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Category:    Home > Reviews > Documentary > Nature > Mini-Series > British > BBC High Definition Natural History Collection (Planet Earth/Galapagos/Wild China/Ganges Blu-rays + Wild China & Ganges DVD-Video sets)

BBC High Definition Natural History Collection (Planet Earth/Galapagos/Wild China/Ganges Blu-rays + Wild China & Ganges DVD-Video sets) 

 

Picture:  Sound:  Extras:  Films:

 

Planet Earth B+/B-/D/A-

Galapagos B+/C+/D/B+

Wild China B+/B-/C/A-

Ganges B+/B/C/B+

 

Wild China (DVD) B-/B-/C/A-

Ganges (DVD) B-/B/C/B+

 

 

Having already covered the brilliant Planet Earth series…

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5514/Planet+Earth+(BBC/Mini-Series/Blu-ray

 

…as well as Galapagos

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6110/Galapagos+(BBC+Home+Video/Blu-ray

 

 

…we are excited about this box set, which includes both of those features, plus two others: Wild China and Ganges.  This easily makes this one of the more sought after box sets in the Blu-ray format as it not only contains 4 terrific documentaries, but is one of the few of it’s kind thus far to offer such great quality, plus great programming and it is this type of fare that will greatly contribute to Blu-rays success. 

 

Here we will cover the two titles that we have not covered yet as they are included here and are available individually as well as on standard definition DVD, which we will also cover in this review. 

 

Let’s begin with Wild China, which I have always had a unique fascination with the culture and history of this amazing place, this particular documentary covers a ton of material in just a few hours, which is incredible considering we are talking about one of the oldest civilizations as well as one of the more diverse places in terms of natural beauty.  I found this program to be on par with the spectacular nature of Planet Earth and because it was more focused, it was able to cover some more in-depth areas, where Planet Earth had to give equal weight to a wide variety of places. 

 

Ganges is equally absorbing, refreshing, and engaging all at the same time, which makes it another great addition to this set.  You really can’t go wrong with any of the four titles and to get them all together is just a terrific idea.  This is perhaps the one title in the set that most people will be the least familiar with, but it doesn’t disappoint in the least and opens up the viewer to a whole new world that has seldom been on display. 

 

The technical specs are also about even for all of the discs, with the 1080p transfers in High Definition glory; both Wild China and Ganges are presented in 1.78 X 1 framing and look terrific showing some of the great work that HD is capable of capturing and delivering.  Unfortunately the DVD’s for these two features just can’t keep up with the high level of detail, color, and depth.  Instead the DVD’s come across rather flat with limited color range and poor blacks.  There are some minor moments on the Blu-rays as well where softness is evident, but it’s not an abundant problem. 

 

Each of these features seems to be presented with slightly different audio mixes, Planet Earth was in 5.1, as is Wild China, but only a 2.0 stereo mix for Galapagos and the winner out of all four is the DTS 5.1 mix that is on Ganges.  It would have been a great addition to have all four of them in at least one uncompressed format, even if they didn’t do these in Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD, a PCM uncompressed 5.1 mix would have been great, but sorely missed here.  While the material lends itself just fine in these formats, there are limitations to the music and certain effects that really could have taken these presentations to a whole new level, if not match the picture performance.  The DTS mix on Ganges even shows just how much more depth can be achieved with the benefits that DTS has over Dolby so you can imagine just how much more refined a true HD sound mix would have been as well! 

 

Extras are not abundant for these discs, but that’s not really an issue since the material itself explains so much.  Although there was a making-of program that ran on Planet Earth that was equally as engaging during the broadcast and those additions would have been great.  Wild China and Ganges do feature ‘making-of’s’ that are decent, but not super engaging or remarkable overall.  The DVD’s for these two films are the same in terms of extras and feature the same audio mixes as well. 

 

The bottom line is that this box set contains four terrific features that will not only educate you, but also entertain you in the process and with great picture performance; it will also challenge your system and wow your friends and neighbors.  It’s also great to get such superb titles all in one set and each are unique in their own approach, but still hit the high quality standards that BBC is well-known for.  These are the types of programs that schools across the world should be turning into mandatory viewing for students as they are THAT good and necessary!

 

 

-   Nate Goss


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