Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 2, 2011

Lord of the Universe is a 1974 American documentary film about Prem Rawat (pictured) at an event in November 1973 at the Houston Astrodome called "Millennium '73". The documentary was first broadcast on PBS on February 2, 1974, and released in VHS format on November 1, 1991. The documentary chronicles Maharaj Ji (as Rawat was then known), his followers and anti-Vietnam War activist Rennie Davis who was a spokesperson of the Divine Light Mission at the time. A counterpoint is presented by Abbie Hoffman who appears as a commentator. It includes interviews with several protagonists, including followers, ex-followers, a mahatma, a born-again Christian, and a Hare Krishna. The production team of Top Value Television (TVTV) produced the documentary, using Portapak video cameras. The TVTV team followed Maharaj Ji across the United States over a period of six weeks, and edited a large amount of tape down to the fifty-eight minute piece. The documentary was generally well-received, and garnered its TVTV production team the 1974 Alfred I. du Pont/Columbia University Award in Broadcast Journalism. The documentary received a negative review in the New York Post, and positive reviews in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Sun-Times. The San Francisco Bay Guardian wrote that the TVTV team had improved since their previous work, but wanted them to move on to more challenging subjects. (more...)