 From the creators of Blue Planet: Seas Of Life comes this epic series celebrating the Earth as never before. With an unprecedented production budget, using high definition photography and revolutionary ultra-high speed cameras, five years in the making, over 2000 days in the field, using 40 cameramen across 200 locations, Planet Earth is the ultimate portrait of our planet. This stunning television experience captures rare action, impossible locations and intimate moments with out planet's best-loved, wildest and most elusive creatures. From the highest mountains to the deepest rivers, Planet Earth takes you to places you've never been to experience sights and sounds never before captured on film. Prepare to be overwhelmed by the beauty and majesty of Planet Earth. Storyline: Each 50 minute episode features a global overview of a different biome or habitat on Earth (Polar, Mountain, Cave, Desert, Plains, Fresh Water, Seas, Ocean, Forest), followed by a ten-minute featurette which takes a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of filming the episode. Written by Anonymous Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Greg Maltz, January 22, 2008 -- A baby elephant is separated from its mother in an arid stretch of the African plains. The baby's form, in remarkable definition and clarity, marches slowly as the camera pulls back. And back. And back. Until the elephant is just a spot in the middle of a vast, lifeless stretch of land. This spectacular feat of camerawork is just one example of the dramatic shots in BBC's remarkable nature series, Planet Earth. Using helicopter-mounted stabilization technology, the documentary's camera crew worked for five years to capture Earth's most hidden and awe-inspiring views and bring them into our living rooms. Their work culminated in this documentary, now available as a complete collection on Blu-ray. Each one-hour episode includes breathtaking scenes of landscapes, animals and naural phenomena that leave you awed and amazed. This review covers the four-disc British BBC version of Planet Earth, narrated by Sir David Attenborough as released in the U.S. A slightly different edition of this BD set is offered in the U.K., with an additional fifth disc of supplements. To make matters more confusing, the U.S. broadcast version, narrated by Sigourney Weaver, is also available. They are easily distinguishable by looking at the back cover of the slipcase. The BBC U.K. version reviewed here is neatly produced on four BDs. With the exception of the first episode--a sampler of memorable scenes throughout the series--each episode focuses on a unique habitat removed from human reach. Disc one includes three episodes: From Pole to Pole, Mountains, and Fresh Water; disc 2 includes Caves, Deserts, and Ice Worlds; disc three features Great Plains, Jungles, and Shallow Seas; and the final BD includes Seasonal Forests and Ocean Deep. With dozens of gifted naturalist photographers combing the planet to produce this footage, it is little wonder that Planet Earth boasts remarkable scope and stunning visuals. The narrative is not quite as strong, but maintains the viewer's interest and is delivered by Attenborough who is a renown naturalist in his own right. Those who watched the series in HD on the Discovery Channel have an incentive to watch it again, as the Blu-ray includes 90 minutes not shown in the broadcast version. While some episodes are more fascinating than others and there is variability in how informative they are, the collection is uniformly excellent in visuals and Attenborough's trademark delivery. If you like documentaries and nature, this BD set is essential. From the rarest creatures in the depths of our oceans to the largest bird migrations in our skies, Planet Earth reminds us that we have yet to discover most of the creatures and places that make the Earth unique. In doing so, it delivers important perspective on our planet and on life itself. We humans sure get wrapped up in our own pursuits and this documentary is an excellent way to step outside our familiar routines and see our planet anew. From the deepest cave to the highest summit, across the oceans and the ice of the polar regions, into the jungles and deep underwater, Planet Earth takes you places that you will likely never go. But who needs to go, thanks to the impeccable camera work and 1080p presentation of the Blu-ray set. Obviously, what puts Planet Earth in a class of its own is the camerawork and the picture. While not the most educational documentary, it offers many new places to see and animals to meet. And Attenborough is a world-class host, with an authoritative delivery and relaxed style--the perfect guide to take you places you've never been. Very highly recommended. Episode 1: From Pole to Pole - "Planet Earth" travels around the Earth, finding where the sun always shines and where it's rarely seen. Next, they find where water is abundant and where it's scarce. Episode 2: Mountains - Mountains are the most prominent products of the immense forces which shape the living planet: tectonic drift, volcanic activity and erosion by wind, water, frost and