Official Synopsis:
“Brilliantly narrated by film and television legend Sir Patrick Stewart, Journey to Space gives a stunning overview of humanity’s accomplishments in space, as well as our ongoing activities and future plans.
Journey to Space puts into historical context the magnificent contributions made by the Space Shuttle program and its intrepid space pioneers. It uses the most spectacular space footage – including unique views of Earth and operations in space – such as deploying and repairing the Hubble Space Telescope. It then goes on to show how the shuttle launched and assembled the International Space Station (ISS), building a foundation for the next giant leaps into space, including a fascinating, realistic scenario of how astronauts will actually get to Mars.”
With the focus of politicians being the budget of the country, we hear little about NASA’s plans to think on a larger, greater scale than our planet, plans that could potentially change the future of man-kind and the way we view ourselves among the cosmos.
Indeed, it is gratifying to hear in depth plans to go beyond our planet, and gives the dreamers out there hope that although the current focus of the country may be the latest Reality TV Star, or what went viral this week, there are those who genuinely envision a future for our race that takes place beyond this planet. This feeling humbles the most imaginative of us dreamers who long for a future beyond the stars.
This documentary goes in depth about NASA’s immediate and long-term plans, which is enthusiastically eye-opening. There was always a lot of press concerning the retiring of the Space Shuttle Program, but lacking were the plans for the future of space exploration, which is outlined beautifully here. Although relatively short, the focus of the documentary of humans in space really captures the drive and passion that we have to explore the unknown. Playing it safe and cost effective by sending robots and machines seems the popular theme these days, but the spirit of the narrator’s best known work shines through, as humans are driven to explore new worlds.
Although the major selling point of the documentary is the narration by Patrick Stewart, there honeslty isn’t much narration by him here. There are other experts who give the majority of the information. So, if you were really hoping to hear the sweet voice of Captain Picard lulling you to sleep, you may be disappointed with the amount of narration he has. Another thing I found disappointing was the run-time. At only 45 minutes, there doesn’t seem to be the content to warrant such a powerful package that includes 4K UHD and 3D blu-ray with Dolby Atmos ready. This may be a good show-piece to demonstrate the new fad that is 4k, but unlike previous documentaries such as Planet Earth during the initial release of blu-ray, there just isn’t the kind of content to have time to be wowed.
Video
This documentary is designed to impress with video and audio. The video is presented in 4k Ultra HD 1.78:1, and also includes 3D and 2D versions of the blu-ray at 1080p. Needless to say, the video is astonishing. The 3D aspect is impressive for the most part, but the majority of it is used almost as a gimmick of having a 3D view screen in front of you watching old clips. The only really impressive use for the 3D is to show some of the space photographs, which almost seems as though you were there looking at it with the naked eye.
Audio
The audio is presented in Dolby Atmos and DTS Master Audio. The score accompanies the documentary very well, and all levels sound good. The majority of the sound will be heard through the center channel, so if you are wanting to show off your new Dolby Atmos set-up, this probably isn’t the one to choose.
Special Features
There isn’t much for Special Features on this disc, but you are going to get:
Behind-The-Scenes Footage
4K Photo Gallery
4K Trailers
Overall, this is a technically superior disc with little content. Although this is a great documentary, it is short-lived, and I am not sure there is much re-watching value in it. With little choice in the infancy of 4k, this may satisfy those who want all the content they can get their hands on. At a steep $24.99 price tag, for me, the price doesn’t seem to reflect the content.
