Planet Earth on Discovery HD

[RonFrank]

I too am disappointed in this series.
This 'Planet Earth' is nothing but pretty pictures, I would hardly call it a natural history documentary


'The snow leopard is one of the most elusive creatures on earth. Here in the high mountains of Afghanistan, we were lucky enough to film this animal. IT took the camera man two weeks to capture the 15 seconds of rare footage'.......yeah great. I knew that... now tell me something new. I stopped recording it because I just got disappointed ..... sad but true.

If you are going to criticize, at least get it right!

"The snow leopard, the rarest of Himalayan animals, it's a female returning to her lair. This the brass ring of natural history. The first intimate images of the snow leopard filmed in the wild. She greets her one year old cub. Her den is well chosen and has exceptional views of the surrounding cliffs. On these treacherous slopes only the snow leopard has a chance at such agile pray. A female with young offers an easier target. Large paws give her a firm grip, and the long tail helps her balance....."

You did not even get the Mountain range correct. Sounds like you did not pay much attention to it, no wonder you were disappointed. :shakehead

The footage included Male Markhor's battling, then a sequence including the Snow Leopard chasing a Markhor at high speed down a 50 degree cliff for a 1000', catching it only to loose it into the water at the bottom. It then switches to Eagles hunting, other stuff, and then back to more footage of the Leopard dragging a dead Markhor up to the den. Hardly 15 seconds, more like 10 minutes featuring the Himalayan wildlife. Pretty impressive stuff considering how hard it is to find these animals, much less capture them hunting and battling.

The narration maybe less than comprehensive because these animals live in a world where we can not survive for 10 months out of the year. I don't think much is known about the habits of a lot of the animals they were capturing on film. Difficult to discuss the habits of animals we know little about.

 

[sarita75]

Nothing about how long was spent,***

I think that alot of the "our cameramen spent x days, months, etc. comes after the actual show. Each program is 45 minutes or so, after which follows a sort of "making of the series" mini-feature. During those, they talk about the mechanics of the actual filming of the program.
One thing that my husband and I noted during the actual program, however, is that they tend to include "For the first time ever ......." alot. But to me, those statements (and even those about the "endurance") only make me appreciate the project that much more. I find the programs immensely entertaining and awe-inspiring. They make me appreciate what a magnificient planet this is, with all of its weird and wild life. It makes me, as a person, feel so small in a humble sort of way.

If I want true education I can sign up for a class. If I want to get it from the TV, I watch NOVA or a language class on public access. My 2 cents.

 

[fairybasslet]

Last night I watched some episodes that I had missed. The one about Great Plains with the lions bringing down an elephant was incredible. Filmed at night under infrared lights. And the footage from Jungles with the displays of the male birds of paradise were again, absolutely amazing. I did notice a little more of the "cameraman waited 5 days in 110 degree heat in camoflauge waiting for this footage, but it didn't really bother me so much. Tonight is 2 hours of the filmmakers' stories. I find it totally fascinating how they get the shots that they do. I have nothing but the utmost respect for these camera crews.

 

[bdshort]

I received my Blu-ray copy a few days ago, and just watched the Caves episode. Fantastic footage. But how many cave divers really try to squeeze through such tight passages like I saw on the show? Seemed like he was just stirring up lots of silt and came really close to getting stuck! Still, it was amazing to watch, and the halocline was really interesting to see. It really makes me want to go cave diving NOW!

And I think David Attenborough's narration must be different, because in the mountains episode with the snow leopard, there is absolutely no mention of how long the camera crew spent sitting around waiting to capture the footage. I haven't heard anything like that at all so far, though I'm only 4 episodes in. I haven't watched the show on Discovery so I don't know what Sigourney Weaver is saying.

This show is trying to cover a LOT of different areas and animals, so I think it would be really hard to get super in depth with any of the information. The focus is on showing places and animals that not many people have a chance to see.

Brian

 

[String]

It wont be available in IMAX purely as it wasn't shot in IMAX. Planet Earth was one of the first (if not the first) BBC documentaries to be shot in HD format (its a BBC project).

I dont know why they changed the narrator for the american market but i guess its the other way round to here. We get Mythbusters and all the crime stuff with a british narrator. I downloaded a mythbusters to watch and found it unwatchable as the american narrator irritated me to the point i had to turn it off. Maybe they just tried to localise it for that reason and got it wrong.

The "bragging about shots" thing im not sure where people get it from. Each planet earth episode is 50 minutes long. However after each one theres a planet earth "diaries" where they show what was involved in the making of that particular episode where it mentions details like that - its NOT in the original programme unless they've edited it for the US version. The Planet Earth and Diary are 2 separate programs in their original format so you dont have to watch it.
BBC television has no adverts and it was designed to fit a 1hr slot so 50 minutes documenrary, 10 mins "diary" programme.

Im guessing that the US version may well have been cut (as you get LOTS of advert breaks) and they may have combined the diary programme into the main body as well hence the claims above. If you get say 3 x 3 minute advert breaks per hour you'd expect a total runtime of around 70 minutes start to finish if they havent done that.


UK "Diver" magazine has a few interviews from the underwater cameraman and the kit involved and what happened and what it took to get certain shots which are worth a read.

 

[FunkyDiver]

This series is extremely interesting with excellent footage. But personally I don't know what all the fuss is about as far as them telling us what they had to go through to get some of these shots. I think it's kind of interesting to know that they had to make certain hardware or wait 2-3 months just to catch a glimpse of the animal they were after. It just makes me appreciate the footage all the more.

 

[LowVizWiz]

Yup!
The BBC version actually came out a year ago so you can find them online...

I've recorded 8 of the 2007 episodes in HD and I'm in the process of putting them on DVD and just noticed that they are airing "Mountains 2006" Beginning Thursday. I wonder if this is the british version you're talking about.

 

[cowdog77]

I loved the entire series...one of my favorite moments oddly enough was the transfer of the egg from the male Emperor Penguin to the female. And the wild donkeys in that vast desert was cool too.

 

[wombat201]

I love David Attenborough, he's my childhood hero!!!! Am eagerly awaiting delivery of my Planet Earth DVDs, but I really can't imagine it with a different narrator.... The Blue Planet was also awesome, and some of his older series are definitely worth checking out... when he was a bit younger, Attenborough would be narrating from right in amongst the action - there's a fairly famous scene of him keeping the talk going while being chased off a beach by a male elephant seal, up to his kness in bat poo, climbing into the rainforest canopy etc etc... He even made an multi-part series on nothing but plants and made that absolutely riveting and exciting viewing! I guess I'm biased having grown up with them, but the BBC makes the best documentaries!

 

[fairybasslet]

I guess I'm biased having grown up with them, but the BBC makes the best documentaries!

:bang: