Review for The Universe - The Complete Season Four

Season 4 of The History Channel's impressive 'The Universe Series' has all the visual juicy goodness of the original three series (my reviews are available on this site) but seems to have lost a little scientific team. Which is not to say that it isn't still incredibly thought provoking, but rather that it has descended into a bit of cosmic sensationalism to keep up the viewing figures. It's all gone a bit '2012' with episode titles like '10 Ways to Destroy the Earth' to cheer you up on a cold autumnal evening. And if that's not enough to have you ruminating on the wisdom of buying 'complete collection' box-sets, or laying out a deposit for next year's holiday then why not take solace in episodes with titles like 'Death Stars, 'Biggest Blasts'. 'Space Wars' and 'Comets: Prophets of Doom'. Maybe the producers were going through a 'dark' period!


Though it's unlikely that you'll elect to start your 'The Universe' collection at Series 4 (unless you happen across a bargain copy perhaps) it's worth re-treading the format a little for anyone who has no knowledge of previous seasons.


'The Universe' is an impressive, if cliché-ridden, mix of CGI graphics, archive footage and nicely shot commentary and explanatory analogy (like fairground Ferris Wheels to describe the solar system). The graphics are occasionally breath-taking, as is some of the photography (taken from the Hubble telescope and elsewhere) and, in combination with a huge 5.1 soundtrack, quite an exciting watch. It certainly brings the subject to life in a way that my science classes singularly failed to do.


The only problem with Season 4 is that it's …well, just not quite as good as the previous three seasons. Which I hope is no indication of the series losing steam. In common with many shows on TV, I follow the series on DVD rather than endure the endless advert breaks, so I have no idea how Season Five fares.



So what do we learn in Season 4 that we haven't already covered in previous series? Well, we learn about the most powerful blasts ever to rock the cosmos. We find out what would happen to earth if the Moon ever disappears (not good news I'm afraid!).


The inner geek may enjoy finding out which bits of our favourite Sci-Fi shows may actually be possible, and we learn about the likeliest form that so-called space warfare might take (and not a single mention of light-sabers!). There's even an Alan Freeman style top 10 countdown of the ways that the earth may meet its end. Cheery stuff!


For anyone who has collected the series thus far, Season 4 is no place to stop and is still a very worthwhile buy. For those new to the franchise, then this I no place to start either. Any previous season will leave you better informed about the big stuff than this slightly sensational season.


As ever, the picture quality if great though not quite as spectacular as the seasons I have viewed on Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray certainly makes the most of all the fabulous graphics and, budget allowing, it's probably the better option though for DVD, this is as good as the format is ever likely to get. Also - and quite an irritant this - the picture is cropped and non-anamorphic which means you have to zoom the picture with consequent quality loss. Whilst this is marginal, it's a most curious and annoying anomoly after three anamorphic seasons. Someone in the DVD mastering department at The History Channel or 'Go Entertainment' needs a firm rap of the knuckles! But in the grand scheme of things, when set against the vast unknown of the Universe for example, it's probably not such a big deal. Ho hum.