Sam Neill (author of Men Who Run With the Dinosaurs--no, wait--I mean star of Jurassic Park) hosts this visually knock-your-SFX-socks-off impressive six-part BBC miniseries (originally called Space) that employs state-of-the-art computer graphics to summon up 3-D models of our solar system, the Milky Way galaxy, and cosmologic phenomena such as black holes, as it surveys the proverbial wonders of the universe. Reminding viewers that we are all--and I will quote verbatim the technical terminology used here--"star stuff," Hyperspace takes a 15 billion year stroll back to the time when the Big Bang created the initial "stellar nursery," where stars, planets, plants, animals, and--in a notable step backwards--Tom Green would eventually appear over eons. Combining outstanding eye candy and contemporary interviews with cosmologists, astronaut Storey Musgrave, and science fiction writer David Brin, the series offers less of an Astronomy 101 overview than highlights of the more sensational watch-the-skies subjects, such as the danger of asteroids and comets colliding with Earth (in one of the more turgid and self-evident lines of dialogue, Neill intones "so far, we have survived"), the awesome destructive power of black holes, the question of life elsewhere in the universe, the possibilities of setting up a colony on Mars, and the suggestion that we may one day be able to use "wormholes" to travel across great distances in space (a very controversial theory that leading edge thinkers such as Stephen Hawking consider all but physically impossible). Sporting the tagline "from the birth of our universe to the end of our world," Hyperspace's superb visuals help compensate for its comparatively hyperbole-heavy but science-lite approach. Recommended, especially as a complement to more in-depth if less flashy programs such as Stephen Hawking's Universe (VL Online-4/98). DVD extras include a nicely room-encompassing Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, a rather tedious text display of space facts, and an interesting 10-minute "making of" called "Behind the Graphics." Aud: J, H, C, P. (R. Pitman)
Hyperspace
(2001) 150 min. VHS: $14.95, DVD: $19.95. BBC Video (avail. from most distributors). Color cover. ISBN: 0-7907-6610-8 (dvd). Volume 17, Issue 4
Hyperspace
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: