Under The Sea (Nova/WGBH)

 

Picture: C+ (C for Dolphins)     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Episodes: B

 

 

In a new ocean-themed DVD box set from WGBH Boston Video, Under The Sea (2006) combines two previously released titles with two new ones.  We covered the previous releases as follows:

 

Kingdom Of The Seahorse

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3785/Kingdom+Of+The+Seahorse+(Nova/WGBH)

 

Shark Attack!

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3833/Shark+Attack!+(Nova)

 

 

The new titles are Private Lives Of Dolphins and Treasures Of The Great Barrier Reef, both 1.33 X 1 productions.  The former is shot on film and is the poorest-looking in the series, while the latter has detail issues, but the color is still impressive though those limits.

 

Dolphins takes place off of Australia’s West Coast and is an interesting examination that goes out of its way to show the creatures at their best and back up the fact that they are exceptionally intelligent.  Barrier Reef may be aged, but its beautiful subject matter will sadly be the only time many may see some of the most amazing and least-discussed underwater life around.  Add these four discs up and you can see why they make a good treasury on the subject, especially at a time when water pollution is again a necessarily hot topic.

 

With the picture covered for all four already, each show lasting about an hour, the Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is simple stereo at best and none have surrounds of any kind.  Except for Shark Attack!, none even have DVD-ROM educational material, though all have the weblink to the NOVA site.  If they all seem interesting enough to you, get the whole set.  Fortunately, all are sold separately.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo