– Customer review on 04/09/2008

I watched most of 'The Ascent of Man' when it was first broadcast in 1973 by the BBC in my student days. Of course that was in the days before VCRs etc if you missed a programme - you'd missed it, end of story. I think I missed 3 or 4 of the original series programmes. I was subsequently given the BBC book of the series which remains a special favourite.

To now be able to review the whole 13 part series on DVD is a joy. It's astonsihing how little (if at all) the series has dated. In fact I don't think it has dated at all. In that respect it's a little like Kenneth Clark's 'Civilisation' series, but in the latter whilst the subject matter will never date, Clark hinself seems (in a personal sense) to epitomise a bygone era of aristocratic Englishness.

Similarly, I recently viewed an old videotape of Carl Sagan's Cosmos series, but that seems very dated today. Very 70's: lots of 70's fashion and colours and whilst, again, the content is a pleasure, the presentation suffers from it's chronology. None of that applies to The Ascent to Man. Bronowski's delivery is always deliberate, measured, succinct, concise and at times witty, but each and every word has been carefully chosen and is presented with charismatic authority. Although the series is more about the development of science Bronowski covers SO much in terms of the arts as well as the sciences. A true renaiassance man. What a teacher he would have been.

There's little hype and hooplah to this production, but it's never anything but captivating. Do we really need the incessant music, the sound bites, and the 'snappy' cinematography that seems to be so much de rigeur in modern day 'documentaries'? I'd like to think that film schools and media studies courses would use 'The Ascent of Man' as a template or course study topic so that young film makers can learn their craft on a completely different level.

The $79.99 (free delivery from Fishpond) for this 13 x 45 minute programme series is unbelievably good value for money. It's well presented in a four disc box video collection and I can't imagine that anyone would ever regret owning it. A must for anyone of an enquiring mind.