My latest DVD order

[Keith Heitmann]

I just went ahead and ordered some new DVDs from Amazon:

Empires-Roman Empire in the First Century
A documentary about the Roman Empire in the first century A.D. (or CE "current era"). I had the first part on tape, but went on vacation and the VCR programming was off and I missed the second part. I've been meaning to get this on DVD for several years now.

The Spartans
Another documentary that recently aired on PBS last fall. I recorded it on tape back then but with the nature of video tape I decided to play it safe and get the DVD as well. The program is a detailed look at life as a Spartan. Excellent.

300 Spartans
This movie first released in 1962, is the Hollywood-ized version of the battle at Thermopylae where the Greeks faced off the Persian Empire. I saw this movie way back then, but have not seen it since. I'm glad to see that it's now back in circulation on DVD. It's a "B" movie epic, not on the same level as Gladiator, Ben-Hur, etc, but still a very entertaining film.

Chased by Dinosaurs
This is a newer documentary using digital animation than the Walking with Dinosaurs series, and it's reportedly nearly as good in those terms. I have Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Dinosaurs Special: Allosauris, and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts and enjoyed them all. I passed on Walking with Cavemen as I heard it wasn't quite as good as the previous releases.

[PUFF88]

300 spartans is one i been meaning to see, i read a book about the battle, although it was partly fiction in regards to the names and lives of the spartans who fought there.


and is the spartan documentary the same 2 hour episode that the history channel shows? if it is, then it is a excellent choice , as that one is very very interesting. the author of the book i read is interviewed in it. Steven Pressfield. I have his second book on the spartans but not read it yet.

[Keith Heitmann]

The 300 Spartans is a 60's classic, but it's not Spartacus in terms of overall quality. It appeared on DVD some years back and became hard to get once I started buying them all I could find were used copies or some idiots trying to make a fortune on bootlegs. It's finally been re-released on DVD so I'm getting a copy this time around. Probably the only actor you may recognize in this one is Richard Egan, if you are old enough. The ending has been Hollywood-ized, the real end came in a slightly different manner than depicted. I'm not saying they changed end results just the way the end results occurred.

I saw that History Channel program when it aired on PBS last fall. Yes, it should be the same one as far as I know. If the one you saw had a young female historian as host, it's the same one. I watched the program the first night it came on, then recorded it the next time it aired in the middle of the night.

It will go nicely with my DVD The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization which also aired on PBS a couple years back.

[Keith Heitmann]

Hard to believe that it has been nearly 43 years since I first saw this film in the theater in 1961 as a ten year old boy.

I watched my new DVD which arrived today. It supposedly came in stereo and mono language options, but I could barely tell the difference between the two. Despite this the audio was still clear and free of any pops, clicks, or any audio defect.

The dialog is not one of the greatest ever written, and borders on the embarassingly "heroic" by those playing the Greeks.

Compared to other sword and sandal spectacle movies of the fifties and sixties, the battle at Thermopylae looked a little sparse. The swordplay was a little obvious when a man would duck well before the opponent would swipe his sword well over where his head had originally been in the first place.

All-in-all it was entertaining and a great 90 minute blast from my past. Since this is just about the only movie ever made on this famous battle, it is well worth adding to your personal DVD collection if you ever have a mind to do so.

[Keith Heitmann]

Got the second half of my order today, which included the Chased by Dinosaurs DVD. This one is done by the BBC with the same CGI graphics used in their Walking with Dinosaurs series. This one takes a slightly different approach than the previous series and actually places humans in with the dinos as though they were on a safari. At times it was a little distracting to have humans in the program at all, and others it seemed to adde to the effect such as the time when the star of the show was supposedly standing next to a skelleton of the Argentinosaur, the largest land reptile that ever lived.

The series has a few repeats on previous animals covered in the earlier program, but for th emost part covers many new types, such as the Argentinosaur, the Giganotonosaur (a grand pappy to the T-Rex and three times his size!), killer 26 foot long armor plated fish, the 50 foot long Megolodon the largest shark the ever lived, sea scorpions, mososaurs, etc.

If you have any of the other Walking with Dinosaurs series, and don't have this one you should consider adding to to the collection.

[Keith Heitmann]

I watched my new DVD Roman Empire in the First Century yesterday. It presens the entire history of the Roman Empire in the first century A.D (C.E. or common era) in four parts. It starts with Augustus and his rise to power carries on for the next five or six emperors ending with Trajan at the end of the first century.

Each part runs one hour and covers various aspects of life and politics in the Roman Empire. Palace intrigues and murders are covered in some detail. Those of you that have seen "I, Claudius" on PBS or the BBC will be familiar with the early material covering Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius.

This is a excellent video and makes everything plain and clear. The narration is told in a easy manner and is not rushed. Lots of scenes of ancient sites, some CGI graphics, a model of Rome, etc.

It's a shame they didn't turn this into a series each one covering one century of the Empire. I would love to see the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries of the Roman Empire presented in this manner.

If you want a historical documentary this is one I would recommend. I rate this one as superior to my other DVD Rome the Power and the Glory, which is also quite good.