Rating: 
Summary: The Bomb Set
Review: This set of 3 documentaries is both visually stunning and very engaging. All 3 movies are very interesting, but i would say that Trinity And Beyond is the coolest of the bunch. It is a little more sweeping than the others, and covers a more broad amount of general information on the history of nuclear weapons. It also has the most actual bomb footage, and the DVD extras- like the 3D short movie on a Nevada test site, are fantastic. Nukes In Space has some startling footage of atmospheric nuclear testing which resulted in rainbow auroras and electromagnetic disturbances. It also dives into the space race and how it was connected to the nuclear arms race, very interesting stuff. Atomic Journeys is pretty cool too, but just not quite as exciting. The movie returns to ground zero at several different nuclear sites, and then proceeds to dive into the history of the site. Both Nukes In Space and Atomic Journeys have great DVD extras as well. All in all, this set contain 3 great documentaries with some truly spectacular and frightening footage. All 3 DVDs are presented wonderfully- from the way cool DVD menus to all the extras they packed on, Goldhil Home Media and Peter Kuran have presented a wonderful addition to anyones DVD collection.
Rating:
Summary: great documentary
Review: I have only seen TRINITY AND BEYOND straight through recently enough. It is a great movie--fascinating. The background musical score by John Morgan and Bill Stromberg is especially dramatic.
Rating: 
Summary: Recommended!
Review: If atomic bomb explosions fascinate you, then this is a must-have collection. There are three DVDs: 1. Trinity & Beyond
2. Atomic Journeys
3. Nukes in Space. Trinity & Beyond documents the history of the A-Bomb tests from
July 16 1945 (Trinity test) to the last atmospheric Test (by China in 1964) Atomic Journeys visits numerous US & a few Soviet Test sites and there is plenty of footage of explosions at each site. Nukes In Space deals with among others the Rainbow series of space atom tests - some of which knocked out communications (and worse) in the USA for many hours afterwards. This collection would have gotten five stars from me but for a couple of minor niggles. 1. Particularly in Trinity & Beyond, the DVD could have done with being an extra half-hour longer to allow longer footage of the various A/H-Bomb tests. As it stands some of the sequences appear very hurried. For instance, the footage of the first H-Bomb test (Ivy Mike) is butchered to hell and the superb original soundtrack is ruined, which IMO spoils some of the most spectacular footage of a nuclear test ever shot. And on occasions the original footage of some tests has been dubbed with CGI enhancements which don't enhance but detract from the viewing experience. 2. There is a heavy USA bias and at times a slightly nauseating USA patriotism portrayed in the DVDs. Understandable I suppose considering they are made in the USA! But don't let these gripes put you off buying. This is on the whole a well-made, informative and strangely compelling set of DVDs which contain a lot of atom test footage that has never been shown elsewhere. The collection comes highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Recommended!
Review: If atomic bomb explosions fascinate you, then this is a must-have collection. There are three DVDs: 1. Trinity & Beyond
2. Atomic Journeys
3. Nukes in Space. Trinity & Beyond documents the history of the A-Bomb tests from
July 16 1945 (Trinity test) to the last atmospheric Test (by China in 1964) Atomic Journeys visits numerous US & a few Soviet Test sites and there is plenty of footage of explosions at each site. Nukes In Space deals with among others the Rainbow series of space atom tests - some of which knocked out communications (and worse) in the USA for many hours afterwards. This collection would have gotten five stars from me but for a couple of minor niggles. 1. Particularly in Trinity & Beyond, the DVD could have done with being an extra half-hour longer to allow longer footage of the various A/H-Bomb tests. As it stands some of the sequences appear very hurried. For instance, the footage of the first H-Bomb test (Ivy Mike) is butchered to hell and the superb original soundtrack is ruined, which IMO spoils some of the most spectacular footage of a nuclear test ever shot. And on occasions the original footage of some tests has been dubbed with CGI enhancements which don't enhance but detract from the viewing experience. 2. There is a heavy USA bias and at times a slightly nauseating USA patriotism portrayed in the DVDs. Understandable I suppose considering they are made in the USA! But don't let these gripes put you off buying. This is on the whole a well-made, informative and strangely compelling set of DVDs which contain a lot of atom test footage that has never been shown elsewhere. The collection comes highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Essential Viewing
Review: This collection is essential viewing for anyone interested in this subject. I live in England and had heard of these DVDs but was never able to find them. I finally found them... and ordered them. Boy was it worth it. The images of the detonations are spectacular, beautiful, and absolutely terrifying. Couple this with superb narration, research, and extra features, and you have probably the best all-round documentary on the history, science and politics of nuclear warfare around.
