Rolling clouds over an English accented reading from The Wind in the Willows is how we're first introduced to the BBCesque critical analysis of the short lived public music career of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd's founder, original lead singerand guitarist. This quickly gives way to the soft authoritatively British voice (which sounds like what the Orbit Gum Spokeswomen is parodying) of the faceless Narrator (Sian Jones).

If you are looking for insight into what drove or influenced Syd Barrett, you won't find it here. This is a critical analysis of his work, not a VH1 Behind the Music exploitation. There are five experts, all long time fans of his work; while most try to maintain a non-biased stance, there is no opposing view.

We get Mark Sturdy, of Mojo Magazine, who looks more like The Dread Pirate Roberts (Cary Elwes) than the rock expert that he is. Very well informed and interesting to listen to. Also Malcolm Dome of Total Rock, his look is so cliché it matches his name (a bald guy named Dome), a very energetic and somewhat spastic ball of passion that makes you almost appreciate Syd Barrett's music as much as he does. Almost. Then there's David Parker, author of Random Precision Recordings - The Music of Syd Barrett, who looks like an activist lawyer. He is also passionate about Syd Barrett's work, and a pleasure to listen to. A British project wouldn't be complete without a Nigel, and this one gives us Nigel Williamson, who looks nothing like his name, more of an aging rock hippy look, from Uncut Magazine. He's more laid back then the others. Next is Chris Welch, author and journalist. He's the hobbitesque one,and finally an actual musician that worked with Syd Barrett, Hugh Hopper, bassist in Soft Machine, the band that Syd Barrett asked to play with him on his solo albums. He looks like U2's The Edge in about 20 years. Not a very entertaining speaker, but honest with what he had to share.

Overall it's a very good chronological view of the man's work, giving us the Who, What, Where and When's, (you even learn where the name Pink Floyd comes from), but no Why's. The songs (from Arnold Lane to Opel), and albums (all three) are analyzed for their content, quality and influence by people that seem to care a great deal about the work.

Video
The box lists it as 4:3, but it is cropped on the top and bottom throughout to a 1.94:1 aspect ratio, but non-anamorphic. So, it's not really 4:3, but it kinda is. Either way, it's a mix of old footage and current floating head interviews, think of a Michael Moore documentary, where all the archive footage is cropped to make it widescreen. The transfer is serviceable for what it is, no halo effects or digital artifacts, but as excepted, very soft.

Audio
One option, English stereo 2.0, and it serves the purpose. Voices and music are well balanced and clear.

Extras
We get four extras, unless you count a chapter list as an extra (13 chapters).

Trivia Quiz - The 'Hardest Syd Barrett Quiz in the World Ever'
I haven't taken every Syd Barrett quiz on this planet, but if there is a harder one, I'd feel even less informed. Twenty-five very obscure questions that you won't get the answers to from the film, but they do give you that option at the end.

Contributors - The history behind the DVDs expert contributors
A list of all six contributors that leads to a text page with their credits and bit of humor thrown in.

Beyond DVD - More Syd Barrett related products from Chrome Dreams
Two products to be exact, and a link to Chrome Dream's web site.

The Lost Tape - Story of the legendary missing Syd Barrett recording
A 4:18 mini-documentary about the only existing recording of one of Syd Barrett's last public performances featuring Gary Lucas, the guy that had it in a closet all this time.

Packaging
A slip cover with the same art as the regular cover, a black cover with a very good photo of Syd Barrett. No insert.

Overall
If you're looking for what people that know a lot about Syd Barrett think about Syd Barrett's music in chronological order from his short time with Pink Floyd and then his two solo albums, this is a well put together project with some rare footage from those days, even some clips from the rarely seen Syd Barrett's First Trip.