Goal For The Green

Ken Burn’s highly-anticipated documentary THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA arrived in stores, on DVD and Blu-ray October 6, 2009 from PBS Home Video and Paramount Home Entertainment.  It is loaded with bonus material, including a behind-the-scenes making of a featurette, contemporary stories from the National Parks, outtakes and much more.

Directed by Burns and co-produced with his longtime colleague Dayton Duncan, who also wrote the script, the 12-hour film epic, is the story of an idea that is uniquely American.  We are indeed fortunate, to have the most special places in the nation preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone. Filmed over the course of more than six years,it showcases,some of nature’s most spectacular locales — from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska.  It is a story of people from every conceivable background: rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so, reminded their fellow citizens of the full and true meaning of democracy.

“We’re thrilled that this film, which is among the most visually stunning we’ve produced, will be our first on Blu-ray,” Burns said.  “Our national parks are among our most beautiful landscapes, and we’ve done our best to capture them in different seasons and during different times of the day.”

THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA traces the birth of the national park concept in the mid-1800s and follows its evolution for nearly 150 years.  Burns states that,”Our business is history, and history is about stories that are over.”
“The National Parks ” journey begins in 1851, and continues chronologically, ending in 1980.  It was a deliberate decision not to bring the story of the parks up to present day, because many of the same issues,problems,conflicts and arguments that we discuss today, are present in the history of the parks. Using archival photographs, first-person accounts of historical characters and stunning cinematography, the series chronicles the steady addition of new parks through the stories of the people who helped create them and save them from destruction.  It is simultaneously a biography of compelling characters, and of the American landscape.

THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA is also a visual feast, featuring some of the most extensive, breathtaking images of the national parks system ever captured on film. It contains the most contemporary footage of any Ken Burns film since “Lewis and Clark,” shot principally by chief cinematographer Buddy Squires (who has photographed all of Burn’s films), long-time Florentine cameraman Allen Moore, Lincoln Else (who also is a former ranger at Yosemite) and Burns himself.  The film also contains over 1,900 still photographs from 262 sources.

Shot in 53 of our parks, and over the course of six years, spanning every season and from every conceivable angle, THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA makes use of 800 rolls of Super 16mm film. Burns captures the variations and nuances of light and contrast during prime shooting periods: at dawn and at dusk,delivering the richer and more luminous image that marks the Ken Burns-style.

“We the people, are co-owners of some of the some of the most beautiful places one can see: gorgeous seafronts, the highest free-falling waterfall on the continent (Yosemite),the greatest collection of geysers on the planet (Yellowstone), and the Grandest of all Canyons on earth.”  There are 58 parks in our national system, that everyone should see.  I have chosen to narrow down the list, to 10 that are must see.

The opener, explores the issue of land use and protection, and Theodore Roosevelt’s role and advocacy of preservation of these beautiful areas.  The two oldest parks Yosemite (means “for I am happy”), and Yellowstone, which became the world’s first national park in 1872, are covered in the first two hours.   Shelton Johnson, an interview subject of Kens Burn’s, and park ranger at Yosemite, describes that “A single moment in a place like Yellowstone, or most any of our National Parks, can last forever.”  They are eloquent places in nature, where you can go and leave civilization behind.  It doesn’t take long to realize that the spot you are in,  is among the most beautiful places on the planet.

The Grand Canyon, boasts rocks nearly half the age of our planet, carved over millions of years by the patience of the Colorado River.  Mt. McKinley, the tallest mountain on our continent, is the star of Alaska’s Denali National Park.  Due to the complex weather conditions there, and the height of the mountain, it is often shrouded in cloud cover.  However, Burns encountered the thrill of a lifetime, by setting up a time-lapse shot of the mountain.  After nearly three hours, the clouds parted, revealing one of the most remarkable and best shots in the film series.

Then there is the Great Smokey Mountains, which remains the most visited of all the national parks.  There are thousands of acres of old growth forests, that have long provided a peaceful sanctuary for the soul.  Acadia, along the coast of Maine, loosely translated in French means “heaven on earth.”  Some of the first rays of sunlight, reach the U.S. shores at this small, but beautiful place, that became part of the National Parks in 1919.  The Everglades of Florida, are an oasis in the midst, of one of the fastest growing states in the nation.

