Ancient Voices, a history documentary series from Time Life, takes a look at some of the intriguing stories and mysteries buried in the past, from the possible origins of legends of the Holy Grail and El Dorado, to the significance of monuments like Stonehenge and the Taj Mahal, to entire civilizations that have been lost in time, like the city dwellers of Cahokia in North America.

The Ancient Voices set contains eleven episodes of the documentary series: "Tracking the First Americans," "Egypt's Lost City," "Cahokia: America's Lost City," "Seeking Noah's Flood," "In Pursuit of the Holy Grail," "Traders of the Dead Sea Scrolls," "The Secret of Stonehenge," "Riddle of Nubia's Tombs," "The Mystery of the Taj Mahal," "Aztecs: Inside the Hidden Empire," and "The Search for El Dorado."

However, be advised that this is not the complete series. Missing from the set are six episodes: "Unveiling the Shroud of Turin," "Mazes and Labyrinths," "Who Was Moses," "Gladiators: The Brutal Truth," "China's Immortal Emperor," and "Decoding Peru's Nazca Lines." It's disappointing and inexplicable that the DVD set is incomplete, as the titles of the omitted episodes sound as interesting as the others, if not more so. There's no indication on the packaging that this is the first of several sets, either.

Ancient Voices tackles interesting subjects, ones that are often off the beaten track of archaeology and history. I'm fond of ancient history and tend to seek out books and documentaries on the subject, and even so several of the episodes of Ancient Voices were on topics that were new to me, like "Cahokia" and "The Mystery of the Taj Mahal," or added a few interesting tidbits to something I was already well versed in, like "Tracking the First Americans."

This distinctive focus is actually a bit odd for a program that, in its manner of presentation, appears to be aimed at a very general audience; if you don't have a solid background in the more firmly established theories and discoveries of archaeology, you might end up with a rather odd perception of ancient history by the time you're done with Ancient Voices. It focuses on the oddities, the subjects that attract the more extreme or "sensational" theories, and it doesn't make much of an effort to place these stories in the context of well-known material.

There's also little distinction made between fringe theories and ones that are firmly based in abundant evidence; not all ideas are equally valid, but the more sensational ones are easier to dramatize. I'd have liked to have seen a clearer explanation of prevailing ideas on each subject, and what the competing theories to explain a given piece of evidence are. To be fair, Ancient Voices may stray into more hypothetical territory, but it does stick with science: for every theory, we do find that a real archaeologist or historian making the claims, and some evidence to back it up.

Ancient Voices uses a mix of footage of actual sites (often in the process of being excavated), short interviews with archaeologists and historians, re-enactments, and computer-generated images. The CGI, or so-called "state of the art virtual reality reconstructions," is hardly state of the art. In fact, it's embarrassingly crude in general and downright wince-inducing when we see human figures modeled this way; we'd have been much better off with live actors for all the reenactments, so I suspect the CGI was a cost-cutting measure.

I can live with the topics being a bit sensationalized, and even with the awful CGI; the test of Ancient Voices really lies in its content: does it deliver on its promises of fascinating insights into ancient history and myth? The answer is, a little bit. In each episode, we do get a few interesting facts about the subject. However, it's abundantly clear that the filmmakers didn't have enough material to fill a full 50 minutes for each program: the episodes are unevenly paced and are bulked out with a great deal of filler and fluff. In the end, you'll probably have learned something new, but you'll have exhausted the material in one viewing: there's no repeat viewing value here.

The DVD

Ancient Voices is a four-DVD set, with the discs packaged in a cardboard fold-out holder that fits into a glossy paper slipcase.

Video

The image quality is reasonable throughout the series. Colors look bright and clear, and the image is clean and clear, though edge enhancement is heavy at times. Compression artifacts are noticeable in many scenes, especially shots that rapidly pan over an area with lots of detail, like a forest. The series is presented in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, which appears to be its original aspect ratio.

Audio

The basic stereo soundtrack does the job satisfactorily. The narrator is always clear and easy to understand, though Mark Hamill rather over-dramatizes the material, making the narration reminiscent of a movie preview voiceover. It's a clean and balanced track.

Extras

There are no special features on the DVDs.

Final thoughts

Ancient Voices offers a light-weight look into some intriguing topics in ancient history, examining mysteries and theories that tend to be off the beaten path of most archaeologists' investigations. If you find the episode titles intriguing, Ancient Voices is probably worth a viewing, but the fluffy nature of the episodes (and the fact that the DVD set doesn't contain the full Ancient Voices series) means that I'll suggest it as a rental rather than a purchase.