Rating:
Summary: The definitive story of our atomic weapons program
Review: In what is probably the most dramatic look ever at the U.S. atomic weapons program, the Atomic Bomb Collection is a stunning and oftentimes frightening realization of what man can create. Using declassified footage from government archives, you can now view material never shown or reported to the public. The material shown on all the discs is remarkably clear, well defined, and visually impressive. The audio for all programs are in Dolby 5.1 surround sound and, believe me, will give your home theater system a serious workout. Each disc also contains a large amount of special features that make this set a very worthwhile value. Trinity And Beyond is the starting point of it all. You are treated to the inside story of our atomic program from it's infant stages at the Trinity site in Alamagordo, New Mexico and continuing on to designing, making, and producing hydrogen thermonuclear weapons. The footage of hydrogen bomb testing in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific ocean is truly astonishing and disturbing both at the same time. Atomic Journeys: Welcome to Ground Zero is probably the most outstanding of the lot showing dozens of bomb detonations in startling detail. Much footage is relegated to the Nevada Test Site which was openly known in those days to conduct such tests. What wasn't widely known to the public is that subterranean detonations were also performed in Mississippi and Alaska and some other areas. This footage is featured also and is quite unbelievable. One subterranean detonation in Alaska was so large (incredible footage here), it permanently changed the landscape of the surrounding area. Lastly, we have Nukes in Space: The Rainbow Bombs. This is the least interesting of the 3 discs but still has good material to offer. You are shown nuclear detonations, performed by the U.S. and Russia, in our upper atmosphere. Whatever the intentions were by our scientists, this was probably not the best of locations to test atomic weapons especially considering the bombs affected radiation belts around our planet. Pretty scary. If you're interested in the entire history of our atomic program from start to finish, look no farther than here. This is the premier collection that won't ever be matched. Highly recommended to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: A History of Missile/Anti-missile Systems
Review: As expected, this flim does cover the high-altitude explosions like Argus and Starfish. I thought the picture works well on a TV screen, and the footage is suitably presented. It puts the tests in their proper context, and gives credit to the people who did it. However, the movie was more of a history of ICBMs and (towards the end) ABM systems than a focus on high-altitude nuclear bursts. That is the right context to put the programs into, but I was surprised at what a nice documentary it is of the Missile races of the 1950s/60s. That story has not been very well told, and is one of the great technical achievedments of history. Even if it now seems a little mad, it's impressive what people did in such a short time. I would recommend this for anyone interested in the history of the time, or in the development of ballistic missiles. I wish it could be required watching for new teams working on BMD.
Rating:
Summary: Some reasons why
Review: Nukes in Space is a serious documentary as well as eye candy. For those reading the history of the era, it provides the larger media-culture background to the Cuban Missile crisis. It goes far to explain why Kennedy and MacNamara went for the various arms control negotiations that lead to banning open air nuclear testing and eventually the ABM Treaty.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not as great as other Kuran films
Review: I bought Trinity and Beyond mostly based on customer suggestion, and liked it so much that I purchased the follow-up, Atomic Journeys. Both of these movies are awesome; for full information, read my reviews. For some reason, Nukes in Space lagged a little bit. Nukes in Space is certainly a (slightly) more serious film: there isn't as much footage of nuclear explosions, and there is more interview footage in this movie - Kuran presents the facts regarding America's detonation of nuclear devices in the upper atmosphere in his usual, non-judgemental way. Viewers will agree, however, that Nukes in Space just doesn't move at the same speed at the other films; it's slower, and a little less exciting. Perhaps that is because we've become desensitized a bit to the horror of nuclear detonations through his other movies? It is great that Kuran is preserving footage of these detonations, and doing it in a way that is entertaining and educational. I think, however, that VCE studios is beginning to produce films that are geared more for the nuke-oriented audience rather than the wider, documentary (information)-based audience. Yes, what you will see here is terrible. Yes, it is almost funny, if it weren't true. But, the effect was achieved - almost with better results - in Trinity and Atomic Journeys. DVD dirt - Expect the same level of greatness as in the other Kuran DVDs. There is a full-length director's commentary (not mentioned), and the footage and sound transfered probably a well as they could. Watch for those nuclear blasts to give your subwoofers a good workout. The soundtrack, as usual, is killer, and there are plenty of extra features of different nuclear detonations / Kennedy speeches / newsreel footage to keep interest going for another hour at least. One more thing - Look for The Atomic Filmmakers and Nuclear 911 - Kuran's latest efforts - on DVD in the next few months.
Rating:
Summary: A world of historic events beautifully restored in this film
Review: Since I've seen Mr. Kuran's "Trinity and Beyond" I was anxious to see what restoration magic he had continued with his latest release. I wasn't disappointed. For those who don't realize it, much of the historical film of the 50's through the 70's is rapidly fading. Unique scenes that will never be re-enacted are dwindling in vaults everywhere do to time's effect on the dye used in color film. Peter Kuran is a filmmaker and documentarian with several awards to his name. He has chosen what seems like a limited-interest field to apply state of the art restoration techniques to obtain quality film to tell his story. His use of Mr. William Shatner's even-toned, non-judgemental reading of the script of this period of our nations' history, combined with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra's music is a wonderful match. Even though I've seen many of the clips shown in this film before, never have they had the clarity, color saturation or sharpness that Mr. Kuran has brought to this film. I've been aware of the work that is necessary to achieve this level of restoration, and his devotion to this film is remarkable. Tracing the history of the space race, saber rattling, and political posturing, the viewer is made aware of science and politics intermingling from a new perspective. A real concern about the damage the tests were doing to the world beyond our planet is retold by modern interviews with experts from that era. Of course the film is technically excellent, but as a true documentarian, Mr. Kuran leads us to consider the events of the time as neither evil or necessary, but just that they were a period we fortunately lived through without war. There are many new clips I've not seen elsewhere, and one brief (as is everything concerning the amazing Sprint antiballistic missile) a few seconds of this rare rocket accelerating at 100 G's! The serious collector should own this film just for the restored archival material. Those who did not live through this nerve-racking time should view the film to obtain a flavor of the tense world situation that could easily have seen the use of these weapons in anger. Sure there are a few minor problems with the production (a muted background explosion is heard as a distant German V2 rocket hits some distance away, rather than having the necessary delay in arrival of sound), but overall the filmmaker uses good judgement in not flaunting all of the videographer's toys, fades, wipes and special effects that mar other productions. My only concern is realizing that hundreds of thousands of feet of film lay slowly deteriorating, never to be subjected to Mr. Kuran's magical process of restoration. Perhaps archivists and historians in charge of rare material will approach Visual Concepts to ask for their help in preserving this unreplacable film.
| 
