TV: Planet Earth

[Deckard]

Wow. Quite simply the best wildlife programme I've ever seen. Great to see technology being harnessed so superbly to capture such rarely seen creatures, places and activities.

Looking forward to the remaining programmes in the series.

The site is here....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/planetearth/

US dirts... keep your eyes peeled on BBC America in case it turns up there, it's well worth catching.

[ceramic'cow]

David Attenborough is my God. You have no idea how much i worship that man! That was the most incredible show. It doesn't look like it's going to be breaking much new ground, apart from the hi-tech heli-cam thing, but it was just so beautifully shot and put together, and i think the vast scope of the show could let it run for months and months without running out of steam, so its 12 (i think) episode run should be absolutely crammed with incredible footage.

I can't wait for the DVDs!

[votingfloater]

It looks gorgeous. I missed this but it's repeated on BBC2 I see...

[Tiger]

David Attenborough is my God.

i think he's an atheist:D anyways i love his shows too, life in the undergrowth was worth the licence fee alone

the slow-mo of the great white in mid-air with the seal between its jaws was a true jaw-dropping moment & worth a million of those crappy shark docs on 5:)

[big screen satellite]

i think he's an atheist:D anyways i love his shows too, life in the undergrowth was worth the licence fee alone

the slow-mo of the great white in mid-air with the seal between its jaws was a true jaw-dropping moment & worth a million of those crappy shark docs on 5:)

yep, that was abso-lute-ley unbelievable wildlife filming, stunning...

and well what about those polar bears...ahhh...

I was also sad about those Leopards, 40 left in the world...its such a shame...our environment dying before our eyes

still its great that this is brought to our attention via such stunning television, and outside of the Discovery Channel, the BBC is still the master of this kind of thing

can't wait for next weeks instalment

[Sean]

Can't wait to see this in the states. I still watch my Blue Planet dvds every few weeks.

[votingfloater]

I'm actually a little disappointed by these. The footage is stunning, but it's a bit light on information. There are big gaps padded out with a fly-past and some wishy-washy music. I got bored with the "mountains" one, and would have switched off if the red panda footage hadn't come up.

It's all a bit "Aw, look, cute" or "They must have waited months to get this footage". All a bit nebulous. That's not what I want, but it does the grand scale "Isn't Earth amazing" thing pretty well, I suppose.

As for Big Dave, I think his talent lay in getting in front of the camera and explaining things in a really engaging way. He was right there, involved in things, and his enthusiasm for the subject really came across. When you just have the voiceover it's not the same.

Get Simon King in there, or Aubrey Manning... whoever. But get them in front of the camera armed with plenty of information. Then I'd be happy.

What do you reckon? Is it a bit light, or is just right as a kind of dip-into-a-wide-range-of-things programme?

[big screen satellite]

i think i agree with you vf, its certainly info light, but i don't think that's what they were aiming for with this, its all about the views, vistas and landscapes, and stunning shots, and not too much about the goings on inbetween.

its just more amazing to think that on our tiny planet that there are so many different extremes and the fact that species strive to live at every single one of them...

its sole aim, i believe is so that you sit there and go wow, but not because you learnt anything, but because you are impressed by the sight of it all..

i mean that whole shark shot in episode 1, was 'WOW'...but it came with very little info, and it really didn't need it...

perhaps they blew most of the budget on camera work and couldn't afford to do any research ;)

[Tiger]

As for Big Dave, I think his talent lay in getting in front of the camera and explaining things in a really engaging way. He was right there, involved in things, and his enthusiasm for the subject really came across. When you just have the voiceover it's not the same.

bit harsh, i felt the pictures spoke for themselves and at his age he's past 3 yr long expiditions to some of the most inhospitable places on earth

[GreenPea]

David Attenborough is the man. I had a book by him based on Blue Planet as a kid. I'll just say it open my eyes. Stuff like this is as close as I get to be an 'spiritual' person :P

[stimpee]

*cough*mininova (http://www.mininova.org/search/planet+earth/added)*cough*

[votingfloater]

bit harsh, i felt the pictures spoke for themselves and at his age he's past 3 yr long expiditions to some of the most inhospitable places on earth

I'm not saying it was badly done or anything, it's just that this style of thing isn't for me. And I agree about Sir D.A. - he's too old to galavant round the world chasing snow leopards. That's an inevitable but real shame I think, because when he's there in the picture interacting with things and explaining then it seems less remote and it draws people in.

