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Ancient Egypt
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List Price: £12.99
egypt.mktgs.co.uk Price: £6.48
Availability: Usually dispatched within 2 to 3 weeks
Manufacturer: Pinnacle Vision
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: Exempt
Binding: DVD
EAN: 5060144210401
Format: PAL
Label: Pinnacle Vision
Manufacturer: Pinnacle Vision
Number Of Items: 3
Publisher: Pinnacle Vision
Region Code: 2
Release Date: 2007-04-23
Running Time: 150
Studio: Pinnacle Vision
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Lives of the Pharaohs
Comment: The Ancient Egypt DVD box set is a collection of three episodes from the 1997 Discovery Channel series 'The Great Egyptians'. Each 52 minute long episode focuses on the life of one of Egypt's greatest Pharaohs.
Starting with the famous boy king, Tutankhamun, the series progresses to cover the life of Ramses the Great, (arguably Egypt's greatest king) and finally, Queen Cleopatra.
The series is typical of the shows created by the Discovery Channel in the nineties. It has very little of the budget or polish of more recent productions such as the Channel 4 series 'Ancient Egyptians'.
While watching the series, you can expect scenes of crumbling statues and temples intercut with scenes from old hollywood films, while bombastic synthesizer music plays in the background. It also contains those poor reconstructions - with wobbly sets and cheesy acting - which are repeated every 10 minutes or so.
If the documentary had only contained scenes like this, it would not have been worth watching. What saves it in my opinion are the scenes containing Egyptologist and Mummy expert, Dr. Bob Brier. He takes the viewer on a tour of some of the major and lesser known sites in Egypt and its neighbouring countries. His enthusiasm and love of the subject is infectious, and he does a good job of explaining the meaning of the hieroglyphics and tomb paintings. He also provides a fascinating look at the mummies. In one scene he even analyzes the mummified remains of the stillborn child of Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamen.
It is a shame that this DVD boxset does not contain every episode from the Great Egyptians series. Instead, it is almost like a 'best of' compilation. Episodes about Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Sneferu etc are not contained on the box set.
If you want a short series on the lives of some of Egypt's greatest rulers - and you are new to Egyptian history - then this documentary might be worth watching. But if you want something a bit more in-depth, it might be better to read a book on the subject.
DVD info -
Running time: 150 mins approx
Classifaction: E - Exempt
Audio options: English
Subtitles: None
Special Features: None (except for Chapter selections).
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