IMAX: BLUE PLANET + IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE [1990 / 1985 / 2007] [Blu-ray] [USA Release] For The First Time in High Definition! A Spectacular New Dimension!
‘IMAX: BLUE PLANET’ reveals the earth to us as only a few people have ever seen it: from space. Orbiting 200 miles above Earth’s surface, we see how natural forces, like Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Hurricanes, affect our world, and how a powerful new force – humankind – has begun to alter the face of the Earth. From the Amazon rain forests to the Serengeti grasslands, inspires a new appreciation of life on Earth, our only home. A presentation of The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum and Lockheed Martin Corporation of The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was filmed in the IMAX format and exhibited in IMAX theatres worldwide. This Blu-ray disc is digitally mastered from original 70MM film elements with the sound components specially mixed and mastered to produce the highest quality Dolby Surround soundtrack. Narrated by James Buchli and Toni Myers.
Director: Ben Burtt (principal director)
Producers: Graeme Ferguson and Phyllis Ferguson
Screenplay: Toni Myers
Composers: Maribeth Solomon and Micky Erbe
Cinematography: David Douglas (Director of Photography) and James Neihouse (IMAX) (Director of Photography)
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BONUS MOVIE: ‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ takes you into space alongside the astronauts on the space shuttle and share with them the delights of zero gravity, eating and sleeping in orbit around Planet Earth. Float as never before over the towering Andes, the boot of Italy, Egypt and the Nile, witness a tension filled satellite capture and repair, and the historic space walk by an American woman. ‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ was originally filmed in the IMAX format and exhibited in IMAX theatres worldwide. This video version has been digitally mastered from original 70mm elements with the sound components specially mixed and mastered to produce the highest quality 5.1 Dolby TrueHD Surround soundtracks. ‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ takes you into space alongside the astronauts on the space shuttle. Narrated by Walter Cronkite.
FILM FACT: IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE: The 70 mm film was produced and shot 15 to 18 months before the Challenger disaster, and includes appearances by two astronauts who died in the accident; Francis Scobee and Judith Resnik. Challenger itself is featured prominently in the film. Many of the themes and tone of the documentary regarded the normalization of travel to space using the shuttle while giving only passing mention to the dangers. The Challenger disaster would dramatically curtail this belief and subsequent experience would show that the shuttle would not make space travel more accessible or affordable.
Cast: David Leestma, George Nelson, Sally Ride, Kathy Sullivan and James Van Hoften
Director: Graeme Ferguson
Producers: Graeme Ferguson and Phyllis Ferguson
Screenplay: Toni Myers
Composers: Maribeth Solomon and Micky Erbe
Cinematography: James Neihouse (Director of Photography)
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Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby Digital Master Audio
English: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD Surround
French: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish
Running Time: 42 minutes and 36 minutes
Region: All Regions
Studio: Warner Home Video
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: Here we have a presentation from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum and Lockheed Corporation in Association with The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Up first is the ‘IMAX: BLUE PLANET’ [1990] that features dazzling views from space as well as noteworthy sights on the Earth's surface. ‘IMAX: BLUE PLANET’ tackles a tremendous range of material and many topics that are covered, with information from the atmosphere of neighbouring planets to footage of San Francisco's Bay Bridge after the 1989 earthquake to sea creatures living amidst volcanic activity deep in the Gulf of Aqaba, the ‘IMAX: BLUE PLANET’ documentary turns its attention to the condemnation of human activity toward the end and man’s destruction of the environment, especially in the Amazon rain forest.
Imagine being a visitor from another planet and your approach to Planet Earth would be totally breath-taking in its scope as the small fuzzy blue dot becomes a wonderful blue-green and white sphere where obvious weather activity is taking place, but on closer inspection, there seems to be spectacular changes taking place right before your eyes. On several Shuttle missions, Earth has been portrayed from places that nobody else could reach. We also get shown the different locations and the environmental problems mankind has created and at the same time destroying because of their wish to exploit our planet’s resources for our own selfish benefit.
That weather activity is changing the landscape while unseen seismic activity is also causing spectacular change that can be seen with surface volcanoes violently spewing forth, roiling the oceans and changing flatland into mountaintop. Earth’s dynamic changes, seen from space, are what drive this beautiful looking 1080p HD Blu-ray release. While the narration by Toni Myers is a little stiff and not as interesting as the image, but the image of Earth against the inky-blackness of space is what makes this ‘IMAX: BLUE PLANET’ film worth owning on this stunning Blu-ray disc.
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Ben Burtt was sound designer on the film ‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ [1985] which is of course is the bonus extra on this amazing Blu-ray disc, which was directed by Graeme Ferguson and written by Toni Myers who returns as the screenwriter for the ‘IMAX: BLUE PLANET’ film with Graeme Ferguson now producing and Ben Burtt directing the spectacular show. Fans of the STAR WARS Sci-Fi franchise film series may remember Ben Burtt as the dual-trilogy’s sound designer and eventual sound/film editor, having come up with it from scratch, all the sounds needed to populate George Lucas’s imaginary galaxy.
