Just perfect...

Captivating movie !

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Neill is engaging, and the topic is presented in a natural, conversational manner. But is this really an original series? The script seems in places at least to follow Carl Sagan's Cosmos series, which ran decades ago. I want to think it's a consequence of similar subject matter, but some of the phrases are identical - "star stuff", "billions and billions", etc. Of course it's been some time since Cosmos aired, and today's audience may be too young to recall it, too lacking in attention span to sit through the statelier pace, and too critical of the dated visual effects. It seems this newer series achieves a brisker pace and wider audience by avoiding the pitfall of explaining how we "know," for instance, that life does not exist on other planets in our solar system.This shorter series, presented by a professional actor (he should do a disclaimer "I'm not a scientist, but I've played one in cinema") in lieu of a genuine scientist like Sagan or Hawking (or a historian/journalist like James Burke) may better appeal to a younger crowd, with less interest in fussy details like actual evidence.

When it comes to making good, informative and visually stunning documenters, the BBC stand head and shoulders above the rest. Shows like `Space' and `Walking with Dinosaurs' may not be hard-science, but they are good-science and understandable. I have a scientific education, but I still love shows like this. It helps you to understand things by placing them in a visually captivating way.If you want hard facts and hard science, go watch `The open university', if you want to understand what's going on without needing a PhD in Astrophysics, watch `Space'.

Another astounding BBC achievement, this series is a gift to all of us who are fascinated in space, and what's beyond. Sometimes it borders on Trek-ishness, but I don't care, because it bravely does the same thing as does Star Trek (at least Next Gen) - it dares us to the marvels of space, and of mankind, and it tells us that we are all alike and from the same seed. A small sparkling promise that all futures not have to be blackened with greed and hatred; a light in these truly Dark Ages. Of course I know very well that this isn't on the series agenda, but I can't help but see it that way. And I'm sure that a lot of the "space crazies" out there share my feelings on this. If you're one of them (us!) - don't miss this show!

This is the sort of tabloid "science" program that devotes more screen time to special effects, spectacle and catastrophism than education. Any single episode of "Nova" contains more hard science than this entire series. I'm surprised there wasn't a chapter on horoscopes.