The Slightly-Elongated Version: For those of you who can’t get enough of the wonderful world of combat, here’s an eight-part series that dives into the development and growth of the various kinds of weaponry that are used today. Each fifty-minute episode starts out with a look at early artillery and moves on up to our contemporary equipment: jet fighters, battle tanks, radar/stealth, nuclear bombs and subs, strategic bomber/ballistic missiles, aircraft carriers — it’s all here (complete with interviews from historians and specialists), housed on three-discs of full-frame fun. The set includes some text-only bios on several weapons creators.
· Genius of Britain: The Scientists Who Changed the World (2010)
The Short Version: No, it’s not the original title of the song by the Tom Tom Club.
The Slightly-Elongated Version: For those of you who refuse to believe Britain has actual smart people as opposed to a bunch of smart-asses, here’s proof. Made by British TV’s Channel 4, this five-part series begins with the “Big Five” (Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren, Edmund Halley and Isaac Newton), moves onto the likes of Charles Darwin and Albert Russell Wallace, and concludes with modern brainiacs like James Dyson, Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking. A special bonus here is a 90-minute feature entitled Stephen Hawking and the Theory of Everything, wherein the respected intellect shows us how he can hold his own even without the use of his arms.
OK, so I admit that that last joke was a cheap shot. But I needed some way of wrapping this article up, didn’t I?
Happy viewing, kids!
.jpg?t=20130517094513)
Article comments
1 - Greg Barbrick
Athena put out some truly quality DVDs - I was especially impressed by The Making of the President set.