Product Description
Take a trip of a lifetime to visit our neighboring planets with A Traveler s Guide to the Planets. National Geographic takes off beyond Earth s boundaries for the ultimate tour of our solar system. From Mars monstrous mountains to Saturn s glittering rings, the sights are out of this world. Each hour offers breathtaking tours of the planets using modern-day high-tech telescopes and stunning CGI. Programs include: Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus, Pluto and Beyond, Mars, Venus and Mercury.

Date: 08/17/2010
Summary: Decent, but too scattered
Rating: 2
I own every season of "The Universe" on blu-ray, and if you wanted to decide what to get? Go for Season 1 of "The Universe" over this. It has its moments, and does look good on blu-ray, but those are the only strong points. It tends to get a little off-target, at times. The aforementioned "The Universe" tends to stay much more on topic with relation to the planets, and looks great on blu-ray, also. Skip over this unless you don't own that set on blu-ray.

Date: 07/21/2010
Summary: Enjoyable
Rating: 5
I really liked this because it tried to stick to
currently known facts about the Universe. If you have
watched other programs of the same type you know
that sometimes they spend all of the episode guessing
about what you will find on other planets etc...

I also like that they didn't present things in a
negative way. Example; When the Sun explodes in an
estimated 5 billion years the outer planets will lose
all of their mass and all that will remain are the cores
of once giant planets.

When possible I like to deal in known facts not
theories. Anyway, this is just the opinion of one
person. Overall, I found it enjoyable.

Date: 07/15/2010
Summary: Disappointing
Rating: 2
Being a fan of Astronomy, I bought this figuring it would be both educational and entertaining. At times, it was mildly entertaining, but I certainly didn't learn anything new. Some of the interviews were reasonably interesting, but the narration was rather boring and had a "boilerplate" feel to it. Actually, the whole series felt that way-like the general script was written, and they just filled in the blanks for each planet. After a while, I found myself fighting to stay awake. I think this is a good disc(s) for children, but not so much for adults.
On my 60" TV, the graphics were good, but nothing special. Again, at times seemed somewhat generic. This was particularly noticeable if you watched multiple episodes in a row.

Date: 07/04/2010
Summary: Use this to show off your Blu-Ray!
Rating: 4
This looks truly stunning - you have to watch it on a large screen TV otherwise you won't get the full effect. It's pretty amazing how much detail the special effects team managed to put into the graphics. There were a number of times I sat there and thought "wow" :)

Besides that, the programs themselves are quite informative and live up to the title - they act as a good general guide to the planets. Earth is not covered, but that's okay. I guess the producers are assuming you're already familiar with the third rock from the Sun. However, all the others - including Pluto - are included.

My only gripe - and the reason for the 4 stars, as opposed to 5 - is the lack of extras, although, to be fair I didn't expect a whole lot. There are two very short videos about the Sun and Moon - standard def, I think - and neither run more than five minutes long. It would have been nice to see how the graphics were created or to see some other behind-the-scenes stuff but I understand it costs money to produce that.

Anyway, if you want something to show off your Blu-Ray then this is a definite candidate. If you're new to the planets you'll find it fascinating and informative and even if you're not new to these alien worlds, you'll probably find the effects spellbinding.

Enjoy!