Planet Earth

[Touring Mars]

Anyone see the first in this new series (from the BBC) last night? (Repeated next Saturday, 6.30 pm on BBC2 - I think...) Another David Attenborough-narrated BBC Natural History showcase, hyped a bit, loads of adverts and great reviews already... I really enjoyed it, perfect Sunday night stuff (well, if it didn't clash with the Best of Top Gear, that is...) In-keeping with the modern trend, there was a bit about how the series was filmed/made, as if to remind the viewer that that 10 second clip of a pack of wolves eating a caribou actually took a bloody long time to capture...

Some amazing aerial shots of stuff - like the migration of Caribou in Canada (the largest overland migration of any animal), massive flocks of birds - the camera panning out to further and further to reveal more and more of a seemingly endless flock... great stuff... 👍 Also an amazing sequence about birds of paradise - some extremely strange behaviour indeed - any discussions of what alien life forms may look like and/or behave like could be well informed by watching some of what goes on here already - props to the BBC for giving us this rare glimpse at stuff that has never been seen by the public before... 👍

Link...

 

[Kylehnat]

Fortunately in the U.S., there is enough pointless crap on TV to shield us from 'documentaries', which I've heard are 'fact-based' and tend to lead to a phenomenon known as 'learning'. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to watch "Laguna Beach".

 

[Touring Mars]

After watching last night's episode (the fourth in the series), I can safely say this is one of the best programmes to be on the TV (here in the UK) in years...

Some highlights:-

• The Texas cave salamander - a salamander that has evolved to lose it's eyes completely... (since it lives in total darkness)...
• Extremophile bacteria that live in caves that have never seen sunlight (see here)
• A pile of guano (bat droppings) 100 metres high covered in a living layer of cockroaches (that the film crew took spent a month filming in/on (and you thought 'Matrix Revolutions' was the biggest pile of c**p in the world?)
• A cave filled with two types of water - dense, salty water fills the bottom half and clear, fresh water fills the space above - the surface (between the two) is clearly visible and can sometimes give divers the impression that the space above is filled with air, when infact it's fresh water...
• Millions of years of crystal growths in the caves at Lechuguilla - crystals of gypsum (formed by the chemical erosion of limestone by sulphuric acid) stretching for miles.
• A cave roof covered in glow-worms, making the cave look like a giant planetarium.

And all this in just one all-to-short episode... jaw-dropping stuff...

 

[Sprite]

Yes I agree Touring, the series is stupendous. The cammera work is awsome. Those caves in last nights episode were stunning, no way could I do caving too cramped

Sir David Attenborough is the best narrator, but I would still prefere it if he was actually on cammera, like the series Life In The Undergrowth, thats was cool too, I would love to get these and his other documentaries on Blue-Ray and watch them on a HD screen, it would be great.

Did you see Attenborough's interview the other night with Jonathan Ross, good interview, and JR was correct, that when DA says something is true, you can believe it, he could tell us that moles live in the vacume of space and I would believe it.

Great show, and can't wait for the Desert one next week. 👍

 

[donbenni]

👍 I have to agree, it is a fantastic program. I've seen 3 eps now and they've all been amazing. The camera work is unbelievable, i have to keep reminding myself that these are actual images coming from cameras; that someone is actually there filming. It's a joy to watch, really makes a nice end to a usually painfully-dull Sunday.

 

[Touring Mars]

Did you see Attenborough's interview the other night with Jonathan Ross, good interview, and JR was correct, that when DA says something is true, you can believe it, he could tell us that moles live in the vacume of space and I would believe it.

I know what you mean... indeed, David Attenborough always speaks with an authoritative air, but only because what he says is always worth listening to!

I hope the series comes out on regular DVD, and that it won't just be for HD - I dunno about all these new-fangled formats...

(sorry, had to steal O.G's smilie )

👍 I have to agree, it is a fantastic program. I've seen 3 eps now and they've all been amazing. The camera work is unbelievable, i have to keep reminding myself that these are actual images coming from cameras; that someone is actually there filming. It's a joy to watch, really makes a nice end to a usually painfully-dull Sunday.

Yes, the bits where they show you how it was filmed are very interesting - makes you realise just how difficult a job it is to bring the world into our living rooms with such skill.

 

[Kylehnat]

Maybe if I'm lucky, I can get it from Netflix in a few years

We really need some more enlightning things on TV here...