We’ve seen a lot of exciting stuff from the History Channel, and now they’ve sent out one more exciting item for us, the massive Earth-based multi-pack known as Our Planet. Some familiar faces are here, as well as some new ones, so there’s a lot of value waiting for us in this one.

Our Planet offers three different programs in one. You’ll get How the Earth Was Made, the series version of which we just covered not too long ago, that takes you back in time to show the science version of the creation of Earth. We’ll follow that up with A Global Warning?, a speculative piece that shows the history of weather on Earth, and how that connects to current events to possibly show us how the weather of the past might well wind up the weather of the near future…with disastrous results. And lastly, we get Life After People, the featurette that became an entire series, a featurette that shows you what happens to the amazing things we’ve built and preserved for years when we’re not around to take care of them any more. The results are often striking.

And striking is the best way to describe this package. You’ll have phenomenal looks at the life of animals without people around, you’ll have a horrifying look at future weather gone terribly amok, and you’ll have a look at the forces some say shaped the entirety of the planet. If you’ve got any interest in anything even vaguely related to our home planet of Earth, then you owe it to yourself to get your hands on this massive DVD package.

And the sheer number of scientists! You’ll see biologists, geologists, and most every other kind of -ologist you ever thought you’d see and probably a few you never knew existed.

There are so many amazing things to see in this three disc pack that it will keep you well occupied for its entire total runtime of two hundred and eighty minutes. Seriously, clear your calendar and order a pizza before you settle in with this beastie because it will take you forever.

Still though, there are so many exciting things going on that it will be downright worth it. This is, frankly, awesome stuff and well worth your time to watch.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives the History Channel’s Our Planet an eight out of ten; between the sheer versatility and the incredible presentation of it all, it’s too great a sight to pass up. It’s a bit of a niche presentation, and it will take forever to get through, but it’s still pretty impressive all the while.

The earth is not as stable as we might think. Bits of it are constantly pushing at each other, forcing each other down, and in turn, shape and re-shape the world as we know it. The folks out at the History Channel sent over a copy of How the Earth Was Made: The Complete Season One for review, and no matter what you think about how the planet was actually made, this one will still impress you.

How the Earth Was Made: The Complete Season One will take you all over the world to various bizarre pieces of geology and then explain how a variety of forces–from plate tectonics to gravity–shaped and altered the relevant regions to create these bits of the earth. You’ll see how the various islands of New York came to be, as well as the massive, volatile volcano that is Krakatoa, as well as the deepest point on Earth, the Marianas Trench, and more besides.

Really, this is impressive, if just for the sheer amount of science going on in here. If you’ve got even a vague interest in geology this is going to be a massive primer of some of geology’s greatest hits. Strict creationists, meanwhile, should probably stay away lest they dehydrate themselves from screaming at their televisions.

Seriously, though, this is going for the “old earth” concept at nearly every turn. You’ll hear some variation of “millions of years” in pretty much every episode, and if you don’t subscribe to that particular point of view, you’re not going to be very happy here.

Still, even if you don’t favor the “old earth” point of view, you’ll still have reason to watch this, as you see things you never thought you’d ever see in your lifetime, from underwater vistas to tropical islands to incredible computer simulations of things getting blown up in catastrophic fashions. It’s very much worth watching, and ever better, you can break it up into segments for when you don’t want to spend three hours watching huge lists of episodes. And you’ll have plenty to work with here, too–this sucker weighs in at a whopping ten hours long. The History Channel has done some impressive stuff before, but this one is impressive on a geological level.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives the History Channel’s How the Earth Was Made The Complete Season One an eight out of ten for being philosophically shaky but entertaining with lots of exciting science and explosions to go around. If you’re a geology buff, this is going to be a definite must-see for you.

I’ve got a two-pronged delight here, sent to me courtesy of the History Channel, for you today–whether you’re a science buff or someone who just wants to give their home theater setup a good healthy workout, you’ll have just what you want with the massive six Blu-ray collection that is Earth and Space.

Earth and Space combines the complete first season of The Universe, the fifth season of which we’ve already covered out here, with the complete first season of How The Earth Was Made. The Universe goes after the various goings-on in the outer realms of human understanding, like Earth’s lone moon, the various threats the Earth faces from outer space phenomena (and there are a surprising lot of them!), and the search for extraterrestrial life. Meanwhile, How the Earth Was Made focuses on our own particular chunk of real estate, showing off the diverse geological forces at work behind things like the San Andreas Fault, New York, the Great Lakes, and more.

You’ve already gotten a look at The Universe, so it’s safe to say that no one’s going to be surprised when I tell you that the first season is quite a bit like the first. There are some differences, sure, but these all seem rather minor. Meanwhile, we’re getting something new with How The Earth Was Made, and this is pretty much standard History Channel fare, interspersing old photos and film clips–where available–with modern-era video and computer animation to explain many of the strange things that surround us every day.

It’s actually quite fun, and yes, your home theater will get a workout, with lots of great music and sound effects backing up History’s presentation. Admittedly, this isn’t for everyone–you’ve got to have some interest in Earth and space to get any enjoyment at all out of Earth And Space–but even if you’re not normally a science kind of person, you might be surprised by how engaging the History Channel’s presentation is. It’s something to watch, make no mistake. And frankly, if you’ve got kids, it’s a lot better to get them watching something like Earth and Space than, say, pretty much anything on MTV.

So while you’ll have to have at least a passing interest in the subject matter to get anywhere with this one, the end result will be well worth your time.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Earth and Space an eight out of ten for being terrific for what they are, and even pretty good for people who won’t be so interested.