BBC Atlas Of The Natural World: Africa &
Europe/Western Hemisphere & Antarctica (BBC DVD Box set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: B+
The BBC
has issued what were already two solid box sets from their BBC Atlas Series as
one larger set (via simple slipcase) and we reviewed one half of it with some
other BBC releases a while ago at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6113/Blue+Planet+%E2%80%93+Sea+Of+Li
I was
very impressed with the Africa/Europe
set and was hoping some or all of it would hit Blu-ray by now. The half not covered here before is the Western Hemisphere/Antarctica set. This one offers more older productions as all
but one of the subject sections is at 1.33 X 1, leaving only the newer Wild South America presented in anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 playback. That makes
the overall picture quality a bit softer and I hope the BBC is restoring the
older filmed versions for future HD use.
The Wild South America segment offers six
episodes over 2 DVDs covering the Amazon in several shows, The Great Plains and other rarely seen parts of this vital
locale. You can guess where the
six-episode, single DVD Life In The
Freezer section covers (though we hope it is not warming up), Spirit Of The Jaguar (four episodes on
a single DVD) shows us great animals, lands and locales (like priceless rain
forests) in the Caribbean and Central America.
That leaves the eight-episode, two-DVD Land Of The Eagle, which brings us back to the U.S. and is the
first set of discs in the rich Digi-Pak book-like holder.
The 1.33
X 1 shows are filmed, but from older PAL analog video sources, though you can
see flaws from the prints in all cases.
The 1.78 show is cleaner, but not always clearer, though it has some
good visual moments as they all do. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 is usually monophonic, but the newest show is in Stereo. Like the other half of the set, you get
advanced pop-up features that offer factoids that you can click onto in some
cases for more information that will pause the program in progress.
- Nicholas Sheffo
