Ape Man The Story of Human Evolution w Walter Cronkite

Ape Man: The Story of Human Evolution 1994
Hosted by Walter Cronkite

Four video episodes in MP4 format. Ripped from VHS tapes.
The incredible story of human evolution comes to life through the latest breakthroughs, interviews with scientists and anthropologists, and astonishing computer simulations! This follow-up to the bestselling DINOSAUR! is the definitive story of mankind's ascent. Hosted by Walter Cronkite, and filmed on location in Africa, APE MAN traces the rise of mankind in four exciting parts: The Human Puzzle The doom of the dinosaurs prepared the earth for mankind's ascent.Giant Strides Mysterious natural events bring man to his feet.All in the Mind The developing brain powers the human struggle for survival.Science and Fiction Evolutionists soft the past to predict mankind's future.

Customer Review: I enjoyed this documentary series and found it very informative. Walter Cronkite does a terrific job narrating and hosting the programs. His style is warm, and rather than just present the material to the viewer, he instead, goes with you on the journey through human evolution from our distant ape ancestors. Indeed, in the beginning of the first episode Cronkite arrives on location in Africa by jeep, dressed in safari garb and stays until the last program when he leaves the same way.

The shows are presented in a puzzle format; each episode searches for particular pieces of the puzzle of human evolution by answering the questions of when humans evolved onto the scene and why. I've seen many documentaries on this subject and appreciate this one because they answer the question of 'why' it happened, rather than just stating when. For instance, they demonstrate the possible reasons why one line of apes began to walk upright, or what led them to begin using tools. The show is very good at examining the conditions and climate changes that occurred in the distant past that consequently led to changes in our ancestors.
The series examines a variety of locations. One particularly moving place was in Tanzania where a trail of footprints was discovered in volcanic ash dating back 3.5 million years ago. The prints were made by two adult upright-walking apes and perhaps a small child as well who walked by the location on a day long, long ago. The image causes one to reflect on just how far along we humans have come.
The show also goes into the history of palaeoanthropology, the study of human ancestry, showing the remarkable finds along with the frauds as well.
There are wonderful illustrations on what our ancestors may have looked like based on skeletal remains, as well as demonstrations on how they could have developed tools. The show explores the many offshoots of upright walking apes, such as the Neanderthals, and tries to answer why only Homo Sapiens survived while the other lines perished.
Moreover, the programs demonstrate that there are many possible reasons and situations that led to human evolution, and that there is not some one particular date in time that can be pointed to when answering- When did modern humans arise? Rather, we see for ourselves that it was a gradual, by chance set of occurrences.
Overall, this 4-part documentary is well-produced, very informative, but more importantly it captures one's interest, and shows us some of the answers on who we are and how we got here.