Lost in the shuffle here at the RopeofSilicon labs was the complete series for BBC’s “Planet Earth”, or as I have referred to it to many people already, “one of the coolest looks at our world you will ever see.”
“Planet Earth” is an 11-part BBC mini-series narrated by David Attenborough that also aired on Discovery Channel here in the States. The difference between what you will see on TV and what you have here in this set involves 90 minutes of footage not aired on Discovery as well as an additional 10 minutes tacked on to each episode giving you a behind-the-scenes look at how they shot one of the sequences in that particular episode and some of it is pretty intense.
You see, the production budget on this monster was $25 million and it took five years to make with over 2,000 days of work in the field capturing some of the most magnificent images you will ever see. Every picture included in this article is an actual screen capture from the DVD and they are only from three of the episodes. Take for example this next picture:
The above image is not smoke on a lake, although that is what early explorers thought. Nope that is millions upon millions of lake flies. These flies go through their larvae stage deep in the lake water only to rise to the top, hatch, mate, drop back to the water’s surface, release their eggs and die. What a full-filling life eh?
How about this image:
That’s 3 million Caribou.
How about another image?
I am afraid to tell you, but I will… Those are hundreds of bugs that make their home on a giant mound of bat poo in a cave.
Okay, one last look, a cool one:
That’s a Great White Shark nibbling on a poor little seal.
Yeah, and this is only the start of it. Here is how the discs breakdown:
Disc One
- From Pole to Pole
- Mountains
- Fresh Water
Disc Two
- Caves
- Deserts
- Ice Worlds
Disc Three
- Great Plains
- Jungles
- Shallow Seas
Disc Four
- Seasonal Forests
- Ocean Deep
Disc Five: The Future
- Saving Species
- Into the Wilderness
- Living Together
You will notice the fifth disc is where you will find your bonus features. These last three features are exclusive to the DVD release of this set and will not be found on the Blu-ray or the HD DVD release. They simply look at our planet and issues such as extinction, the human population, climate changes, etc. and their effect on nature and the wilderness.
Out of all those discs above my favorite sections included Mountains, Fresh Water, Caves, Ice Worlds and Jungles. These are just a few of the things that you don’t see on such a regular basis. It seems like you can always find something talking about the desert and there isn’t a day that passes by that you won’t see something on Discovery about the ocean. It is cool however when you can go exploring into the caves, one of which you might never see again. On top of that you get some of the coolest looking places on Earth, places you would have never seen without this mini-series. Places like the one below:
The images in this series are so pretty on pause they work just as well as still images. This is rare when it comes to video. The coolest part of the entire production is the use of time lapse photography and it isn’t just your typical sped up camera work focusing on grass growing. Nope, in this series time lapse is a regular thing whether it is a 360 degree look at the sun never setting over the Antarctic or a look at wetlands blossoming from space (yeah, space cam). It is truly astonishing camera work and I wish I could give you an example in an image, but it just wouldn’t work.
I am not experienced enough with nature documentaries to call this the best ever, but I will say it is the best I have ever seen as it never lingers too long on one subject which keeps things fresh the entire way through. You are never even given the chance to get tired of any one specific subject.
Are you convinced this is the set for you? If so you can click on any one of the following links to purchase the set that fits you.
GET IT ON DVD: Buy it at Amazon.com
GET IT ON HD DVD: Buy it at Amazon.com
GET IT ON BLU-RAY: Buy it at Amazon.com
“Planet Earth” was released from Warner Home Video on April 24, 2007.
