The Miracle Of Life (Nova/WGBH set)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: B-     Main Program: B

 

 

In 1982, Nova and Swedish Television came up with the then-groundbreaking documentary science program The Miracle Of Life.  A hit in its time and instantly used in schools nationwide, the first intricately filmed look at the growth of a baby human from conception to birth was a real event at the time.  WGBH Boston Video has issued the program on DVD as a single, but has reissued it with a follow-up program Life’s First Feelings that has also been previously issued as a single DVD.

 

Photographed by Lennart Nilsson, Miracle holds up very well and coming out of a time when everything scientific simply demystified all myths and extremist pretensions, the kind that have come back with a vengeance to the detriment of us all.  Here, it is a “no spin zone” of scientific fact and a deeper truth about human beauty unto itself.  Since the abortion debate became one of the great distractions since its first broadcast, its groundbreaking innovations have been forgotten and buried by time.  Part of this had to do with people being able to think for themselves.  Life’s First Feelings is also a solid piece about child development form a time when it did not have its own market.  If you need to get either program, you might as well get both in this set.

 

The 1.33 x 1 image on both programs show their age, from older film prints (16mm?) but still watchable.  Restoration and HD transfers will be needed in the near future, but these hold up just enough, while the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on both seem to come from optical tracks possibly a generation down as well.  The second show is considered an extra, but otherwise, there is nothing else.  At least the shows are solid.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo