Search - Ape to Man (History Channel) on DVD

What is this? The 70s?

Michael Valdivielso | Alexandria, VA | 03/09/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Ape To Man by the History Channel is television's version of a soap opera based on some kind of badly written romance novel. While they do a good job of chronicling the discoveries and the scientists involved in the search for our past the theories and answers they sometimes come up with are based less on science and more on the need to gain viewers.

For example, showing the Neanderthals being wiped our by early modern man, saying that Neanderthals didn't have art, those are statements designed to shock but have little in the way of fact behind them. The fossil record shows both groups living side by side in Europe for thousands of years. If we took thousands of years to kill a group that we outnumbered, outsmarted and outarmed than early modern men were twits. Tigers would have taken over by now.

Also the Neanderthals DID have art. Now, maybe they were copying us, but copy cats or not, they had a creative enough mind to make art. Trying to picture them as backwards and less developed than us is only useful to those who want to believe they were so. Once again, to support the idea that we wiped them out.

We are not natural born killers - blaming our genes for actions we did, or did not do, is just a way to get out of the guilt of such things as wars and genocide. Yes, they happen. No, you can't blame our DNA. We were hunted well before we became hunters. Modern problems are caused by greed, bad planning and self-centered minds - not by some actions by the first humans that may, or may not, have happened.

The questions are interesting but the answers are nothing but the same old ones people have been parroting for decades.

If this has been made in the 70s it would have been ahead of it's times. But this came out in 2005 which means it is a waste of money to buy, new or used."

Great for showing in class

A. Callis | Raleigh, NC United States | 02/28/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I teach Intro to Anthropology at a local community college, and showed this in class last week. The students were engaged throughout, which is quite a feat, considering it's a 9:30am class. The information is factual, and the acting is only a little over the top. A great way to introduce students to the ideas behind human evolution, and to walk them step by step through the discoveries we've made in the past century. I would recommend it for high school and college classes."

History Channel = Good Stuff

Paul P. Sullivan | 07/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I guess you can say it is somewhat made for mainstream television with all of the dramatic cuts, but that just spices up the content that is being viewed; also, it makes it easier to spread this beautiful story. It is worth watching."

Ape to Man

Nick James Johnson | 05/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD has many interesting facts to offer in for human evolution. It is becoming more apparent that human evolution is real. Within even the last 20 years palentologists are gathering up the fossil and DNA evidence of our past. Hopefully 20 years from now we will have a better understanding of who we are and where we came from. This film is a must see."