Documentary

DVD REVIEW . Vikings: Journey to New Worlds

One thing you may not suspect is that as much as I dig film, computing, science, and writing, I’m also dig history. In fact, at one point in my academic career I even considered History as a possible major. These days however, I am content to watch the History Channel, Discovery Channel, PBS’s Nova and the random sampling historical televisions specials. And, naturally, when visiting a museum with an IMAX screen I have been known to check out the history related offerings. But museum tickets grow more and more expensive these days, while home theater viewing grows more and more cozy, and as such I’ve managed to miss more than my fair share of IMAX attractions over the past few years. But, thanks to Vista Point Entertainment I’ve now caught Vikings: Journey to New Worlds, the newest IMAX attraction (still playing in many IMAX theaters), in the comfort of my own home.

Like it or not, the first thing you will notice about Vikings is its heavy use of CG for the Viking boats. You don’t usually expect to see CG in an IMAX production, and even if you did, given the fact the film was made in 2005, you wouldn’t expect it to look as dated as it does. But thankfully, the film quickly moves on into areas of Viking history, colonization and conquest, exploration and education, leaving the majority of the CG work behind in favor of actual education. Although the film’s 35 minute runtime allows only the most cursory of explorations into Viking history, the stuff it does touch upon is quite interesting. For instance, I had no idea that many of the names for the days of the week have their origins in names of Norse Gods. For example Thursday actually comes from “Thor’s Day”, or that conquering Viking tribes actually founded Russia.

The bulk of the film’s runtime covers the life of Eric the Red and his son, Leif Ericcson (our narrator through this portion), and their respective explorations of Iceland and North America (500 years before Columbus). There’s a big emphasis on the Viking oral tradition, their attitudes toward art and warfare, their gods and the eventual advancement of Christianity. It is all quite interesting, and would certainly make a nice educational tool for a high school or college European History class. Being an IMAX picture Vikings has its fair share of stunningly photographed vistas, lakes, and ice floes (shot on location in Iceland, Newfoundland, and Greenland), to complement the various items of historical interest. The DVD transfer is exceptionally clear, and even on the small screen these shots maintain a striking beauty.

While the appeal of history documentaries may not be that far reading these days, Vikings should find a home with history buffs and Lord of the Rings fans alike. Short and sweet, it should prove a nice introduction into Northern European history, and does much to convey the life and times of the historical Viking.

The DVD.

Vikings: Journey to New Worlds is presented in a high definition transfer from the original 70mm IMAX print, with your choice of English (Dolby and DTS 5.1), French, and Spanish language audio tracks. As mentioned above. The picture is stunning, and should display quite nicely on a high definition television. As far as special features are concerned, disc includes a 20 minute making-of covering the costume and production design, location and studio filming, and casting for the film, a trailer gallery of other Sky High Entertainment IMAX releases (I think I might actually check out Whales), and of course, the trailer for the film.

All in all, the disc is relatively slim, but this really wouldn’t be of any concern for the type of people who would be interested in viewing Vikings. If you are an educator, or just a Viking enthusiast, Vikings: Journey to New Worlds is worth a look. And if you are an educator, picking up the disc is far cheaper than carting a class full of hooligans to your local museum to catch a screening.

Vikings: Journey to New Worlds hits DVD on October 31st, 2006.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic since age six. A former film and English major, he is now a Java Developer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.