TV: Planet Earth

[stimpee]

*cough*mininova*cough*

[votingfloater]

Originally Posted by Tiger

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.

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]

Originally Posted by ceramic'cow

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]

Originally Posted by votingfloater

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.

Originally Posted by votingfloater

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. 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 ), 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.