Journey to the Edge of the Universe (2008 TV Movie) User Reviews

Amazing and Visual

[graemefishwick · 9/10 · 23 January 2019]

If you get the chance of the two versions (Sean Pertwee or Alec Baldwin) then I'd recommend the Sean Pertwee version. His voice is so 'dreamlike' and soothing which is ideal for a journey to the edge of the universe.

The visuals are top notch and the actual journey is a must for anyone who wants to learn about our solar system and beyond.

I've seen this documentary on numerous occasions and it never gets old.

It just goes to show how our tiny little planet called Earth is a minuscule grain of sand on a very, very, very large beach.

Highly recommended.

Not only imparts knowledge but is visually stunning too!

[MuviFan73 · 9/10 · 17 February 2019]

The documentary gives an account of celestial bodies and what space encompasses as we move away from our planet 'The mother Earth'.

The entities described are Moon, Venus, Mercury, Sun, Comet, Mars, Asteroid belt, Jupiter (its satellite Europa), Saturn (its rings, its satellite Titan), Uranus, Neptune (its satellite Triton), Pluto, etc from solar system.

The entities from interstellar space include Alpha Centauri, Epsilon Eridani (10 Light Years), Gliese 581 (20 Light Years), Algol (100 Light Years), Pleiades (Seven Sisters, 450 Light Years), Betelgeuse (Biggest brightest star discovered till date, 650 Light Years), Orions dark cloud (1300 Light Years),

The other elements covered are Star Birth, Nebulae, Star Death, Nova, Dwarves, Giants, Pulsar's, Super Nova, Black Hole, Hyper nova, Magellanic Cloud, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Quasar and finally Big Bang.

Final Verdict: An artistic representation of observable Universe in terms of description. To follow a cinematic jewel as well. A must watch.

Thanking

[htetsithust-39029 · 9/10 · 14 October 2020]

Thanks slot for the journey. It was a the best journey I have ever been.

The most awe inspiring documentary of it's kind .... ever!

[heavenlymedia · 10/10 · 14 April 2009]

Anyone who watches this documentary and does not walk away feeling absolutely humbled or at the very least - completely blown away needs to re-evaluate their mind. This is just such a piece of work. I have seen countless documentaries on astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology etc. but nothing has even come close to delivering the idea that we live in a most amazing universe like this movie does. It also does so in a most unpatronising way - treating the viewer with mucho intelligence. Hey - this is not a review - just a comment that I had to make after watching this. I will look forward to watching this again and again. One should never tire of experiencing anything like this. Watch it - experience it - enjoy it and most of all - learn from it!! - J.R. Ortiz, England

A Mind-Blowing, Soul-Expanding Trip Through the Known and Unknown

[jjjppplll · 10/10 · 27 May 2009]

My wife and I watched this astounding documentary last night. We both sat there with our mouths literally agape as this astonishing film pulled us into a journey from earth, through our solar system, our Galaxy, galaxies beyond our own, and all the way back to the beginning of time. As another reviewer commented, the tone is not from the point of view of "I'm a brilliant scientist and I know a lot more than you." You are guided along instead as if you were a tourist on a tour bus through the heavens. Before the film was over, I had achieved an epiphany. This to me was more than a film...it changed my life. It is beautiful, poetical, and it will shock you with its unadorned majesty.

Excellent all the way through!

[riedud · 10/10 · 24 May 2010]

Walking into this title I was uncertain due to it's completely CGI approach to rendering the various celestial bodies that inhabit our universe. What I found was the animation and story telling absolutely wonderful. Alec Baldwin was good here with his subtle low voice adding a perfect match as we travel through the heavens.

Bearing in mind I have my own views and ideas on origins, this film was still hands down an excellent production. The detailed descriptions of the various planets, stars, nebula, and black holes were all there. The best part about it is that they took you to those places-close up, in the comfort of your living room.

I'm a big fan of shows like "The Universe" and other various science documentaries and I found this to be top notch. Sit back, grab a snack and a cold one and enjoy this fine flick. 5 out of 5 stars and an IMDb 10.

Way above Hubble 3D

[oragex · 10/10 · 18 June 2014]

If you've seen Hubble 3D, you might think that it's the ultimate space documentary, that nothing can be better. Well, that's wrong. Because "Journey to the Edge of the Universe" is two times more interesting than Hubble 3D.

