Music
Paul Novros

Genesis is the story of how the earth has evolved over billions of years. Exploring the birth of the solar system and the movement of tectonic plates both below sea level and above. Witnessing erupting volcanoes in Hawaii and the spreading of tectonic plates beneath Iceland. This is one of the theories of the earth’s history and how it affects human life.

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?

VIDEO
I have tried to take into consideration that this film has been made for big screen IMAX theatres but it just doesn’t come up to scratch anyhow. There are several   instances where animation is used to show the way magma is formed and how it rises to the earth’s surface. I found these animated sections very basic and really could have done with even a little work to make them remotely interesting.

Being an IMAX film this relies heavily on aerial motion shots for the motion effect you get from Imax. They are still quite effective in 4:3, but they have almost a fish eye lens feel to them where the image still curves across the screen. A lot of these motion shots are also filmed from helicopters and light planes, which also cause havoc. It can be forgiven to see the shadow of the plane flying across some nice scenery but it’s quite annoying to have the blades of the helicopters continually pulsing across the top of the screen.

Aside from these really annoying filming faults I found that there was not a lot of consistency in the transfer (maybe the original film) where images were nice and sharp and then jump to being extremely grainy. Almost like a montage of different film bits and pieces, which didn’t match up in quality.

There are some minor problems with dust flecks and ailiasing but nothing to distracting.

I was generally impressed with the colour gradients, but shadow detail could have been improved especially in some scenes shot in Minos.

AUDIO
The 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track was a big improvement on the video transfer. Nice deep narration was great in the surrounds with some ambient music for an effective opening. The surrounds were used to great effect for the entire film. There were times though that I had to turn the volume down to almost off. A number of the scenes are of erupting volcanoes and it seems that about %80 of them have been recorded at a too high a level and it creates huge amounts of distortion. I do realise that this may not have been avoidable, it’s not everyday you record an erupting volcano, which I’m sure is quite loud.

The only other criticism I have is that the conclusion was a little repetitive and drawn out. There’s not a lot of exciting stuff here but the audio is well put together and the surrounds are used nicely to effect and with a booming narrator.

Shame about the lack of language and subtitle options… I wouldn’t have used them, but someone who would has missed out.

EXTRAS
Yes well, what are extras? The main menu is quite annoying. You get two colour selections to choose from two options. Gee that’s clever, it’s a task to try and figure out just exactly what you are selecting. Other than some very confusing menus the only other extras are some B grade trailers for other IMAX films.

Not a bad doco… but not anything to get excited over.

Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Samsung DVD907 (via S-Video)
Receiver/Proc: Sansui A505/Sony Amp & Yamaha DSP-E390
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfdale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf

- Reviewed 24th February 2000