Very well presented argument for Intelligent Design. Educational as well. The narration is good, the graphics and commentary are all put together well and presented without preaching. Simply presents information wrapped in an conception of an idea of how things could be. Personally I think that more could have been added to make it into a series using several break down, backward engineering, irreducible complexity examples each on a case by case basis using different biological systems such as the eye, the cell, specific mammal species, plants and other systems that are symbiotic with one another. Perhaps that is for another time or will be presented another way. Was satisfied with the information given but also left me wanting to know more...did some follow up research to confirm the facts so have found a box set of similar presentations through Illustra Media. Worth a look. I've ordered and have watch several times all three of the DVDs. Highly recommended.

This is film really like a great documentary, except instead of having all that really hard to learn science and stuff. All you really have to do is believe. Just believe, and like Tinkerbell coming back to life, Bible stories AKA Creationism AKA Creation Science now renamed ID (Intelligent Design) can live again! But what I really liked best was finding out that I am made up of millions of tiny little machines called cells, I'm just like Lt. Commander Data!But seriously, this film is one big propaganda piece. Ten years ago the ID community was bashing scientists over the head with irreducible complexity. When Evolutionary Scientists didn't have a ready answer and took the time necessary to actually investigate ID's claims, the ID community started to shout that they had 'finally beaten Darwin' and that 'God is in the Details', this is when the nonsense really got under way. Church groups set up museums with paintings showing Biblical era men riding dinosaurs implying not only that dinosaurs are only recently extinct but that any theory showing the Earth is more than a few thousand years old is open to debate and is a matter of opinion not just science. Serious sounding articles were published explaining how Noah had put dinosaur eggs on the his Ark instead of grown Dinosaurs to save room, but that most of the eggs went bad during the flood as an explanation as to why Dinosaurs are extinct.Both of the above examples show why ID cannot be allowed in the classroom and shouldn't be taken seriously by anyone. ID, because of its use of a supernatural agency to explain any unknown part of a theory, any ID theory is unfalsifiable, untestable and completely useless in a scientific setting. Come forward eight years from when this film was made... Science has investigated the claims of ID and found them seriously wanting. The claims of ID aren't falsifiable and as such are a unverifiable belief, no reputable biologist gives ID any credence.The court (Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District) ruled that ID is Creation Science repackaged and that as such ID is a matter of faith not science and cannot be allowed in the classroom.Religious Universities are the only place that ID based biology class work is accepted.The main point of this film is to try to make inference analogous to deduction, basically like this; Cells are like tiny machines, machines are designed by an intelligence, cells must have been designed by someone with intelligence. Then they assure you that they are not talking about God as a designer because that wouldn't be scientific (wink, wink) but that a cell didn't design itself and nobody knows who did it. Honestly, I saw reasoning as well thought out a Monty Python movie; A witch won't sink in water so she must be floating, a duck doesn't sink in water because they float, so if someone weighs the same as a duck they're a witch.

As a genuine student of science and a high school teacher, I feel that this video is not only an abomination for even being considered to be listed in the same category as a science text - but it is also the sort of dangerous propaganda that resulted in the Scopes trial and the recent Dover, Pa. case. Nonsense like "Unlocking the Mystery of Life" is intolerable in the face of efforts to educate young people towards historical let alone scientific progress.The mis-representation of Darwin is laughable; the selection of easily-debunked theories are not only able to be countered by anyone with access to online documents on his work but also the weight of millions of texts in the sciences. Fossils, fossils, fossils! Probably the only possible use (beyond a coaster for a glass!) this glossy smarm has is to be shown as a teaching tool in legal studies classes as misrepresentation of facts! Behe was quite effectively shown as completely wrong in the documentary "The Root of All Evil" and I'd suggest that as a better text for people studying the claims of intelligent design rather than spend a cent on this product.Intelligent design is narrow-minded religious indoctrination in new packaging. It was rightfully thrown out by the government of the USA and when Illustra Media insultingly produces inaccurate trash like this "pseudo-documentary" (akin to the hilariously illogical and New Age UFO cult-produced "What the Bleep..."), they are promoting poor standards of critical thinking and potentially making a child's understanding of science a laughing-stock when they attend classes in any state.Do your sons and daughter's future a favor - encourage accurate and investigative attitudes towards the real world by showing them ACTUAL science documentaries like Sagan's "Cosmos", "Walking with Dinosaurs", "The Living Planet" and other series by David Attenborough - leave religious belief for the religious education forums, whatever you may choose that to involve.Certainly adults have NO right to mis-educate the next generation by touting this absurd farce of pseudo-science in the science classroom, as aptly demonstrated by the Snopes and Dover trials. A voice of opposition was _indeed_ heard in those cases and rightfully shot down as unconstitutional. Let this stance for justice be maintained by refusing "Unlocking the Mystery of Life" any of your precious viewing time.My only regret is that I cannot give this polished piece of excretion zero stars, as I would if I could.

Excellent source of information for the theory of intelligent design (ID). The video provides clear and easy to understand arguments for ID and points out the gaps in evolutionary theory that cannot account for the origin-of-life on earth. The video includes interviews with leading scientists and scholars from various fields of expertise. The video also provides some historical information about Charles Darwin and his journey on the HMS Beagle. It is packed with beautiful scenes of wildlife that make it entertaining as well as educational. The bonus features include a question and answer section, library references, web links, and biographical sketches about each scientist/scholar. This is a must have for all of those who are interested the origin-of-life argument and those that declare to follow the evidence wherever it leads. I would strongly recommend this for all adults and students at the high school level and above.