This documentary is the most detailed and complete documentary about the Universe, it's starts, planets and galaxies. The detail is amazing. The images are on pair with the Hubble 3D imagery.

This documentary treats about the Universe, from it's tiniest component to it's largest. It's made for the general public in an amazingly clear, easy to understand and riveting approach. Congrats to the Canadian producing company Handel Productions for such perfect achievement.

One word. WOW!

[dezarnj · 10/10 · 14 April 2011]

First of all, I could watch this over and over. There is so much information that you cannot fully comprehend after viewing once. I have seen this DOC several times and each time I retain more and more information. Like otther reviews before me this DOC at the very least humbles you and leaves you with you jaw wide open. Personally, I am a huge Alec Baldwin fan and his voice is perfect, not only for this DOC, but just in general. Him Narratting is what initially sucked me in and kept me from changing the channel. On a personal note I am a believer of GOD and believer that he created all of what we see on in this DOC. Many people will argue that this DOC raises questions about a single creator but for me this helps to confirm it. It makes me realize that all of what was created had to be created for a reason. Everything happened too perfectly for this just to be some random coincidence with no purpose. Of course this is my opinion and we are all free to have our own. Jordan from KY,USA.

P.S. Alec Baldwin is the man.

Factually deficient space "docudrama"

[jjoseph202 · 22 April 2011]

It's so hard to find the words to express my extreme disappointment in this "docudrama". I call it that because the scriptwriter found it necessary to add "drama" to facts in order make it seem more interesting.

If you're going to take me through the universe, give me the DATA, not how I'm supposed to "feel" about it.

I often got the impression when watching this film that someone said, "Hey, Carl Sagan died in 1996 without an update to 'Cosmos', so let's make a Cosmos 'wow-alike' without a narrator that knows something about the subject matter." They even stole Sagan's "we are star-stuff" line.

Oh yeah, spoiler.

When you get to the edge of the universe, you'll witness the Big Bang.

Scientifically ludicrous.

The writer(s) obviously had space and time confused.

Don't watch this with the idea that you'll learn anything.

Instead, imagine that the 2001: Space Odyssey stargate sequence was (over)done with modern CGI and some Hubble-type imagery.

In the 70's people used to go to 2001 just to be stoned and watch the sequence. That's about what this film is good for.

The script even has the kind of vacuous insights that stoners get and think they're being profound.

Pompous.

I guess that's why they picked Alec Baldwin to narrate.

Best Doc about the universe

[fajarsantoso · 10/10 · 15 February 2021]

This is by far the best documentary about the universe ever made. Why? Because it takes you on a visual journey through the universe without, as most documentaries about the universe do, interviewing experts and PhD holders.

IMDB has been trying to get me to write a review for half a decade...

[shahjrahman · 10/10 · 16 August 2018]

...And finally I've come to the very first thing from my list of thousands of titles seen that's worth me spending time to write about.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen other wonderful documentaries, movies, serials etc., but here we have a documentary on a topic that fascinates me more than anything. So, while I apologies for my bias, I suspect it is bias which has played a major role on this title not receiving 10/10 all across the board. To me this documentary-movie is the greatest piece of art in television history because it visualises the absolute boundaries of the human knowledge. To take the viewer through a 'zoom-out style' journey is brilliant in its own right, but to achieve subtly highlighting just how small we are is another major plus. It's been 10 years (at the time of my review), I have watched it countless times, and the narration throughout has informed me loud and clear that we are probably just scratching the surface.

Dear NatGeo, please tell me more.

The universe is pure wonderment! This script is threadbare and mundane.

[Penwords · 5/10 · 31 January 2010]

The NASA visuals are superb. The explanation of what we are seeing is factually patchy. Superlatives excite but they seldom enlighten. It would have been far more interesting and informative if the repetitious space travel shots were reduced or voice-over used to let us know more details rather than irrelevant "whishing" sounds as we are zapped across the universe. Amazing cosmic events are named, but not explained. For instance: what happens when a galaxy is "pulled apart" and what happens on a moon that is caught in a tug-of-war? We saw the solar wind and its effect on a comet, but that was the extent of narration regarding it. In terms of providing understanding, the script sucked.

Mind blowing Amazing!

[williamclose · 10/10 · 30 January 2021]

If you are a friend of space documentary this is it what you were looking for, planets, comets,dark space,supernova,black holes, pulsar, empty space everything is beautifully created here, the cgi is really immersive along with Alec Baldwin voice and sounds used.