Of course, it's the first natural history series to be filmed in HD apparently so I'd guess that striking visuals would be an even higher priority than usual.

I'll stop moaning, maybe it will get better. I want the moon on a stick, clearly. :D

And BTW it's a Discovery Channel co-production.

[ceramic'cow]

was that an intentional Fist of Fun reference, or accidental?

also, it's not a David Attenborough series, as such. Life of Mammals, Trials of Life, Life in the Undergrowth, all of those series he wrote, devised and presented. This, and Blue Planet were written by someone else, possibly a team, (i'm pretty sure Alastar Fothergill's involved in both. i know he's executive producer or somesuch, but don't know if he wrote them), and David's just narrating them.

I suspect he's reading someone else's script, although i'm sure he'll have been granted license to make changes as he sees fit.

So, ultimately, he's just the front man for someone else's production. Personally, i was a bit disappointed when i found out it wasn't a "proper" Attenborough series, but i've been taking it as it comes, and i think it's absolutely gorgeous, moving, and engaging. Both episodes so far have flown by, to the extent that at the end of their 50 minutes i've thought to myself - "i could've sworn that was only half an hour".

[votingfloater]

was that an intentional Fist of Fun reference, or accidental?

It's a sad world where Peter Kay can put out three DVDs of the same material and Fist of Fun still isn't available.

I know Fothergill is writing the accompanying book, but I'd guess a lot of it - as ever - will have been contributed by the researchers.

[stimpee]

Just watched the first one and the cinematography is fantastic. some of the time-lapse stuff is simply awe inspiring. the way the camera isnt fixed but still manages to horizontally scan and perform the time-lapse segment is amazing.

[ceramic'cow]

It's a sad world where Peter Kay can put out three DVDs of the same material and Fist of Fun still isn't available.
true. that said, there's "bootleg" DVDs of This Morning With Richard Not Judy available to download if you look hard enough. i remember watching that on sunday mornings and being utterly stupified, and it still has the same impact now. brilliant stuff.

I know Fothergill is writing the accompanying book, but I'd guess a lot of it - as ever - will have been contributed by the researchers.
almost certainly right. i was really just trying to make the point that David Attenborough's creative input into this series has been less than with the various "life" series that he has put out, hence the different approach of the programmes.

I think Attenborough has always been very keen to educate and inform rather than just stand back and say "look how cute this baby panda is. look at it. it's eyes aren't even open yet. isn't it just adorable? and now look how big and pretty this mountain is".

i think planet earth is great. it's absolutely beautiful and it's already broken a great deal of ground in terms of wildlife photography - a wild dog hunt, any snow leopard footage *at all* - in just two episodes. and wasn't that baby panda cute?


incidentally, there's a "life" boxset available on amazon, and probably other places too, that i just saw last night. I WANT IT SO BAD

[votingfloater]

You know, with visual impact being the big attraction for this, it probably doesn't help that I saw it on a shitty telly that doesn't display green any more. :p Everything is sort of harshly magenta. It's as if it's been infected by David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" video.

I'll be watching again next week though...

[Tiger]

recorded the shallow seas episode from a few weeks back, which i watched last night and the slowed down camera shots of the great whites hunting seals and breaking the water with them clamped between their jaws is simply gobsmacking. shows a 2 seconds frame in 40 seconds and at one point the shark looks as though its flying.

[Sean]

Dammit! You assholes even have it available on DVD out there (region 2 only....of course :mad: ), but still no word of it even being on tv out here at all!

I need to double check if my DVD player is region free or not tonight....

[Deckard]

The second batch of episodes really are stunning.

Look out for the lions and elephants crossing paths at night.

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

There's an area about 1.5 hours from San Fran. that you can view the Great White/Seal thing live and in the flesh.

[Sean]

Saw a commercial on Discovery channel yesterday that talked about some kind of "eagerly awaited" sneak peak at this series next Sunday in the States. Not seeing anything about it on their website though. Anyway, at least it looks like we'll finally be getting to see the damn thing out here soon. :D

[//\/\/]

it's very nice; but overall looks far more like a photography competition than an educational piece. but it is beautifully-shot - even better in hd...

[Sean]

Looks like this is finally becoming available on DVD in the US, although it appears ours will be narrated by Sigourney Weaver instead of David Attenborough. Not sure what inspired that change :confused: . Make clicky here to see it and buy it (http://shopping.discovery.com/product-65140.html). Says they'll be shipping them out starting April 30th.