precipitation. We see how wildlife adapts to the harsh, often extreme conditions in various types of mountain ranges, such as Gelada baboons on a suddenly volcano-pushed Ethiopian peek, pumas in the Andes, grizzly bears in the Rockies, snow leopards in the Himalaya. Episode 3: Fresh Water - Although merely 3% of water on earth, fresh water plays an important part in the planet's weather and erosion. It is immensely important for all non-marine wildlife, which drinks fresh water and swims, procreates, hunts in it. Its concentrations, such as rivers, lakes and swamps, abound in aquatic and other species, often adapted to 'wet' life. Episode 4: Caves - The Earth's large, deep calcareous caves are virtually inaccessible and therefore barely explored - requiring expert diving where flooded. Some of its wildlife is as strange and specific as in the deep, darkest part of the ocean, whether physically adapted -notably to the dark. Nevertheless, some caves(did) play an important part in native cultures, even as sources of fresh water for some Mayan cities. Episode 5: Deserts - A large and growing part of earth's land mass is covered in desert - each one widely varied in composition and dryness. Wildlife species have adapted in different ways to these different arid lands especially to get and conserve water. Some are physically desert-models, like camels, others just changed their diet and behavior. Most live mainly at night, when it's cooler. The largest desert is northern Africa's Sahara, US size and extremely sandy, the result of grinding erosion of mountains. Short moist moments or periods are taken intense advantage off, leading to such extravaganzas as the locust swarm. Episode 6: Ice Worlds - The polar caps have the most extreme seasonal contrasts, growing and melting vast ice masses, so wildlife adapts by annual migrations. The majority of Antartica is a vast barren permafrost. Only 3% of the coast and peninsular peaks are where life migrates to in the spring, for a short fertile summer, attracted by rich supplies of krill and fish. Only the Emperor penguin males breed 4 months in winter 100 miles inland. The Arctic has a more complete fauna which migrates back North from the continent. Here, the Polar bear is threatened because global warming defrosts its seal hunt platform ice too fast. Episode 7: Great Plains - A quarter of the earth's land mass, from arctic to tropical, are open plains consisting of lowland as well as highland plateaus. Here grows virtually indestructible, fast-growing grasses of all sizes that feed the planet's largest herbivore populations, the preys to solitary and social carnivores. Spectacular elements of the seasonal cycle of life can include mass migrations, monsoons, drought and great fires. Episode 8: Jungles - The Incredible Beauty And Strangeness Of The Rain Forest. The Rain Forest may be only 3 percent of the Earth's land but it contains half of the world's species. There are insects, fungi, animals and birds like you have never seen! The different Birds Of Paradise and their mating habits. Over 80 percent of the entire word's insects live in the Rain Forest and we see some amazing ones, including "mentally disturbed" ants! The sounds that they - and animals like frogs - make at night are amazing, too. Some of the best parts of this episode were the speed-up photography scenes showing the amazing development of plant life. The last part of the show switches to the Congo in Africa where we see Forest Elephants, chimpanzees and more stunning sights. Episode 9: Shallow Seas - Shallow seas cover only 8% of earth's surface, but contain the richest, most varied maritime life: from plankton and coral (literally vital for the very existence of reefs) to birds and from various invertebrates to mammals like seals, dolphins and whales and from sea snakes to countless fish species. Their ecological interaction is greatly varied and complex, often with nearby land to, even with deserts. Episode 10: Seasonal Forests - Trees are earth's largest organisms and are also one of the planet's oldest inhabitants. Seasonal forests (unlike tropical rain-forest) the largest land habitats. A third of all trees grow in the endless taiga of the Arctic north. Northern America has forests that include California's sequoia's, the earth's largest trees. There and elsewhere, their vast production of photosynthesis and shade presides over a seasonal cycle of life and involves countless plant and animal species. Episode 11: Ocean Deep - Open ocean, a vast biotope covering two thirds of the planet, some shallow, some as deep as the mountain ranges are high. The ocean has an immense, precariously complex food chain, varying from microscopic animals, like krill, to whales, which ironically feed mainly on the former. Most species swim or float in it, many coming up for air, while other dive in from land or air, often to feed, but also to procreate on the coast, where some species come to lay their eggs. Even the shore is covered with life, largely based on organic matter, such as corpses. IMDb Rating (07/03/09): 9.8/10 from 10,294 users
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