A journey in a glowing universe

[soger · 5/10 · 15 September 2009]

Well... it was definitely interesting, although it doesn't really says anything new to me. Maybe I've watched too many documentaries already. The other comments about this movie emphasize that this is not a documentary that presents the knowledge of a brilliant scientist but more like a tour and in their opinion it is a good thing. I have to disagree. I think if someone takes the time to watch a 90 minutes documentary about the universe then he/she really wants to learn about the universe but instead you will see a lot of animations (by the way some of them are speculative like the big bang and some of them are plain dumb like the "high speed travel") and images taken by high resolution telescopes, which are indeed beautiful but it's just not enough. For example I think one of everyone's favorite topics are the black holes. The movie gives only a shallow description of them, no explanations just a few images. And what makes it even worse is that the movie says that in a black hole the laws of physics breaks down (I watched it in Hungarian translation so it might not say exactly like this in the original language) but that's completely wrong! It breaks down the laws of Newtonian physics that's for sure and even quantum mechanics but that doesn't mean that a black hole is not governed by the laws of physics, we just don't understand that physics yet.

Anyway, if you are satisfied with Hubble Space Telescope images then watch this movie but if you want to really learn you should check out the TTC video called "An Introduction to Astronomy", it is a 50 hours course where Professor Alex Filippenko explains to you everything you ever wanted to know about astronomy and cosmology.

Good & great, but outdated nowadays

[tridad-58367 · 5/10 · 9 March 2018]

This was a good, one of a kind documentary movie touring to the edge of the Universe. The graphics and visuals were high quality, though a bit cheesy especially for how bright the milky way looked from our Solar System. The planets are crisp and clear and the exoplanets are good impressions of what they might look like up close. It has stunning visuals and a story which teaches you whether we're alone or not. It also teaches us that we live in the best known spot. The soundtrack especially is amazing, it reminded me of Avatar, and this and that were made in almost the same date, so I see the connection. I even get the genre. And speaking of soundtracks, when I saw this, I wondered if James Horner (who died in a plane crash in 2015) composed this score, but I found that disputed. Alpha Centauri was also shown in this, but there could've been a potential to have Polyphemus & Pandora on it(though unfortunately this was made a tad too early). And now that Proxima Centauri b was discovered, this show needs a major update, plus the MESSENGER spacecraft and Cassini are over with, so... They added a bunch of events to entertain us and make it remarkable. The depth of this show makes us wonder how far can we look and the graphics make us think how could they make such a thing like that. Of course the black holes could use improvement, now that Interstellar showed us what a black hole really looks like up close. We got to see impressions of what the big bang theory was like, though I've seen many different impressions. Alec Baldwin was the perfect narrator for this movie, he does the U.S. version (this), whereas Sean Pertwee does the U.K. version (which I'm not from). If there were an updated version at 60 or 120 FPS, then it would be a top notch masterpiece and would be a classic movie. It gave us new perspectives of our known universe and depths that even telescopes could not achieve. It gives us ideas about our future. One day, we will all die, the world will end, and we'll be in our Sun's menu. But like Alec Baldwin said, we should rejoice and realize how important our matter is in the universe and how it's within us.

Astronomical mystery movie trailer

[dmitriych · 4/10 · 10 December 2009]

I love documentaries. They are a great way to learn because a picture is like a thousand words. Now with advancements in computer animation things can be presented that no one could possibly videotape. For astronomy, it's a great benefit as lots of things are just photos or theories. Lately, a few National Geographic/BBC type astronomy documentaries have come out that are full of visual effects. This one stands out as clearly overdone. It looks like a trailer of space photos and animations designed to dazzle more than teach. But the most annoying thing about this film is the narrator's voice. Sean Pertwee sounds like he's inserting "Oh, my God!" between every other word. I'm not saying he should sound like a robot, but he's clearly over-excited, anticipating where he should just be narrating in a normal tone. Come to think of it, practically all mystery/horror movie trailers use this tone of voice.

Propaganda, Entertainment... Not (REAL) Science!

[frdom-47288 · 1/10 · 15 April 2018]

This was more drama and Fear based Programming (Propaganda) than it was a documentary of Science. You may like it, depending on your previous conditioning.