Now, in the truly soundless environment of space, Ben Burtt was able to supervise the filming of Earth footage, which was actually shot over five space shuttle missions by the astronauts themselves, as well as amazing looking ocean and land-based footage of our home planet. This theatrical IMAX film, though offering a stupendous and huge image in special large-format IMAX cinemas, suffered from a short running time of 42 minutes and most IMAX films are usually under 50 minutes and the narration is unfortunately a bit too-mellow, hardly enlightening the viewer any more than the standard documentary and especially compared to the recent BBC TV series of the ‘Planet Earth’ releases, and sadly the IMAX film unfortunately falls short of the mark set by that BBC documentary landmark work, still the spectacular views we view make up for any short fall in the audio commentary department.
‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ is essentially a promotional film for The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum and Lockheed Martin Corporation of The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, this special IMAX feature is shorter and more focused than ‘IMAX: BLUE PLANET.’ With additional high resolution shots of Earth from the space shuttle, and interesting footage of astronauts and NASA workers in action, it will be a key purchase only for fans of space exploration. Walter Cronkite's narration is a nice touch that harkens back to the golden age of the America's space program.
‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ covers the early days of NASA’s space shuttle development and missions. Of interest for space-travel and NASA buffs, the film spends quite a bit of time on the space shuttle Challenger, which would be destroyed on launch within a year of this film’s release and sadly some of that doomed mission’s crew are featured in this IMAX film. Narrated by the wonderful American broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite, this documentary takes viewers on an exciting journey around the Earth as it chronicles mankind's accomplishments in the realm of space exploration. The program highlights the space shuttle, from its design and construction to life on-board the craft. It also presents a behind-the-scenes picture of the astronauts' daily activities and the rigorous training they undergo before travelling to the Space Shuttle.
Now considered an IMAX classic, ‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ gives the viewer an unprecedented window on board the space shuttle. Shot by 14 NASA astronauts on three shuttle missions in 1984, the film includes footage of launches and landings, satellite capture and repairs; space walks and an inside look at how the astronauts live in space. Experience the sensation of weightlessness and the splendour of Earth from 250 miles up. Seen by more than 40 million people in 19 countries, ‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ is the next best thing to being actually there.
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Blu-ray Image Quality – The release of ‘IMAX: BLUE PLANET’ + ‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ on this Blu-ray release from Warner Home Video, has been presented with a stunning 1080p remastered transfer image and the 1.78:1 aspect ratio gives it a image is simply excellent with very little to complain about here and the remastered image from a formerly large-format IMAX film stands up pretty well to avid IMAX videophile enthusiasts or devotee of video recordings or video technology scrutiny, and is a splendid experience to watch. With the ‘IMAX BLUE PLANET’ the image quality gives some very stunning and brilliant darkest blues, rich reds and subtle warmer colours. With the ‘IMAX THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ film the photography is totally awesome, very sharp and beautifully clear. But being in the IMAX format, it is allowed the space and time to reveal its total grandeur, scope and scale, whilst educating us on the issues relating to the subject at hand, and especially with this now serving as a time capsule on the views surrounding when the Space Shuttle was fully in operation, which is now confined to history.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Warner Home Video brings us a stunning 5.1 Dolby TrueHD Surround audio experience, and being in outer space it is out-of-this-world especially with both ‘IMAX: BLUE PLANET’ + ‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ films. The film ‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ at the start is brilliant as you get some really stunning dynamic surround rumbling sounds, especially with the powerful sounds of the rocket at take-off that will really shake your room good and proper, but even more spectacular is when the space shuttle lands, as you get a tremendous booming sound that will rattle your speakers and make you guests jump out of their seats. Also during the lightning strikes in the storm sequence, this is one of the most vivid sound recordings of a storm on this IMAX film, and especially with the audio of the lightning happening with all of your speakers, this is truly sensational. The only downside is that when Toni Myers narrates, you have to crank the sound up slightly and of course when you get thunderous surround sounds, you have to then turn the volume down.
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Finally, this is a brilliant view of the films ‘IMAX: BLUE PLANET’ + ‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ on this Blu-ray disc, but let’s face it, the magic of IMAX films is the ability to experience in the best possible way to view them actually in an IMAX cinema. Unfortunately, no matter how good your Home Cinema system set up is and unless you are one of those lucky ones who can afford to mimic the IMAX experience in your home, these IMAX films do slightly lose a lot of their large-format spectacular impact. This is not to say it does not look good in 1080p high definition, but the overall visual stimulation is brought down considerably for the smaller screens of the home cinema set up. But despite this, I am still glad I have these two classic IMAX films now in my Blu-ray Collection. So all in all Warner Home Video has given us two classic IMAX films that will stand the test of time and delivers some very fine and spectacular moments, especially the stunning spectacular breath taking views of Planet Earth, as well as outer space and having the feature film ‘IMAX: THE DREAM IS ALIVE’ is a stunning brilliant classic bonus. For all you High-definition fans, your IMAX eye candy has arrived. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
