If, like me, you're something of a SF movie buff, I recommend watching the first episode & then skipping through to find those of interest. Each episode concentrates on a theme or a person. H. G. Wells, Verne, & Harryhausen each have one. Robots, time travel, & other themes are also covered with short clips from the earliest movies into the 1990s.
After binge watching 16 of the 26 episodes, I'm pretty much done. While there is some good information & I found a few movies to watch, there's just too much repetition. Quite a few clips & their narration are used multiple times, often as fillers in topics where they're not a great fit. For instance, the same clip of "Colossus: The Forbin Project" is used in robots & mind control, but the latter dealt mostly with through PSI, critters, or drugs, & didn't make it clear that Colossus did it through coercion. Not a good fit. Worse, they missed some of the finest examples such as "The Power" (1968).
The subjects were interesting, but lacked depth. The episode on Ray Harryhausen, the preeminent special effects creator of the 50s & 60s didn't mention any of his awards or difficulties. His skeleton scene in "Jason & the Argonauts" (1963) often makes the '10 Best' lists & took months of 20+ hour days due to the limitations of the tech, especially the lighting. The actors had to exactly follow his direction without any props so their film could be blended with that of the skeletons. It was an incredible feat from all concerned.
Christopher Lee's narration role was pretty much limited to a canned introduction & wrap. It was ponderous, so I skipped it after viewing once. He did more narration in one episode that was pretty good (Ep 8?).
I've listed a lot of gripes, but I don't think my time was wasted. I picked up a few movies to watch & a few more to rewatch. While there weren't any great revelations, there was some food for thought & some wry humor. When introducing "Damnation Alley" they said, "Realizing what Hollywood would do to his novel, Zelazny just took the money & ran." Perfect! Jan Michael-Vincent was certainly no Hell Tanner.
After binge watching 16 of the 26 episodes, I'm pretty much done. While there is some good information & I found a few movies to watch, there's just too much repetition. Quite a few clips & their narration are used multiple times, often as fillers in topics where they're not a great fit. For instance, the same clip of "Colossus: The Forbin Project" is used in robots & mind control, but the latter dealt mostly with through PSI, critters, or drugs, & didn't make it clear that Colossus did it through coercion. Not a good fit. Worse, they missed some of the finest examples such as "The Power" (1968).
The subjects were interesting, but lacked depth. The episode on Ray Harryhausen, the preeminent special effects creator of the 50s & 60s didn't mention any of his awards or difficulties. His skeleton scene in "Jason & the Argonauts" (1963) often makes the '10 Best' lists & took months of 20+ hour days due to the limitations of the tech, especially the lighting. The actors had to exactly follow his direction without any props so their film could be blended with that of the skeletons. It was an incredible feat from all concerned.
Christopher Lee's narration role was pretty much limited to a canned introduction & wrap. It was ponderous, so I skipped it after viewing once. He did more narration in one episode that was pretty good (Ep 8?).
I've listed a lot of gripes, but I don't think my time was wasted. I picked up a few movies to watch & a few more to rewatch. While there weren't any great revelations, there was some food for thought & some wry humor. When introducing "Damnation Alley" they said, "Realizing what Hollywood would do to his novel, Zelazny just took the money & ran." Perfect! Jan Michael-Vincent was certainly no Hell Tanner.