Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3127 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-11-13
• Rating: To Be Announced
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 16
• Running time: 2104 minutes

DVD Description
The Michael Palin Collection contains all the documentaries that Michael Palin has made with the BBC.

The following documentaries feature on the collection.

Around the World in 80 Days: Michael Palin takes up the famous challenge. Air travel is forbidden, and wherever possible he uses the same routes and transport as Jules Verne's fictional hero, meeting many interesting characters en route. As he races across continents and against the clock, Michael's charm and ingenuity delight the armchair traveller.

Pole to Pole: Michael Palin's second televised challenge is to travel from the North to the South Pole, by land and sea. The crossing is varied and frequently gruelling, passing through Russia just days before the abortive Gorbachev coup, then on through Turkey, Egypt, Sudan and South Africa, hopefully arriving in time to catch the only ship from Africa to Antarctica!

Full Circle: In Full Circle, Michael Palin sets off from Diomede, in the Bering Strait, and hopes to return there one year later via Russia, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and the whole length of the Americas. But right from the start things don't go to plan...

Sahara: Michael Palin's lust for travel is as strong as it was when he went around the world in 80 days, from pole to pole and then full circle. His latest objective is one of the great challenges in world travel: crossing the Sahara Desert...

Himalaya: In his most challenging journey yet, Michael Palin tackles the Himalayas, the greatest mountain range on earth, a virtually unbroken wall of rock stretching 1,800 miles from the borders of Afghanistan to south-west China.

Hemingway Adventure: Palin journeys to Valencia in Spain, following in the footsteps of his favourite author, Ernest Hemingway.

Great Railway Journey: Derry or Londonderry, depending on religion or which part of Ireland you're from, is the starting point of Michael Palin's great Irish railway journey. A journey which will take him from this ancient walled city to the most western tip of Ireland.

But this is far more than a sightseeing tour. It is a quest for family roots, an attempt to trace his great grandmother - Brita Gallagher - who set sail from Ireland 150 years ago during the potato famine, bound for a new life in Burlington, New Jersey, USA.

DVD Extra: Each series contains an exclusive interview with Michael Palin.

Synopsis
This exhaustive collection features each and every documentary Michael Plain has made for the BBC. Featuring AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, FULL CIRCLE, SAHARA, HIMALAYA, HEMMINGWAY ADVENTURE and GREAT RAILWAY JOURNEY.

Customer Reviews

Edutainment!
This has to be one of the most entertaining and educational boxed sets ever made. Not only does it show you corners of the globe that most of us will never see but Michael Palin does it with a humour that almost everyone will enjoy. He is priveleged to meet with distinguished hosts on his travels and the insight he gives us into people's lives is truly humbling at times. My only grumble is that I would like to see some 'bloopers' as an extra (maybe they're there but I haven't found them yet). I look forward to the next series around Europe!

My most over-played dvds!
Apart from the misfiring first railways series from many years ago, this series has been constantly enjoyable! But looking back now, it's not just a documentary about different people and countries, it's a way of seeing how the world has changed. BAck when he went around the world in 80 days, he and the crew really were alone. No mobile phones, no internet, not much help at all from anyone else. And it wasn't all that long ago either! This is a series which just lasts and lasts, and I love it.

Nobody expects...
..or indeed should expect to glean so much pleasure from a DVD box set. I was on a training course when 80 days came out. We were supposed to bond in the evenings and I got stuck listening to somebody drone on about jubilee clips or something or other. The bar-man turned on the TV and there was Mr. Palin going about his business. I didn't even pretend to be paying attention to Mr Bore thereafter and settled down to an hour of sheer enjoyment and it has been that way ever since. I greet each new series with barely contained glee and have even marked my calendar for the New Europe series. His charming demeanour, bonhomie and never ceasing enthusiasm for an adventure rubs off seemlessly. A delight!