Egypt's Golden Empire [DVD] [2002] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

This DVD is a good introduction to the history of Egypt's New Empire period. Most of the interviewed scholars make insightful and accurate commentaries. The two exception I would point out to is when they speak of Pharaoh Akhenaten, of whom they present the conventional, questionable views of a fanatic, incompetent king; and secondly when they refer of the relationship between Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III, attributing to the latter the erasing of the Queen's name and images from certain monuments without having proof of the matter. Other than this are remarkable the many dramatizations and the shots from the monuments, works of art ( most of which are the originals ), and the compelling storytelling of a long history. If you really like Ancient Egypt or would like some nice introductory stuff this is a good choice. But keep learning more and make your own conclusions.

This is one of the better Egyptian documentaries, if only because it has a (relatively) narrow topic: the New Kingdom. Many Egyptian documentaries simply cover the famous monuments and people of 3,000+ years; in effect, saying very little and bombarding the market with redundant shows. However, despite its focus on just the New Kingdom, it does treat the topic very broadly. The New Kingdom was an extremely long and complex period in Egyptian history; as a result, this documentary focuses on a small number of people and does not give a sweeping overview of the entire period.
There are slight narrative problems with this program. I will highlight one as an example. In part III, which is primarily about Ramses II, the narrative jumps from the death of Tutankhamen to the ascension of Ramses II, presenting a misleading chronology in which it appears that Ramses II actually followed on Tutankhamen. This is hardly the case - four kings came between them (Ay, Horemheb, Ramses I, and Sety I). At the very beginning of Part III, the interviewed scholars focus on "Ramses", by which they mean Ramses II. They speak of his non-royal background, and though it is true that Ramses' family was non-royal, it was Ramses' grandfather (Ramses I) who actually initiated the dynasty. By the time Ramses II came to the throne, his father (Sety I) and grandfather had already reigned, so he wasn't quite the non-royal usurper that the DVD seems to imply. This is not the fault of the scholars being interviewed - they are all legitimate and well known Egyptologists - but rather of the editing, which tends to conflate a number of kings into one person, making it seem as though Ramses II began the 19th dynasty directly after Tutankhamen, and completely omitting the last two kings of the 18th dynasty, Ay and Horemheb.
This is one of the more noticeable of the misleading issues in the two-hour program, and I cite it as an illustration of the fact that you cannot view these programs as 100% foolproof academia - much is being omitted from history for the sake of convenience and entertainment value.

The "Empires" series on PBS has has several great episodes. This is among the better ones. Egypt's history spans thousands of years, and to make a reasonably-lengthed DVD (and to fit in with the general parameters of the series) this one simply covers the New Kingdom -- a brilliant moment in Egypt's long and glorious history. So while we don't see anything about the pyramids (already a thousand years old by the New Kingdom), we do see some of the most interesting (and popular) characters who lead Egypt at its peak of power... Thutmosis, Hatchepsut, Akhnaten, Rameses II. Nice touches like the inclusion of correspondence bewteen Egyptians and foreign leaders and discussion about the life of commoners helps round things out. All in all, visually interesting, great fun, and lots of good info make this a great documentary. Highly recommended, but those drawn to Egypt by the pyramids or, say, Cleopatra should look into other DVDs.

And I should point out to a previous reviewer that "corn" doesn't just refer to the yellow vegetable we all know and love... the word has long been used to refer to any generic food crop, similar to the word "grain."