Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series

If anyone in your house loves nature, wildlife or the outdoors you simply MUST get this series. It is beyond astonishing.I grew up watching Disney documentaries like "The Vanishing Prairie" which included amazing footage of prairie dogs and buffaloes and sidewinders. A few years ago my attention was captured by "March of the Penguins". I was amazed not only by the year-long story of the Emperor Penguins living their life-cycle in the most harsh climate on earth, but also by the film crews who braved the same climate to shoot the footage.Now we have this series and it is huge. "Planet Earth" is to "March of the Penguins" what the Space Shuttle is to a paper airplane. Okay - I'm exaggerating... but only a little.A host of intrepid, experienced and well-financed film crews were dispatched over a five year period to collect this footage. We see Emperor Penguins huddling over their eggs in Antarctica, Cranes in their life or death struggling migratory flight over Mount Everest, huge herds of migrating caribou and elephants, mating dances of exotic birds, and endless varieties of predator and prey. Speaking of - thought should be given to the context of viewing for the young and tender-hearted. For those who might cry when Bambi's mother is shot - off-screen - it may be quite traumatic to see wolves and cheetah and hyena successfully corralling deer, or little seal fins protruding from the gaping maws of breeching great white sharks. It may be the perfect introduction of the budding naturalist to the "circle of life" or food chain or however you wish to introduce these scenes.But the footage - oh my - absolutely takes your BREATH away. The flora and fauna of the earth are filmed in breathtaking natural surroundings. Helicopter borne cameras zoom across waterfalls and savannahs. Intimate moments with some of the rarest creatures on earth are mesmerizing: birds of paradise perform their cirque du soleil mating dances and the nearly extinct snow leopard is caught high above the tree line in titanic Asian mountain ranges.Disney edited this series into their recent "Earth", but the truth is that all 11 episodes are astonishing, and for less than twice the cost, you get more than 5 times more of this amazing series.The scope of the project is titanic: I don't expect another nature documentary this expansive and well-produced for decades. Come one - come all. You will see things that you never thought you'd see, may never see again, and will never forget.

We saw one episode of this BBC produced series on the Discovery channel several months ago and we were sold. This series is a beautifully depicted narration on the wonderful planet we call home. The documentary is filmed almost exclusively in High Definition and the cinematography is simply stunning in Blu-ray.We are using a 1080p 120Hz Toshiba Regza as our reference and the picture quality is at times breathtaking. The producers went to great lengths to capture amazing images of the entire planet and just watching the scenery alone is worth the price of this set. There is one shot taken as they flew over Victoria falls that almost makes you feel like you are soaring over the falls on your own personal set of wings.While the Discovery Channel series is narrated by Sigourney Weaver and the Disney edited version is done by James Earl Jones; this original series is narrated by David Attenborough with the BBC and he is by far the best of the three. The only issues I had with the physical Blu-ray discs is that Mr. Attenborough's voice is slightly hard to hear over the higher volume musical scores and scenery sounds.This set comes in a nice box for display and has 4 discs inside. The length is approximately 550 minutes and is divided into 50 minute themed segments.I should also note that there are a few references (maybe 4 or 5) to evolution and global warming for those of you who may have issues with these types of views. However, the focus is not on politics or religion, rather the main focus is on our amazing planet and I do not believe the commentaries would be offensive to anyone who is solid in their own beliefs. In my opinion the stunning imagery reinforces the ideas of creation by design and the entire series would be an excellent educational resource for any type of school or home.The wonder and awesomeness of this planet really shines in this series and I highly recommend it.

I do not intend on promoting capitalism when suggesting people should purchase this blu-ray but they should. BBC have created a marvellous 11 50 minute episodes of sheer splendour and entetainment. Each episode is constanlty fascinating and intensely interesting to watch and learn about this real world we live in but most of us do not see. In some cases in caves stretching miles beneath the earth and cavities stretched within the deepest most uninhibitable places on earth not many people in the hstory of the world have seen until the BBC got there. My favourite episodes would have to be the first episode, the one about underwater caves, ice worlds and shallow seas but really they all deserve about 4-5 stars each. I believe this would be an excellent documentary to show to all children as it is very educational. In pristine, breathtaking 1080i Full High Defintion this is a great show case which could easily spark children's interest in science and geography.I hope no one is fooled because this is a documentary, because I have seen many documentaries like this and March of the Penguins which are as entertaining as 5 star movies like North by Northwest.I definetly recommend this blu-ray wholeheartedly.Thank you BBC,Thank you David AttenboroughThank you amazon.com for the exceptionally fast shipping and bargain pricesnote: Also I heard there was a new blu-ray vesion of Planet Earth available that has a special features, so you might want to consider that. Although I think there may be other narrators for other versions of this series but I personally like David Attenborough's narration which is awe-inspiring. I doubt other narrators could have done a better job but I haven't listened to them so I am not in a postion to compare. This was my first global network online review, I am just a begginer reviewer and I hope you liked it.