In the Summer of 2001, Jason Scott, a computer historian (and proprietor of the textfiles.com history site) wondered if anyone had made a film about these BBSes. They hadn't, so he decided he would.

Four years, thousands of miles of travelling, and over 200 interviews later, "BBS: The Documentary" [ http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/ ], a mini-series of 8 episodes about the history of the BBS, is now available. Spanning 3 DVDs and totalling five and a half hours, this documentary is actually eight documentaries about different aspects of this important story in the annals of computer history.

All Episodes/Parts (free and legit according to http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/warez/ [Creative Commons]):
1 (you're watching it now): Baud introduces the story of the beginning of the BBS, including interviews with Ward Christensen and Randy Suess, who used a snowstorm as an inspiration to change the world.
2: Sysops and Users introduces the stories of the people who used BBSes, and lets them tell their own stories of living in this new world.
3: Make it Pay covers the BBS industry that rose in the 1980's and grew to fantastic heights before disappearing almost overnight.
4: Fidonet covers the largest volunteer-run computer network in history, and the people who made it a joy and a political nightmare.
5: Artscene tells the rarely-heard history of the ANSI Art Scene that thrived in the BBS world, where art was currency and battles waged over nothing more than pure talent.
6: HPAC (Hacking Phreaking Anarchy Cracking) hears from some of the users of "underground" BBSes and their unique view of the world of information and computers.
7: Compression tells the story of the PKWARE/SEA legal battle of the late 1980s and how a fight that broke out over something as simple as data compression resulted in waylaid lives and lost opportunity.
8: No Carrier wishes a fond farewell to the dial-up BBS and its integration into the Internet.