Best movie ever!

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I see many being enthusiastic about the series..Unfortunately I have another opinion..The idea is good and I have nice memories from the 80s when I saw some parts of it. Now when watching it with the kids I feel cheated by my own memories..The very first part is promising. There is a sense of getting the big picture in an entertaining way. Blend of details and jokes and overview is quite balanced.But the further one goes the stack of DVDs and episodes the more frustrated one starts to feel.The history part gets often obscured by Tom & Jerry (or perhaps Asterix) like fast action fights & jokes. Sometimes linked to the time and events described. But often not. This perhaps is the most frustrating aspect as quite often one is left with an uncertain feeling... Was there something to be learned - ow was that a simple joke.. Then when the story goes to describing real historic facts these are often fast paced listings of years, names of important people/fights, etc.. Perhaps that is the part for adults as the kids have no chance of learning from that level of details coming at that pace..Transitions from the life of individuals to the world events is often surprising and would benefit from better justification / preparation. Further confused by reusing the same characters in different roles in different episodes.. It is like one should have read the history books in advance to really understand what the events described are connected to.There are good points in the series, there is high level of ambition, but somehow one feels that the mix of plain cartoon amusement and real history teaching is not really working. Perhaps it is the 30 years that have passed from the production of the series.. But the end result is a bit questionable in teaching history to kids as it makes the boundary between real facts and plain fiction quite hard to see

"Es war einmal der Mensch" (German) / "Once Upon a Time... Man" (English) is just about the next best children's program/series after "Es war einmal das Leben" (German) / "Once Upon a Time... Life" (English). History is a dry topic and as someone who always found it boring throughout school, even I like watching episodes of this series with our children and fondly remember seeing it as a kid when it originally aired.The series is very well made, does not show its age, and our kids at various ages really like to watch it. At the same time, they gain knowledge about history us parents didn't have until way, way later. The series covers everything from the birth of the universe (assuming the Big Bang theory is correct), through evolution, prehistoric times, all centuries, to the last episode looking towards the future of humankind. While most episodes are great, some, around the dark ages, need the support of the fun characters as these times are really just a string of people's conquests, rebellions, new leaders, etc. (hence "only" 8 out of 10). The evolution is covered in a sensitive way, leaving some scope for interpretation of this topic which may be contentious with some people, and similarly, episodes covering religious events such as the birth of Jesus and Islam look only from a historic angle.Throughout the series, familiar characters give a personal context to history. The topics covered are well balanced, globally speaking, and chosen for their significance. The last episode, looking towards the future of humankind one of the best, pondering increasing environmental destruction, pollution and wars and while presented for children's viewing is very worthwhile to watch for adults as well.This is one of the best ever children's programs - I would say it's a must see for every family with kids!

a great series, i loved it on television when i was a kid and now i bought it on DVD and enjoyed it also as an adult. it should be a standard school material and showed to all kids: a fine example that education can be entertaining. a pity that in spite of being really an epic work, some parts of the history were skipped or presented shortly - i could watch it for... well like forever 8). i can only recommend it to everyone from kids to parents, i think that its not only more informative but also funnier than modern robots-fight-monsters kind of cartoons. ps: my colleagues niece rejected to watch shrek 2, she wanted to watch this 8)))

To be honest I was surprised there were not more comments on this series. It's a true gem and a classic. Even if it's nearly 30 years old it's still one of the most entertaining and best children's series.They have shown this on Norwegian TV several times. I can remember watching this every Sunday morning as one of my favorite shows. First of all it's an excellent written series with an idea of combining education and entertainment. Often a doomed combination, but the way it's pulled off in this series is incredible. They succeed in making it both entertaining and educational. You follow a group of character through the different stages of mankind. It's the same characters and so you get to know them throughout the series. They also use a narrator and include him as a character of his own in the show. Making him interesting and funny rather than just a boring narrator from a kids perspective.The animation is also good. They characters look of the character matches up with who they are. It's well animated, still by todays standards.As for the educational aspect you get to see history. It's as simple as that. What they do it put these characters into history making one of them Moses one episode and Julius Caesar in the next. They recreate human history as it's supposed to have happened in their own universe with the help of a few characters.I consider this series as a true classic and one of the best children series of all time. Unfortunately it would seem that it is being forgotten as those who saw it are growing up.