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UK Holidays - Michael Palin - Himalaya
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List Price: $49.98
Our Price: $36.99
Your Save: $ 12.99 ( 26% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: BBC Warner
Starring: Michael Palin
Directed By: John-Paul Davidson, Roger Mills
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 9781419813030
Format: Box set
ISBN: 141981303X
Label: BBC Warner
Manufacturer: BBC Warner
Number Of Items: 3
Publisher: BBC Warner
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2005-07-19
Running Time: 352
Studio: BBC Warner
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Editorial Reviews:
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Hot on the heels of his adventures in the Sahara, Michael Palin takes on the abode of snow and begins a 2000-mile journey across this mighty and majestic region of Asia. Encountering extremes of wealth and poverty, altitude and freezing cold, he once again brings his unique wit, charm and wisdom to each of 6 episodes. Along the way he encounters, among many others, the Dalai Lama, the Bhutanese Royal Family and the once feared head hunting tribe of the Konyak. While on his travels he passes through Afghanistan, across India to the feared Death Zone near the base of Mount Everest and then onto the Bhutanese capital before arriving in the Bay of Bengal. DVD Features:
Interviews
Introduction
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Finally Had to Break Down and Spend the Money...
Comment: I kept checking this series out of the library (because I am inherently cheap). I enjoyed it more and more and the library copy kept getting scratchier -- the decision was clear. The soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission. This is the next best thing for all of us who will probably never have the money, time, or courage to make this trek. Now I get to go every night. The "Queen of Cheap" recommends you buy one too...
Customer Rating:
Summary: The highest form of entertainment
Comment: This time ex-Monty Python and all round nice guy Michael Palin takes us on a journey through the Himalayas, visiting not only some very little seen countries (Bhutan for example), but introducing the viewer to cultures rarely exposed to a western audience.
The narration and indeed presentation is, as always with Michael Palin, witty and insightful, leaving you both inspired and with a smile on your lips, but the imagery in this series is second to none. The astounding and breathtaking landscapes are absolutely magnificent.
There are as on the other Palin travels DVDs very good extra material in this release, including an interview with Palin and loads of scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor.
Highest possible recommendation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Himalaya Makes Leaves Me Breathless
Comment: Michael Palin breathes new life into stale travelogues, he is so friendly that he attracts wonderful people. Himalaya starts out rather dull, maybe it's the country - there are no women in the society but by the end of the tour there are plenty of women in sight and in the interviews. By the second episode I was caught up in the beautiful landscape and the interesting cultures. The interview with the Dalai Lama is one of the best I've seen. There is much information on cultures, religions, the out of the way tribes, food, and beauty of the areas, and most importantly of the diversity of the people. I can't wait to try another Palin series.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointed
Comment: There was so much Michale Palin could have shown and narrated about in this series. I liked his sahara series and was expecting this to be as or perhaps more enjoyable. I found this series on The Himalayas dissapointing. Its not one of those dvds I keep watching over and over again. His choice of places was what I was most dissapointed in. What was the point in spending so much time in the plains? Visiting dentists, talking to Imran Khan etc? He could have spent more time in other interesting places in the vast Himalayan landscape.
What I did like in this series is the time spent in Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal. These episodes I thought showcased the true culture of the Himalayan people.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Inspiration? Michael Palin!
Comment: Tragically, it is not easy to get access to BBC shows in the USA. There are some truly great series, for example all the travel series done by Michael Palin (some more amazing than others, but all very good). You might recognize him from his days as a star in Monty Python or from the film "A Fish Called Wanda." Part of what makes him a great travel series host is that he retains his humor while exploring extremely fascinating parts of the globe. His series are very balanced, informative, and entertaining all at the same time.
The most refreshing thing about his series is that they are not presented as "look at all these great touristic places I have been," but rather the camera is more of a silent witness to his adventures. It really just follows him as he sets out to do his carefully researched itineraries ("Around the World in 80 Days," "Pole to Pole," "Full Circle," "Sahara," "Himalaya") or themes ("Hemingway Adventure," "Palin's New Europe"). His style is both objective and subjective. Whilst retaining a journalistic like objectivity he also lets you know how he subjectively feels about the places he visits and about how he personally feels in regards to his personal health both physically and psychologically: he shares his apprehensions, feelings of triumph or defeat, relief or disparity, amazement and disappointments, mourning or elation or even neutrality, sickness and homesickness or feelings of health; in other words, his style is to bring the richness of a written travelogue to film. You get the feeling that you are watching his diary; for example, when he does his post trip/editing room voice-overs and other commentary, he adds his comments from it.
You see him get altitude sickness in the Himalayas ("Himalaya"), and you see him participate in a bizarre yet hilarious crossing-the-international-date-line ritual performed by the ship crew on his way from Japan to the USA (in "Around the World in 80 Days.") Moreover, the trips have quite large budgets so there really is no limit to what kind of itinerary he can dream up. In "Around the World in 80 Days" he set out to literally circumnavigate the globe, but not just in a ship, he uses any means of ground transportation he can find, which includes joining ship barges. The one stipulation is no air transportation. In other series his itineraries are equally as grand: in "Full Circle" he makes a trip around the Pacific Rim and has the unique privilege of hiring a helicopter to see some difficult to get to parts of far eastern Russia and after, true to Palin style, learns Russian drinking songs from the pilot while drinking vodka with him; in "Pole to Pole" he takes the only commercial plane that flies from South America to the South Pole, a ticket that is prohibitively expensive for your average traveller.
It was very easy for me to get addicted to Michael Palin's series and I had the fortune of living in China where bootlegs of anything are easy to come by when I did. In the USA, his shows are difficult to come by. I know that the complete box set of all the series he has done so far (he has at least one or two more left in him) is sold at a bargain price in the UK. But for people living in the USA who cannot stand the fact that those DVDs are (probably) regioned to the effect that they will not even work on our DVD players here even when legitimately purchased and imported to the USA, perhaps the best alternative is to turn to the internet (cough, torrents, cough).
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