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Television images accelerated the end of the Cold War and social media toppled several Arab regimes. Can a DVD have a similar geopolitical influence Mikhail Gorbachev thinks so.The former Russian premiere was at New York's Paley Center earlier this week, touting the home-video release of “Cold War,” the massive documentary about the epic conflict.

It’s been 14 years since the original aired on CNN, 24 46-minute episodes, each tackling a new chapter in Soviet-American relations. A Ted Turner passion project, the series (produced by British documentarian Jeremy Isaacs) takes few ideological positions but instead examines a range of perspectives from east and west, interviewing everyone in the Cold War from world leaders to foot soldiers.

Surprisingly, the series has never been available on DVD, but Warner Bros. Home Video decided to release it now, unedited, as a kind of super-film, as the Cold War is perhaps more at risk than ever of being forgotten

Appearing on a panel with Turner and Isaacs, Gorbachev, seeming slower and heavier but still quick of mind, said he was particularly concerned about that kind of historical forgetfulness. He said the latest complicated chapter in American-Russian relations — with tensions between President Obama’s White House and Putin’s Kremlin continuing to bristle — could use a dose of the movie.