presented. Material is fairly new, with some newer theories understandably absent but still since most of them are still being developed I don't mind that either. While I try to follow new discoveries regularly even I found some info quite new to me, so I'm even more happy now for buying this item.Graphics is amazing - you simply MUST watch this on a FullHD TV 40" or bigger! Not all animations are state-of-the-art but they're pretty well done and easy to understand.In conclusion, I do recommend this inexpensive item to everyone who likes to explore mysteries of the Universe. I find it well done and quite educational, with abundance of useful information that will blow your mind - at least until new theories replace ones contained herein! :)And Mr. Hawking, while in a poor state of health, proves that he's still one of greatest minds of all times and I wish him well and send my greatest thanks for his efforts to share his wonderful mind with us!

I actually purchased this video to get free shipping. I -LOVE- space/universe shows, and I figured that this would be an interesting choice, seeing as how I always liked Stephen Hawking. IT WAS AWESOME! The way they shift from Stephen in real life to what is portrayed as the voice in his mind is very clever and feels like he is truly speaking. He then goes on to explain very complex thoughts into very understandable terms that non-scientists can understand. I am no scientist, but I was able to comprehend and fully undestand what Stephen was talking about. The time-travel episode was my favorite, and to hear what he says on the subject was fascinating! This whole DVD was very intriguing and a well thought out format.Bottom Line: If you like space/universe shows, and want to feel as if one of the leading minds in Science is teaching you about it directly, give this DVD a shot! For the price, you cannot go wrong!

This series is full of all kinds of really cool stuff. Some might say it's useless but...so is "lil wayne." And if I have to fill my time with useless things, this is definietly my prefered way of going about it. Great graphics, very in depth and thought provoking. Love it. In fact I think I'm going to watch now. Watched several times and never get tired of it. It's been said that Stephen hawking isn't one of the top rated physicist amongst his colleagues. But given his way of describing things and his disabilities that do not seem to hold him back much, I'd say he's very important in his field. He brings theoretical astrophysics into a manner in which anyone can understand (even if it's difficult to comprehend sometimes). But it's like Einstein said, if you can't explain a theory to a child, the theory is probably useless.