The Inventors' Specials (1996-1998)
Einstein/Galileo/Edison
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written by Heather Conkie
Directed by David Devine
Starring Michael Moriarty, Michal Suchánek, and Paul Soles

Features:

• Cast/crew biographies
  
• Making-of featurettes
  
• Production notes
  

Rating: NR, suitable for all audiences

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Rent 'em if you don't have kids, buy 'em if you do.

David Devine's series of educational programs presenting the biographies of famous artists, composers, and scientists have won accolades from all manner of places, from various educational watchdog groups to concerned parents' groups to the Emmy Awards. Taking these titanic figures from world history and spinning them into engaging "after-school" specials that will engage and enlighten a younger audience, Devine has succeeded where the vast majority of the public education system has failed - he created stories that young people could relate to, without treating said young people like drooling idiots.

These three discs, representing half of the Inventors' Specials series, detail the lives of Einstein, Galileo, and Edison, all of whom made unquestionable contributions to science and society. But in order to immediately draw in the younger audience, the stories invariably involve a kid. Galileo is saddled with a young Cosimo Medici in an attempt to educate the poor boy before his blindered world view gets him in trouble (of course, Galileo was no stranger to trouble himself, and much of the special revolves around his conflict with the Church, much as the Earth revolves around the Sun). Edison takes a young orphanage runaway in as a custodian/apprentice at his invention factory. And Einstein helps a little girl with her math and science homework.

Thus equipped with a sympathetic character, younger audiences have a much easier avenue to connect with these famous scientists than they might have had in attempting to relate to a trio of 50-year-old men. For the most part, the addition of the "kid character" is inobtrusive, and doesn't feel too forced to be believable or interesting (though the whole Einstein-as-math-tutor angle is a little bit forced, particularly when the girl in question is African-American, giving Devine too many messages to hurl about at once, so the scientist biography angle gets complicated by issues of racial discrimination in 1950s America).

All three specials are informative and amusing, mixing levity in liberally with revelations about the lives of these figures. To their credit, there is no attempt to soft-peddle the personalities of these people. Galileo is a bit of an arrogant man when it comes to astronomical theories (deservedly so, but still a bit off-putting when played to the hilt by Michale Moriarty), Einstein is a bit absent-minded (probably the least probelmatic "flaw" of any of the three), and Edison is on regular occasion an out-and-out ass, with his rampant paranoia about idea theft and all-around foul treatment of his associates. Despite these flaws, however, all three are depicted as the critical figures they were, and the minor personality foibles are not taken as sufficient indictment to dismiss them as noteworthy.

The discs are all of excellent quality, with no discernible video or audio issues. The extas are a bit thin, but given the limited release (HBO) of these biopics, it's hardly surprising that more attention wasn't lavished upon them. And if you're target audience is in the 10-16 age range, there's probably limited use for featurettes, anyway. It would have been nice to see some sort of summary of the accomplishments of each of these figures, presented with dates and some comment on their significance. For an educational program, this seems a more valuable addition than production notes.

Highly recommended viewing for young or old, as the stories are such that they can be enjoyed by all ages. Look for the remainder of the Inventors' Specials, too, as well as the Composers' Specials and Artists' Specials. You won't be disappointed, and any younger members of the household might just learn something interesting.