Regular Price $24.95

Starring: Kent Vliet,  Jacques-Yves Cousteau,  Dian Fossey,  Birute Galdikas,  Richard Kiley, 
Directed By:
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Release Date: 1995-01-25
Studio: National Geographic Society
Format: Closed-captioned,  Color,  DVD-Video,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about 30 Years of National Geographic Specials

Description
Relive the most spellbinding scenes from our television documentaries of exploration and delivery. Year: 1994

Amazon.com
Mystery, danger, splendor, adventure. Since 1964, National Geographic has been broadcasting television specials that created and, many would argue, still maintain the standard for all nature programming since. Vigilantly focusing on what came before human beings, this special is a grand slam of 30 years (1964-1994) of painstaking exploration and documentation. Its narrative sounds almost biblical: "In the beginning..." there was molten lava. The footage is, as you would expect, dazzling but it is the agile editing and well-crafted storytelling here that makes this video into a poignant success.

Moving from the creation of earth to its inhabitants, the narrative segues to the single law of survival. In the Living Sands of Namib (1978), a spider escapes a predator by cartwheeling down a dune. There are clips of Costa Rican lizards sprinting on water, a woodpecker outsmarting a corn snake, and an Indian tiger begrudgingly retrieving his deer-carcass supper from a thieving crocodile. Procreation is, undoubtedly, the more lighthearted side of survival. Three black beetles are in pursuit of a female running in the sand with a musical score so perfectly selected, it is as if the they are engaged in a well-choreographed dance. The synchronized swimming of mating squids in Jewels of the Caribbean (1994) is more graceful than Twyla Thwarp.

After an introduction to the habitat and behavior of so many creatures, the video turns the spotlight on the tool user, fire tamer, language maker: humankind. Americans on Everest (1964), Dr. Leakey and the Dawn of Man (1966), The World of Jacques Yves Cousteau (1966), In the Shadow of Vesuvius (1987), Australia's Twilight of the Dreamtime (1988), and Jane Goodall: My Life with the Chimpanzees (1990) are classic examples of National Geographic at its best. There are also fascinating clips from early Geographic projects, including the 1917 Katmai expedition.

Well beyond serving as a self-congratulatory slap on the back for work well done, this special has an important message: the animals and natural phenoms we fear the most are those we know the least about. Contrary to popular belief, humans are the largest single threat to all life on earth. By bringing fragile ecosystems into our living rooms, National Geographic hopes to instill conservation ethics in each viewer. --Cristina Del Sesto

Customer Reviews for 30 Years of National Geographic Specials

Nature as it should be presented, in the natural form right up to the bloody death of food
When I was in high school, watching National Geographic specials on television was a requirement in science classes. At times, we were shown the older ones on film. This tape is a brief synopsis of many of the specials, starting out with a title image and then showing a few minutes of the original.
This is nature programming at its most raw and best. In general, the specials are not for children, the one depicting lions shows them taking down, killing and consuming their prey. However, they are as educational as film can ever be because after a certain age, nature should not be sugar-coated. It must be presented in the natural form, complete with the birth, growls, snarls and the blood of a violent death.

30 Years of National Geographic Specials

Good but dated
This is pleasant National Geographic video. It covers a lot without going into any real detail. It is worth viewing but already seems a little old fashioned.30 Years of National Geographic Specials

Not viewable
This is the first time I am trying Unbox Video. It did not work. The Video Player kept crashing. I have a Pentium M Machine with 1 GB and running Windows XP Media Center Edition with SP2. Very dissapointing.30 Years of National Geographic Specials

Nice Appetizer
For a family living overseas without access to National Geographic broadcasts, this DVD was a nice introduction to the variety and beauty of the the specials. And it left us and our kids hungry for me. The downside, is that there the selections are very brief and we think we will find the full length DVDs and videos much more satisfying.30 Years of National Geographic Specials

Nothing new, but it doesn't matter
With 30 years of some of the best documentaries around to choose material from, it scarcely matters that there is no new footage. The narration seamlessly bridges the gaps between the various shorts from National Geographic specials of the past. I wasn't sure what to expect, since it is essentially teasers of other films, but this is a great film in its own right.

We got the film for our little boys, and they've loved it from day one. My older son is learning a lot about the differing relationships of the natural world, and the broad expanse of this film is perfect for him. It never gets bogged down in the mundane, but it also panders to a long attention span. This is a big difference from the National Geographic videos intended specifically for kids. They tend to be the same basic idea...cut footage from older films, but cut so that there is no footage of animals eating each other, no mating, and it is interspersed with unneccesary music videos and cutesy animation. Even with Dudley Moore's narration, it can't compete. Skip the kid stuff and give your kids the real thing.30 Years of National Geographic Specials