DVD Features:
Featurette:Bonus Featurette and interactive maps detailing John Smith's journeys exploring "The New World" developed in cooperation with the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
Other:Bonus Featurette and interactive maps detailing John Smith's journeys exploring "The New World" developed in cooperation with the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. Comprehensive companion website on Jamestown and John Smith's expedition created by NationalGeographic.com.

National Geographic - The New World: Nightmare in Jamestown

• Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower
• Conquest of America (History Channel)
• The History Channel Presents The Revolution
• The War That Made America: The Story of the French and Indian War
• National Geographic - Lewis & Clark - Great Journey West
• The History Channel Presents The War of 1812
• When the Forest Ran Red (Ultimate Edition)
• John Adams (HBO Miniseries)
• The New World - The Extended Cut (+ Digital Copy)
• The Dark Ages (The History Channel )

If this is the only thing you're going to learn about Jamestown, it might not be your best bet historically, but it will definitely keep your interest. My husband and 5th grade students found this video quite interesting. Personally I wasn't so crazy about the sensationalized nature of it, but if it gets 10-year-olds excited about history, hey, that's a good deal. And it's not overly biased or poorly crafted or out of date or anything. (It IS National Geographic, after all).

interested so that itself is a high recommendation. There are several attempts to teach solid historical concepts and this would maybe work all the way down to 5th gradein two parts w/an interesting follow up activity. The use of "pow" sounding words and exciting vocabulary makes this subject more interesting. Some good use of graphics as in the reconstruction of the fort that indicates the colossal amounts of both work and fear that motivated colonial people around Native Americans.

The documentary The New World: Nightmare in Jamestown is not my favorite. You will see some skeletons on which autopsies were performed to figure out causes of the death. If you are interested in historical meanings of the Jamestown colony, probably you should find alternatives of information. The sites were revisited. The reporting style was similar to that of the TV series, 48 hours: mystery.

What I dislike most is that causes of the voyages to Jamestown were only superficially touched, so were lingering impacts of the Jamestown legacy. In this 50-minute film, a major section was devoted to an exploration of what had happened at Jamestown from 1606 until 1612. The Indian actors were dressed in conventional costume. However, the scenes lost the flavor of originality. If you like 48 hours: mystery and seek for only information of what had happened in the Jamestown colony during that brief period, this documentary was probably made for you.

The dramatizations and recreations are just graphic enough to let you know how dangerous life in the colony was (sickness, hunger, paranoia, fear of Spain). National Geographic's "The New World: Nightmare in Jamestown" is a fast-paced, and engaging DVD that keeps young and old viewers attentive. The risks these people took to begin an English colony in the "New World" are made clear. The only thing really missing from this DVD is some background about prior English/Native American interactions (dating back before the Lost Colony at Roanoke Island) that would explain why the English had misconceptions about the Native Americans, and why the Native Americans were a threat to their lives from the very beginning. This is a great teaching tool for students 5th grade and up.