This is a very surface view, circa late 2004, on Google and its founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Now I did get some interesting information from A&E's 44-minute 'Biography Special' but I suspect I could have determined as much and more via simply using the web (and Google itself!). This documentary would be considered very rudimentary in terms of technical explanations of how the Internet and surfers interact and a few of the steps that Brin and Page took to establish the 'Pre-eminent' Search Engine which now receives 400 million queries a day. It is not so much 'poor' as incredibly basic with goofy metaphor graphics for certain phrases ('launch into the web' shows a rocket ship, 'navigating through un-chartered legal waters' - shows a boat in in a rough seas etc. - that's pretty lame producing, IMO.) It may be more that the 'special' is simply dated - a lot has changed in over 6 years.

The DVD in extremely limited - single-layered and interlaced in the original TV ratio of 1.33:1. It is clear enough but certain shots are frequently repeated and their are only 6 chapter stops no subtitles nor extras.

Some of the interesting things that I did learn from this DVD were that The Google Algorithm contains 500 million variables to establish 'PageRank' - actually named after Larry Page. This determines positioning in Google's Search Engine queries. I see now that Google now has 22 special features beyond the original word-search capability (this is glossed over on the documentary). Possible at the request of Brin and Page it doesn't dwell on their personal lives or differences although they are touched upon. The monetary aspect of Google is broached discussing the 'Adwords' program and how the founders are not especially interested in greatly advancing their monetary status. It portrays then as two very smart guys who are interested in creating a catalogue for all available human knowledge - accessible in seconds - to humanity. This establishes a noble sensibility during viewing and their company culture exports the same 'feel good' values. Not mentioned in the Bio is that while the pair are on the list of the world’s billionaires their compensation is only one dollar annually.

In one respect this is fascinating but another this is but a shell of what could be included - especially updated to present day - about 5-6 years from the production of the DVD. This is not recommended for its lack of current information and is certainly over-priced for what it offers. It seems the definitive documentary on Google and its founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page has yet to be written. Let's hope that is remedied soon as their story is a fascinating one!

Gary W. Tooze