looking for a list of quality documentaries

silverharp

I have a 10 year old who is quite bright and I wanted to start building up a library of cosmos related documentaries. Can anyone point to a list of recommendations or have any yourselves? Khanacademy have a good primer set of videos and am searching around Ted videos.
Does anyone rate the Discovery channel stuff? "How the universe works" doesnt seem to bad but a lot of their stuff is of dubious quality.

greedygoblin

You could check out http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/

Lots of documentaries to look through there. Each one is given a rating out of 10 by users so you can gauge whether a doc might be worth your time looking at or not.

Also, keep an eye on BBC4. They have some really good docs from time to time.

You might find this and this useful too.

d1sc0d3v1l

Similar to GreedyGoblins link, try searching for "moviesfoundonline", first hit is a great site for documentaries. (Sorry, my account is new so can't link)

If your looking for a recommendation for an actual "cosmos" documentary, I reckon one of the best series I've seen is: "When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions". (So long as you can tolerate a little American style commentary/editing)

It can be acquired in HD in various ways , and although I'm not normally one to care about HD all that much, this one really deserves it.

As an aside, one war series that rarely gets a mention but I found to be brilliant is: "Vietnam: A Television History"

Bongalongherb

If you want to question the universe in a multiplication of many scientists/astronomers and astrophysicists regarding theories for and against, then this documentary should be interesting for you....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t2glWNeVyg

Myrddin

The Brian Cox ones are very good, Wonders of the Solar System & Wonders of the Universe. There's also a very good one I seen on Nat Geo several years back called Journey to the Edge of the Universe (but make sure to get the one with the English guy narrating).

Maximus Alexander

Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage is an oldie but a goodie. As it was made in 1980, there will doubtless be plenty of outdated info in there, but Carl Sagan is such an inspirational person that it's probably worth watching anyway.

Then, there is its recent follow up series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, with Neil deGrasse Tyson. Definitely one for the list.

Saipanne

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage is an oldie but a goodie. As it was made in 1980, there will doubtless be plenty of outdated info in there, but Carl Sagan is such an inspirational person that it's probably worth watching anyway.

Then, there is its recent follow up series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, with Neil deGrasse Tyson. Definitely one for the list.

I'd particularly recommend the latter for a ten year old. It has animated sections for the likes of Newton, they are very enjoyable.

silverharp

thanks guys, I have downloaded some of the individual suggestions now and the online collection sites look great