Does anybody know of a good documentary movie about the planets?

[LeftyMom]

My five year old wants one. It doesn't have to be kid specific- he gets a lot out of educational programing geared toward adults-
provided its not overly technical and has decent visuals.

Thanks in advance!

LM, for LeftyKid

[buddhamama]

1. Carl Sagan's Cosmos

comes to mind. my son watched it when he around five and enjoyed it.

[LeftyMom]

5. Hmmm. I'd have thought that'd be a bit talky, but I'll see if he likes it

It never even occured to me a five year old might like that one. :)

[GalleryGod]

9. A Classic. For the music alone. The Best.

[MissB]

10. I third this rec.

[cally]

2. It's not a movie, but Nasa has incredible resources for

kids on their site. I think the website is thenineplanets.com. My oldest, many years ago, got fascinated by the planets. We found the Nasa site was the best.

[LeftyMom]

6. Thanks!

I'll go bookmark that for him. :D

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Isaac Asimov did a great one in the 80s called "The Planets"

with a fair amount of wonderful technical/scientific information about the planets that appears on-screen while computer simulations of the planets of fly-bys and other cool effects happen, all done to the score of Holst's "The Planets" - and so each planet gets its own screen time.

It was really wonderful! We used to watch it a lot when I was in college.

It's on DVD as of 2003 - I just might have to buy this!

http://www.amazon.com/Voyage-Outer-Planets-Beyond-Asimov/dp/B000085EFA

[LeftyMom]

7. I'll have to find that for him, thanks!

He likes classical music, so that should make him really happy.

[billyskank]

11. That is the one

It's based on the Voyager flights. It was made before Voyager II got to Neptune, so the information is pretty old, but it's pretty entertaining. He'll love it.

It's called "The Planets," natch. :)

[Deep13]

4. A&E's The Planets

It's from the 1990s, so it is a little dated, but not much. The only thing I do not like about Cosmos is that it is pretty depressing at times. There is a lot on the destructive nature of humanity. Also, it is about astronomy and cosmology generally rather than being just about the planets.

[LeftyMom]

8. I'll look that one up!

Thank you!