Cosmic Zoom

The science of film animation and a new knowledge of outer space bring to the screen this spectacular, awe-inspiring view of our solar system. Staggering distances are eliminated through the art of film, and there, before our eyes, is displayed the wonder of the universe. Moon, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Venus, Earth, the most favoured planet, and all the other satellites and lesser matter in space are seen in amazing detail and perspective in their eternal orbits around the sun.

A triumph of film art, creating on the screen a vast, awe-inspiring picture of the universe as it would appear to a voyager through space, this film was among the sources used by Stanley Kubrick in his 2001: A Space Odyssey. Realistic animation takes you into far regions of space, beyond the reach of the strongest telescope, past Moon, Sun, and Milky Way into galaxies yet unfathomed.

This superbly animated science film traces the evolution of North America from the Earth's geophysical beginnings, through the genesis of the first living organisms, right up to the arrival of humans. Radiant colours and smooth-flowing animation evoke sizzling lava rivers, oceans bursting with life, and freezing ice ages. The film provides an excellent view of the time frame within which these remarkable events took place and highlights the fact that, relatively speaking, we are newcomers to Planet Earth.