Back to Pitch Black, since I have no idea what is going on...

I honestly have not watched the movie all the way through, but listening to the commentary made me want to watch it again. I personally prefer Chronicles of Riddick to this film, but as Brian mentioned, I may respond to Vin Disel as an actor, while some may not.

I look forward to the next Riddick commentary, where I will probably be one of the few Vin Disel apologists.

I can defiantly see that.

The Dark Ages (in terms of intellectual progress) were more like 2000 years long, rather than 500 years. The height of the Greek philosophical inquiry was about 400BC with Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc.

And the Enlightenment didn't take place until the 18th century. You could argue there were earlier moments of western civilization waking up e.g. Columbus' 1492 discovery of America surpassed ancient wisdom, as did Copernicus' heliocentrism in 1543, and Galileo with his telescope in 1609. The Renaissance is regarded as late 15th/early 16th century, but that time was more about recapturing lost knowledge, rather than surpassing it.

So it's closer to a 2000 year interruption, not 500 years. Without the Dark Ages, we'd be effectively now living in the year AD4000, for better or worse. Imagine the traffic jams.

And yes, you guys are right, Christianity bears much of the blame for why the Dark Ages were so protracted. Why care about the real world when you can study the Holy Scripture?