2000: Amazing Moments in Time

Let's face it, any video which purports to take us from the beginning of time to the dawn of the 21st century in 90 minutes has its work cut out. By my calculations, one must cover around 144 million years of history per minute, which doesn't allow the viewer much time for bathroom visits or beer from the fridge. Ultimately, the scope and breadth prove too much even for the venerated National Geographic to handle. Narrated by John Lithgow, this program races across biggish issues like "perceptions of time," "dinosaurs," "birth and death," "origins of the universe," "new worlds to explore," "natural disasters," "extinction" and "the interdependence of all things" (take a deep breath), but mysteriously comes to a dead standstill for ponderous discussions of things like how sharks hunt seals (one suspects that the licensing department probably could get this stuff "cheap"). While the press release states that "from its renowned archives, National Geographic has excavated incredible images of some of the most extraordinary people, animals and discoveries of all time," the closing credits read like a who's who of stock footage libraries and suppliers, meaning NGS also bought lots of footage from outside its own archives to illustrate this program. Likely to disappoint viewers with its glaring omissions while exhausting them with its pace, this glued together, disparate pastiche was no doubt meant as a grand PR piece to celebrate NGS cinema. Unfortunately, it's one of the least coherent tapes in an otherwise spectacular collection. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: J, H, C, P. (R. Ray)