Utah, is blessed with both Zion and Glacier National Parks.  Zion, was once threatened by being “loved to death,” from too much visitation.  Cars and smog set into the canyon.  Now visitors are bused up and down the canyon, after meeting at the visitors center.

Burn’s first visited Shenandoah national park, in 1959, at the age of 6, when his Mom was dying of cancer. The memory of the love he felt, of his Dad holding his hand at such a difficult time, but in such a beautiful place, remained stamped in his memory.  He credits the parks for “allowing it to happen.”

While it is everyone’s right to see such beauty and grandeur that the parks provide, we must not forget our role to show respect, for the species that depend on these habitats to thrive and propagate.  Restraint and reverence for the wilderness, and its inhabitants, hasn’t always been our strong suit.  We humans, can tend to go above and beyond our rights as a species, even when it comes to the best idea we’ve ever had: to preserve – our national parks.

Today, and in this economy, we need the spiritual awakening, nourishment, and aesthetic healing, that the beauty of these parks can provide. They tend to allow us, if only for a brief space in time, to leave behind the distractions and routines of our daily lives.  We can become one with nature, and have a chance to find and connect to our best selves.  That is the best and most powerful part of the best idea we’ve ever had.  If you can’t afford to visit or, even if you do, this visual epic, is the next best thing to being there.  It will always preserve the memory of your visit.

Here is what you get in this exceptionally beautiful view of our parks.

The six-part series is narrated by Peter Coyote and features first-person voices read by some of America’s greatest actors including Tom Hanks, Andy Garcia, Josh Lucas, Eli Wallach, Campbell Scott, Sam Waterston, John Lithgow, George Takei, Philip Bosco, Carolyn McCormick, Adam Arkin and Kevin Conway.

Boasting three hours of extensive bonus material, the DVD and Blu-ray presentation features include two featurettes that explore the filmmaking process with Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan and their crew on location at Denali, the Grand Canyon and other national parks.  The set also includes a mini-documentary narrated by Ken Burns, celebrating the diverse history of the national parks, The National Parks:  This Is America; a series of five short films on contemporary stories from the National Parks: San Antonio Missions: Keeping History Alive, a look at missions as thriving centers of Latino culture; Yosemite’s Buffalo Soldiers, the story of African American soldiers who patrolled the High Sierras; Mount Rushmore: Telling America’s Stories, about the establishment of a new interpretive program; Manzanar: Never Again, the story of how a former Japanese internment camp became a national park; and City Kids in National Parks which looks at the National Park Service’s effort to bring inner city kids into parks.  Additional bonus material includes Musical Journeys through the National Parks, featuring a National Parks timeline plus six music videos showcasing aerials and footage from every national park set to music from the series; two outtakes including an interview with author and former National Parks Service ranger, Nevada Barr, and “The Boss,” the story of Frank Pinkley and Casa Grande.

DVD & Blu-ray
THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA is a six-disc set presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Surround, English 2.0 Stereo and Spanish 2.0 Stereo with English and Spanish subtitles and described video for the visually impaired.  The DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $99.99 U.S./$109.99 Canada.  The Blu-ray is presented in 1080i high definition 1.78:1 with English 5.1 TrueHD and Spanish Stereo and English SDH and Spanish SDH subtitles and described video for the visually impaired.  The Blu-ray will be available for the suggested retail price of $129.99 U.S./$144.99 Canada.
Disc 1:
Episode One: “The Scripture of Nature” (1851-1890)
Special Feature:
The Making of THE NATIONAL PARKS (HD)

Disc 2:
Episode Two: “The Last Refuge” (1890-1915)
Special Feature:
Capturing the Parks (HD)

Disc 3:
Episode Three: “The Empire of Grandeur” (1915-1919)
Special Feature:
Musical Journeys Through the National Parks (HD)
Disc 4:
Episode Four: “Going Home” (1920-1933)
Special Feature:
Outtakes (HD)

Disc 5:
Episode Five: “Great Nature” (1933-1945)
Special Feature:
The National Parks: This is America (HD)

Disc 6:
Episode Six: “The Morning of Creation” (1946-1980)
Special Feature:
Contemporary Stories from America’s National Parks (HD)