Alien Planet (2005)

A Masterpiece!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The way this show is presented is very clever. The slightly outdated animation shows its age; otherwise, if you were to tune in half-way through, you might think "oh my god! did they find life on another planet?!" That's the way I felt, at least, when I tuned in almost 10 years ago. Soon enough, you realize "ok this is some kind of documentary", but the way the scientists talk when interviewed, it sounds like they're explaining something that has _actually_ happened; like they're talking about life that _does_ exist beyond Earth. It gave it a real "war of the worlds"-radio-broadcast vibe.I liked the show so much at the time that I ordered the DVD so I could view the start that I missed. Ten years later, I decided to dig up this DVD and pop it in when my 11-year old daughter said she's really enjoying the "space" unit her class is studying in science.When I came to IMDb to look up the narrator's voice (which I recognized but could not identify), I was surprised to see this has an average review of 7.1.This show is way more deserving than that, so I registered an account just help bump up that average. THAT'S how entertaining and fascinating I think this show is!

...just don't live in it. Yet?The film may not be for self-proclaimed serious scientists....or for "serious creationists"...but for curious six year olds this was more than watchable and raised interesting questions in the xenobiological realm. So for me, as their Dad it was a success.But even for all those serious science fans, with the commentary of Hawking, Kaku, Venter...what is the quibble about? Admittedly we are talking about something that if it happens will happen well after my children's children are dead, but trying to estimate what might be still is fun, and ideally incentive enough to continue to search the stars. Kaku works in a message of how rare and treasured life should be, even here on our own planet. Have any of the participating scientists rebuked this film?As for all the "serious creationists", I still think this movie is more captivating than a discussion of how many angels could dance on the head of a pinhead. The probes, with their wide eyes and narrow dots inside, gave a nice illusion of shock as each new creature was unfurled. The DVD came packaged for the sake of TV with commercial inserts, and sneak previews for something coming in the next three seconds. I found that a bit annoying.Anyways, I can see some of the criticism, overly sleek animation leaves the creatures devoid of texture...more insight into the animals behavior (eating, socialization)...but I think this was mostly a chance to introduce the basic concept of life on another planet (hence disappointing to the two groups above) and a chance to display Wayne Douglas Barlowe's artwork...with whom I was regrettably unfamiliar, so I'll look forward to sharing some of his library books with the boys.Not sure if he has done illustrations for the Book of Revelation, but that might appeal to some.Yours for heresy and fantasy,Thurston Hunger7/10

I'm not sure if my previous review was submitted so I'll try again. I disagree with those who found fault with Alien Planet. I thought the creatures and environments were well realized. No one does aliens better than Barlowe. He invests a lot of energy in thinking about how his creations would actually interact with their world. With all the cookie cutter stuff out there it's great to see someone try something different. I would love to see more programming of this type that combines visionary science fiction with scientific speculation. Traditional science fiction films tend to focus on what would happen if aliens came to earth. It was nice to see that reversed a bit for a change.

This show looks sexy and is presented as such, but is rife with dubious and questionable assumptions on biology, ecology and zoology of the alien planet. While intriguing on the surface, the descriptions of alien animals are poorly thought through and do not match the stipulated physical conditions on the alien planet. In addition to other scientific errors, this is obvious and annoying enough to completely kill my enjoyment of the show.It seems to me as if the show wavers between a science-fiction-like narrative and a more documentary attitude. This does not work well, and one or the other should have been used, rather than a poor amalgam of both.Points given for trying though.EDIT: Having seen the program once again, I find that I have to amend my initial comments somewhat. Points previously given in a gesture of reluctant goodwill are hereby removed. This show is utter bollicks, and the only positive thing I can say about it is that it just might inspire people to look into the possibility of alien life in a more serious way. It is, however, obvious that this show was designed and written by people with a severely limited grasp of science and scientific theory, and an obviously insufficient grasp of fundamental logic. There are hundreds of truly excellent science-fiction books out there which treat this subject not only more seriously, but also more logically and more spectacularly.In short, the dumbing-down of TV has staggered me once again, and I am truly grateful that I didn't pay to watch this program.