Drivel

[gpeltz · 2/10 · 21 March 2015]

Journey to the Edge of the Universe (2008) Written by Nigel Henbest and Billie Pink, Directed by Yavar Abbas and narrated by Alec Baldwin. Well, that was two hours wasted,

Spoiler ahead, although it is hard to imagine that anything could "spoil" this documentary any further. Inane commentary tries to create awe and a sense of adventure, and fails miserably. How many, "She is beautiful to look at, but is a monster" can we take? There are far too many here.

Journey to the Edge of the Universe indeed. Guess what folks, there is no edge of the Universe. I was never a believer in the Big Bang theory either, now there seem to be others who opt for an alternative. There were some breathtaking images courtesy of Hubble, but nothing one hasn't seen before if you have been anywhere near a computer. Hard to picture the target audience for this one; Nine to twelve year old astronomy buffs perhaps, but they would get bored with it too. Two stars out of Ten for the computer animation.

Poor production value, a great expanse between tidbits of information

[jreafilms · 1/10 · 1 February 2010]

If you have any knowledge of production or editing, or a passion for storytelling in general, here's the first thing that comes to your mind upon watching "Journey to the Edge of the Universe":

"Okay, we hired Alec Baldwin for 15 minutes, and we have to make an hour-long program...how many meaningless and poorly-executed warps through space can we cram into this baby??"

The lazy, simplistic, and cheap visuals aside, there's not many shows quite so boring as this one. Watching the show for ten minutes yields one or two facts about the universe, which you'll hear over and over again before the program concludes. My mates and I found ourselves laughing hysterically at the number of times the camera "traveled" through "space"; by the end, it was inappropriately out of hand.

Don't waste your time with this one, there's plenty of great productions out there that will truly expand your outlook on the universe and life itself.

lacking in some details.. Could have been done as a series

[lmwangi · 4/10 · 17 November 2009]

The concept is superb! This documentary had so much potential but in my humble opinion, it's marred by gooey graphics (too much, repeated and they loved their asteroids), the script missing in details/facts. For example

• Calling another star system doesn't sit well with me.

• Having an asteroid falling down a black hole (Into the event horizon..) is probably wrong. Unless the black hole is really huge

• An animation showing Io being flexed by Jupiter's gravity would have been nice

• Having a warp meter at the bottom of the screen would have been fantastic, adding a small projection of the path being traveled over the solar system/galaxy would have been nice.

• About the voyager "If you are in the jungle, is it wise to call out..", is plain wrong. A civilization finding the voyager will probably have located us using the radio spectrum. After the 70th minute, i stopped watching. I would have loved it my teens..

spoken too softly with too loud background music

[clayton19361 · 3/10 · 14 April 2011]

The orator sounds as if he is whispering and the background music drowns him out. I would love to have this fabulous DVD but I can only understand about one third of the verbal which is really sad. Please let me know when this gets resolved and I'll buy two DVDs. One for myself and one for my grandkids. Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. An avid fan of the History channel. I hope this comment will encourage the History channel to consider making changes to the programming of shows such as this as I am sure it will help to bring the purchases of these DVDs higher than now. Very truly yours, Ron

Horrible message

[ahighervibe · 1/10 · 1 March 2013]

Whomever wrote the script for Alec Baldwin to read, should be fired. What a bunch of negative propaganda. However, the graphics were really good - but I'd rather see the Universe video that they have at the Science Museum. Much better and not so dooms- day type of feel. I was surprised that National Geographic would put their name to something like this. Very disappointed, but it would make for a good Mystery Science Theater movie... Also, the soundtrack was pretty good also. Main dispute was the message. Whomever wrote the script for Alec Baldwin to read, should be fired. What a bunch of negative propaganda. However, the graphics were really good - but I'd rather see the Universe video that they have at the Science Museum. Much better and not so dooms- day type of feel. I was surprised that National Geographic would put their name to something like this. Very disappointed, but it would make for a good Mystery Science Theater movie... Also, the soundtrack was pretty good also. Main dispute was the message.

Turn the sound off

[hist-36123 · 5/10 · 5 December 2022]

Beautiful animation. Stunning scenery. Dramatic imagery.

But.

Script apparently written collaboratively by a third grade class. While enjoying the dazzling images, ask yourself if you're really learning anything new. You'll be getting some exercise from all the shoulder shrugging.

This leads to the question of the exact purpose of the film. It's not educational. It doesn't educate. The narration drones on in an effort to create drama, but it doesn't actually say anything.

Or leave the sound on and play a game. Try to complete any sentence broken by a pregnant pause. It's not very hard.

Best used as a silent ambience video.