This exhaustive collection features each and every documentary Michael Plain has made for the BBC. Featuring AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, FULL CIRCLE, SAHARA, HIMALAYA, HEMMINGWAY... more
under the BBC. The following documentaries feature on the collection. Around the World in 80 Days: Michael Palin takes up the famous challenge. Air travel is forbid...
together in one collection.The Set Includes:Great Railway Journeys of the World.Around the World in 80 Days.Pole to Pole.Full Circle.Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure.Sahara.Himalaya.
displayed at their most attractive inSahara. There's the friendly, avuncular manner; the easy-going charm that women find so attractive; and that vein of surrealistic, sardonic humour that is the legacy of his Monty Python days. All these characteristics combined to create the perfect host for the ambitious travel programmes with which he's latterly been associated. The shows (and the handsome companion books that invariably accompany them) avoid the sometimes over-serious approach of other presenters and show us some very exotic parts of the world filtered through Palin's very idiosyncratic vision. Audiences and readers can't get enough.Saharagives us the latest of his epic voyages, and this one possibly represents the most arduous challenge of his career: across the massive and unforgiving Sahara desert. In this beautifully produced volume (studded with some eye-catching colour photographs), we are taken on a unique journey, as Palin reveals the Sahara to us as something considerably more than endless sand dunes. Facet by facet, Michael Palin uncovers a colourful and eccentric panoply of cultures, with chequered histories that stretch back to the dawn of time. Beginning (and ending) in Gibraltar, we are taken from the fabled realms of the ancient Egyptians to the Islamic republics of the present day, as Palin conjures up a journey that alternates between gallows humour and often considerable discomfort. Most of us will never experience the teeming nightlife of Dakar or travel down the river Niger to the fabled city of Timbuktu. But Palin has done it for us, and this book (with or without the accompanying TV series) is a highly enjoyable way to relive that journey with him. --Barry Forshaw
displayed at their most attractive in Sahara. There's the friendly, avuncular manner; the easy-going charm that women find so attractive; and that vein of surrealistic, sardonic humour that is the legacy of his Monty Python days. All these characteristics combined to create the perfect host for the ambitious travel programmes with which he's latterly been associated. The shows (and the handsome companion books that invariably accompany them) avoid the sometimes over-serious approach of other presenters and show us some very exotic parts of the world filtered through Palin's very idiosyncratic vision. Audiences and readers can't get enough. Sahara gives us the latest of his epic voyages, and this one possibly represents the most arduous challenge of his career: across the massive and unforgiving Sahara desert. In this beautifully produced volume (studded with some eye-catching colour photographs), we are taken on a unique journey, as Palin reveals the Sahara to us as something considerably more than endless sand dunes. Facet by facet, Michael Palin uncovers a colourful and eccentric panoply of cultures, with chequered histories that stretch back to the dawn of time. Beginning (and ending) in Gibraltar, we are taken from the fabled realms of the ancient Egyptians to the Islamic republics of the present day, as Palin conjures up a journey that alternates between gallows humour and often considerable discomfort. Most of us will never experience the teeming nightlife of Dakar or travel down the river Niger to the fabled city of Timbuktu. But Palin has done it for us, and this book (with or without the accompanying TV series) is a highly enjoyable way to relive that journey with him. --Barry Forshaw
Michael Palin proceeded to stretch even his endurance with his next journey, travelling due south from the North Pole, arriving five months later at the southernmost point of the globe, the South Pole. The result isPole to Pole, Palin's account of his extraordinary journey between July and December 1991, passing through 17 countries from Greenland and the former Soviet Union in the north to Kenya, South Africa and Chile in the south.From the frozen wastes of both poles, to the scorching heat of Africa,Pole to Poleis a travelogue of bizarre extremes. Palin revels in the surrealism of it all as he travels through a range of vastly different European and African communities undergoing massive social and political upheavals in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Palin's shrewd observations are as ever interspersed with his eye for the weird and the comical, as he meets Santa Claus and Lenin, goes shopping for camels in Omdurman, and makes a final hectic dash to the South Pole via Chile. It's all quite exhausting! --Jerry Brotton
A review by stevieray on The Michael Palin Collection (DVD) September 10th, 2007
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Loved it
Story
Outstanding
Advantages:
The best travel documentaries ever .
Disadvantages:
Finding enough time to watch it all .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
There are travel documentaries and there are those featuring Michael Palin. This superb box set is not so much a who's who of travel, but more a where's where. Palin's gentle manner and off-beat humor if as much part of the entertainment as the destinations he visits. Even if you don't like geography, you'll be hard pressed to find exploration of our planet from the comfort of your own sofa any better than this.
Tech Spec: 16 discs covering seven Michael Palin television series filmed for the BBC. A total running time that runs into days not just hours. Box set contents: Hemingway Adventure - retracing the footsteps of writer Ernest Hemingway Around The World In 80 Days - Jules Verne fiction put to the test Pole To Pole - from North to South across Northern Europe, Russia & Africa Full Circle - a 50,000 mile trip around the coastlines of the Pacific Ocean Sahara - a trek across the worlds largest desert. Himalaya - the highs and lows of the greatest mountain range of all. Great Railway Journeys - Palins favorite hobby, train journeys. This time a little closer to home, the UK & Ireland
However, if I have to choose one of the series sets to watch over and over again if stuck on a desert island with only a dvd player for company, it would have to be Around The World In 80 Days. Why?, because there is an air of tension about the whole thing. Jules Verne's book is fiction, Michael Palin's travels are real. You can almost sense that with each new day he thought to himself, "why am I doing this." Enjoy.
Advantages: travel the world from the comfort of your sofa Disadvantages: none
...The words of Buddha that I have used as a title here really sum up MichaelPalin's current career path. I guess you could call him a professional traveller, an Alan Wicker for the modern age. Except for the initial series where he set him self the task of following the mythical Phileas Fogg around the world in eighty days, Palin is a traveller with out purpose other than to enjoy the journey. What better job can there be? Shows such as these rely immensely on the presenter and many stand or fall on that factor alone. Mark Williams show "On The Rails" opened up the world of steam to many, solely through his enthusiasm and nature. Palin shines through in a similar way. He is the perfect host and travelling companion, a mix of old school English charm and off beat humour with an intelligent mind and a sharp view of the world around him. His...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Hours of fun for all the family Disadvantages: not as funny as Monty Python
...First of all apologies for the title, the small print should read *product may contain less than 80 DVDs.
But I just had to!
What you do get with this amazing boxed set is all seven of MichaelPalin's globe trotting travel experiences, namely: Around the World in 80 days, Pole to Pole, Full Circle, Great Railway Journeys, Hemingway Adventure, Sahara and Himalaya. You actually get 16discs, containing around 40 hours of televisual viewing pleasure.
If you've never heard of MichaelPalin, essentially he is a very pleasant, easy going chap, who was asked back in 1988 if he would like to recreate Phileas Fogg's fictional journey around the world in 80 days. Following the success of that series, someone at the BBC must have decided that his relaxed presentation, mild bewilderment and genuine amazement at the foreign places and customs...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
This exhaustive collection features each and every documentary Michael Plain has made for the BBC. Featuring AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, FULL CIRCLE, SAHARA, HIMALAYA, HEMMINGWAY ADVENTURE and GREAT RAILWAY JOURNEY.
Languages
Main Language: English
Technical information
Special Features: Exclusive interviews with Michael Palin
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Listed on Ciao since : 30/10/2006
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03.12.2005
25.01.2005
