Where did the universe come from? What happened at the moment of the "Big Bang"? What are the most basic particles of matter, even smaller than protons and electrons? These are the kinds of questions that can make your head hurt if you think about them too hard, which is exactly why they're perfect material for a serious science documentary. The Creation of the Universe is hosted by journalist Timothy Ferris, who introduces viewers to topics from the way that scientists discover the building blocks of matter, to the immense scale of time, reaching back 15 billion years to the birth of the universe. Along the way, we hear from a number of notable scientists, including Stephen Hawking and Nobel prize winners Murray Gell-Man and Steven Weinberg.

Some of the material is explanatory in nature, as when Ferris introduces the four different fundamental forces in the universe (electromagnetism, the strong and weak nuclear forces, and gravity) and how they work. Other segments in the 90-minute program touch on the history of theoretical physics, illustrate the scale of cosmic time, or present scientists' current theories on what the universe was like when it was young.

The subtitle on the DVD cover of "Explore the latest answer to science's oldest question" is a bit misleading; is a documentary made in 1985 really the latest program to tackle this material? (Maybe it is, which would be a sorry commentary on the lack of science documentaries out there.) At any rate, The Creation of the Universe is hardly a recent program, and it certainly shows its age in the dated special effects and trippy theme music. One consolation is that in the commentary track, Timothy Ferris states that nothing in the program has actually been contradicted since then; while it's not up-to-date, it's not out-of-date either, in terms of its science.

Most of the program is adequately presented, although the organization does leave a bit to be desired. There's never a really clear narrative sequence to develop ideas from beginning to end, and Ferris seems obsessed with using the analogy of a tower to explain ideas, even when it doesn't really add anything to the explanation.

Where The Creation of the Universe falls to pieces, though, is at the end, where its otherwise sensible approach is swamped by mystical nonsense. I'm using the word "nonsense" quite deliberately here: Ferris starts with the fairly reasonable idea that the origins of the universe have been a subject of interest and conjecture in religion as well as science, but he swiftly moves to more off-beat ideas, basically claiming a necessary connection between religious faith and theoretical physics. I started rolling my eyes when he made a weirdly contrived analogy between a medieval cathedral and a modern particle accelerator, but my eyes particularly bugged out when he claimed that the concept of a universe that's ruled by predictable physical laws was only possible because of the concept of a single god. (And the ideas of the ancient Greeks are explained how, exactly?)

The documentary is very obviously influenced by Cosmos, in everything from the theme music to the cinematography. Given the amazing quality of Cosmos, there's no fault in The Creation of the Universe using that program as a model... but unfortunately when it comes to narrating the program, Timothy Ferris is no Carl Sagan. Ferris has approximately zero screen presence, and his voice is bland and sleep-inducing.

All in all, The Creation of the Universe is a decent documentary program that tackles a specific subject area (theoretical physics) that hasn't really been explored in much detail. While it's certainly not without its flaws, they're mainly in its presentation, not its content.

The DVD

Video

The Creation of the Universe is a 1985 program, and it looks more or less that old. The image is watchable, but on the lousy side of average; the picture is soft and often muddy-looking, with poor contrast. The program appears in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is in about the same condition as the video transfer, which is to say that it's not very good, without being actively awful. The sound is muted and somewhat muffled, which along with Ferris' soporific voice doesn't make for an exactly energizing listening experience.

Extras

The one special feature here is a very well-thought-out one: a full-length audio commentary track from Timothy Ferris, recorded at the time of the DVD creation, and thus offering a retrospective on the making of the program. The commentary is quite interesting, and certainly gives some repeat viewing value to the program. Ferris discusses a variety of topics, some related to the actual filmmaking and others to the content of the program. I'd have wished for him to spend more time discussing new information that has been discovered or new theories that have been proposed, but at least he does touch on those topics.

Final thoughts

The Creation of the Universe is no Cosmos, but it's a watchable documentary if you're interested in what physics has to tell us about the nature and creation of the universe, both on the large scale of galaxies and the small scale of atoms and subatomic particles. Though it was produced in 1985, the content (if not the presentation) has stood the test of time quite well; viewers who are willing to put up with some unnecessary mysticism at the end, as well as a really terrible narrator, will find that The Creation of the Universe has some interesting and thought-provoking material to present. Rent it.