What’s going to happen when the end of the world is near? The History Channel attempts to answer this question with Nostradamus Effect on DVD today.

The end is near. At least that’s what the doomsday predictions from Nostradamus, the Book of Revelation, the Mayan “long count” calendar and others would have us believe. Many unsettling forecasts of global destruction — a massive cosmic collision, a global environmental disaster, an Armageddon-like religious showdown, or a more subtle transformation — even pinpoint the year: 2012. How worried should we be? If these prophecies are accurate and inevitable, is there any way to avoid or at least postpone them from coming true? Nostradamus Effect: The Complete Season One, a captivating new series from History explores how the end of the world will begin.

Michel de Nostradamus was a 16th-century French physician and astrologer whose very name is synonymous with apocalyptic visions of the near and distant future. His ominous writings, in the form of 1,000 four-line quatrains, appear to have accurately anticipated numerous natural disasters, plagues and wars.

Release Date: March 30, 2010
Feature Running Time: 9 hours, 24 minutes

Nostradamus Effect is quite an eye opening series that presents prophecies and theories about the end of the world events. There are 12 one hour episodes, not all of them based on the beliefs of Nostradamus. In fact, it’s odd that this is titled the Nostradamus Effect when much of what is discussed in the episodes was known before his time (i.e. the rapture, seven deadly sins, etc…). Regardless, the series as a whole is good because it presents facts, research, and theories without making judgments and/or persuading viewers into different beliefs.

Actually, viewers will be encouraged to get out and conduct more research of what they will learn in these episodes. Though for those interviewed for this series, (experts, theologists, authors, etc…) there should have been more people interviewed who were more specifically accredited and passionate about the topics at hand, not generally accredited. By trying to remain unbiased, the information from those interviewed fell somewhat flat and the narration was better than the talking heads.

As I believe in the rapture and tribulation, it was interesting to see what was and was not shared in the episodes, “The Rapture” and “Secrets of the Seven Seals.” This encourages me to stress that these episodes really are just an overview of tons of information that is out there about the end times. So definitely check out the DVD, as it is very informational but don’t let this be the only or the last outlet that you learn from about this topic.

Episodes:
The Third Antichrist?
Da Vinci’s Armageddon
2012 Extinction
Hitler’s Blood Oath
The Apocalypse Code
Son of Nostradamus
Secrets of the Seven Seals
Fatima’s Secret Prophecy
Satan’s Army
Doomsday Hieroglyphs
The Rapture
Armageddon Battle Plan

Bonus Feature:

Strange Facts About Nostradamus – This features shares 12 facts in the text format about the life of Nostradamus, 2 according to legends, and one very interesting fact stating that according to The New York Times, the top search term on Google in the days after 9/11 was “Nostradamus.” If you are interested in the life of Nostradamus, this is a resourceful feature, otherwise, there is nothing fascinating to be seen here.

Nostradamus Effect is available on DVD now.