Blue Planet – Sea Of Life (expanded reissue) + BBC Atlas Of The Natural World: Africa & Europe + Attenborough In Paradise (BBC Home
Video/DVD Sets)
Picture: B-/B-/C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B-/C/D Episodes: B+/B+/B
After the
across the board success of Planet Earth
in all three home video disc formats, BBC Home Video is issuing more content in
al three formats, but especially on DVD-Video.
Three such titles include an expanded version of their previous hit Blue Planet – Sea Of Life, BBC Atlas Of The Natural World: Africa
& Europe and Attenborough In
Paradise combining the original 1971 show with the recently shot updated
program studying birds of the world. Not
announced for HD-DVD or Blu-ray yet, it is only a mater of time because they
are all so good.
Blue Planet (2001) was just a huge
high-profile hit for the BBC, with its stunning underwater footage of creatures
rarely seen from Alastair Fothergill, who did such an amazing job on Planet Earth. The team take their cameras far and deep,
showing us al this precious, priceless, vital life in ways we have never seen
before. It does for the oceans what Planet Earth does for the lands, giving
us a deep, full portrait of our world now more important than ever. After watching any fact-filled, expansive
single episode, you wonder how anyone could politicize something so important
and care less about it. The shows
include:
1)
Ocean World
2)
Frozen Seas
3)
Open Ocean
4)
The Deep
5)
Seasonal Seas
6)
Coral Seas
7)
Tidal Seas
8)
Coasts
It is
amazing and no wonder the BBC is reissuing it with bonus material, adding up to
392 minutes of programming.
Though
consisting of material over going back to 1987, BBC Atlas Of The Natural World: Africa & Europe has at least as
much scope and implication about (a huge 1055 with extras!) in how incredible
the two continents covered really are.
It is ironic to combine one so natural (the former) with one so often
technologized (the latter), but that there arte far more common denominators
than we may typically think of the two as having.
The four
programs across six DVDs are Wild Africa,
Congo, The First Eden (covering The Mediterranean) and Europe: A Natural History. Despite the different times they were made,
the only thing that varies is the approach, but the richness in facts and the
fine choice of footage is inarguable and anyone wanting to learn about any of
the locales covered should turn to this book-like box set first.
Last, but
not least, is Attenborough In Paradise. This series began back in 1971 with Sir David
Attenborough’s groundbreaking look at the species and evolution of birds. When the first show aired, it was big news
for years that he had captured birds rarely seen and never captured in motion
footage before. It was the kind of magic
moment in science that made PBS and the BBC king of smart, groundbreaking
TV. To see a new video format like color
PAL capture a bird that no one had any clue of the behavior of, the function or
all the form of was not just exciting, it was practically magic. The later programs are just as solid and he
only gets better at doing these shows.
Other programs include a tribute to the host and one on the subject of
bird song. There is more to these two
DVDs than you might expect.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image from the box sets originate in 1080i and
possible 1080p in spots, with older Atlas
footage and DVD One of Paradise shot
in 1.33 X 1 analog PAL video and 16mm film.
The First Eden disc in the
Atlas looks like an older video master of a 16mm shoot, which needs upgraded if
this hits the HD formats. The widescreen
on Planet looks the best of all,
though Atlas has images as
impressive, the footage/transfer has more flaws throughout. Paradise
is lucky it looks as good as it does.
All also have Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, stereo in all cases except the
earlier, obviously monophonic recordings.
Extras on
Planet include eight 10-miuntes
behind-the-scenes featurettes for each of the episodes, stills, fact files,
interviews and Deep Trouble
featurette about global warming. The new
5th bonus DVD adds four more featurettes: Amazon Abyss, Dive To Shark
Volcano, Between The Tides & Antarctica. Atlas
has five hours of bonus in-depth looks at the various locales, plus factual
pop-ups in Enhanced Content Mode. Paradise has no extras if you include
the 50 years look at the man with the BBC, Life
On Air, a pun for the birds like those of “paradise” that don’t touch the
ground. We should, but will decline
since it fits so well in the set.
No matter
which set you choose, you cannot go wrong.
For more
great BBC nature series, try these links:
Galapagos
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6110/Galapagos+(BBC+Home+Video/Blu-ray
Planet Earth
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5514/Planet+Earth+(BBC/Mini-Series/Blu-ray
- Nicholas Sheffo
