Humans from the planet earth will rejoice this week with the DVD release of the new series Planet Earth that spans the globe highlighting the plants and animals that make up the inhabitants of ecosystems found in different geographic regions throughout the planet. Originally made for BBC television by the same producers of the previous popular nature series The Blue Planet: Seas of Life, this new series continues in the same style of nature filmmaking that focuses on different bio-zones on Earth. When the new Planet Earth series was later broadcast for American audiences on The Discovery Channel, each episode was heavily edited to make room for commercials, and worst of all, they replaced David Attenborough's original narration with Sigourney Weaver's voice. Luckily for us DVD viewers, David Attenborough's superior audio narration has been retained for this unedited version, and with the crystal clear digital images augmented by a great score by George Fenton on all five-disks, makes this box set the greatest nature series currently available on DVD.

The first episode "From Pole to Pole" on disk one is an overview of the entire planet's different ecosystems. From polar bears and massive caribou migrations in the arctic to birds-of-paradise in the tropics to great white sharks hunting seals in the ocean. This episode serves a great introduction to the entire series that establishes the overall idea of focusing on individual wildlife habitats in each episodes. The second installment starts off this theme with "Mountains" that also reveals how this series is just as much as a travelogue as it is a wildlife/nature documentary. The episode makes good use of aerial photography to bring us the viewer around the world to remote mountain ranges in search of elusive animals. The third episode about lakes and rivers entitled "Fresh Water" shows us stunning shots of waterfalls and canyons to reveal creatures both in and out of water.

Disk two features the most stunning episode in the series called "Caves" where never before seen images of subterranean caverns are revealed with amazing clarity. This episode underscores this series' unique ability to take the viewer to places otherwise inaccessible for most people, and in particular the Lechuguilla Caves featured are now off-limits to prevent any possible damage to the delicate crystal formations. This episode also features an enormous pile of bat guano in Borneo that is beyond description in words and must be seen to be believed. Episode five, "Deserts" reveals the hash environments of the many different types of deserts, some that are counter to the classic idea of endless sand dunes and the surprising animal life that flourishes in these extreme conditions. The last episode on disk two is "Ice Worlds" where penguins and whales frolic in arctic environments that are just as extreme as the deserts from the previous episode, as witnessed by a polar bear's struggle with hunger and exhaustion after failing to hunt for food.

Disk three starts off with episode seven, "Great Plains", featuring massive open grassland savannahs to reveal the treeless bio-systems that cover vast expanses of the earth's surface. From Outer Mongolia to the North American prairie and finally Africa's awesome savanna where predators rule. This raises an important note; yes, nature is cruel but if you feel squeamish watching that doe-eyed impala being taken down after a spirited chase, you can be assured that this doc is pretty tame by never lingering on the gory details. Next up is "Jungles" where tropical rainforests are revealed as complex self-contained eco-systems packed with huge numbers of plants and animals. Cheeky monkeys and tree frog orgy scenes are all very interesting, but the glimpses of the courting birds-of-paradise are very unique and memorable. The ninth episode is "Shallow Seas" that focus on coral reef environments beautifully photographed with vivid colors. Time-laps shots of star fish speed up the otherwise imperceptible movements while super-slow-motion shots of great white sharks jumping out of the ocean to catch a hapless seal reveal the quickest of action sequences.

Disk four has only two episodes, the last two of the main series. Episode ten is "Seasonal Forests" that feature deciduous woodland habitats of conifers and redwoods in colder climes that are contrasted with broad-leaved seasonal trees like India's teak forests and the strange Bao-Bob tree in Sub-Saharan Africa. The final episode, "Ocean Deep" reveal the least explored area of the planet's deep ocean depths. These are some of the most bizarre images of the entire series, both animal life and geologic formations are out of this world.

The fifth disk of this box set contains three addition episodes dubbed "Planet Earth: The Future" that are very different from the previous series contained on the first four disks. Using highlights from other episodes inter-cut with interviews of the filmmakers and environmentalist, these three episodes take a much more sobering analysis of the deteriorating pace of environmental collapse. The first episode, "Saving Species" focuses on the declining numbers of animals on the planet and the loss of diversity in the different ecosystems featured. Whereas species extinction have always existed, the rate of extinction is accelerating forcing difficult dilemmas about where to focus efforts to save certain species while other less-charismatic mega faunas are left to fend for themselves. The second episode, "Into the Wilderness", takes a look at man's effect on the planet as a result of population growth and resource use. Interesting concepts are raised about our idea of what constitutes wilderness, our relationship to nature and the growing awareness of the interconnection humans share with the wild. The final episode entitled "Living Together" sums up the debates regarding conservation by applying these concepts to real-world issues of economics and development. David Attenborough himself makes the most poignant remark when he points out how children loose their sense of wonder about nature when they become adults and how  nature series like these help to rekindle this lost enthusiasm about caring for the Earth.

Shot completely in high definition digital video, the filmmakers have used everything from time-laps, slow-motion, and before-after dissolves along with a constantly moving camera and views that range from low-earth orbit to aerial to underwater shots. The producers have also taken a unique approach to the standard 'special featurette' section of a DVD by including a ten-minute chapter called Planet Earth Diaries at the end of each episode. Each 'diary' is specific to the episode just presented, to reveal the tricks of the trade that the filmmakers used to capture these stunning effects. Featured here are the secrets of aerial shots achieved with gyro-stabilized camera mounts and an adapted hot air balloon dubbed 'le cinebule'. The diary about the use of infrared lights to reveal the darkness of a lion hunt at night is interesting, but the special rig built to film that aforementioned giant pile of bat guano deserves special mention.

Extras

The documentary series on this 5-disk DVD box set is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio with an English audio track in Dolby Digital 5.1 Stereo. As I mentioned, the 110 minutes of special features on the disk are excellent, and I like how they included these as eleven individual ten-minute final chapters to each episode, as apposed to lumping them all together on a separate disk. English subtitles are included, along with French and Spanish languages too.

Final Words

This amazing series combines the best of wildlife documentaries with around the world nature aspects that both educate and entertain with first rate cinematography. Altogether this spectacular series contains fourteen one-hour episodes on five DVDs; this includes all eleven episodes of the main Planet Earth series, plus the additional three episodes contained on the last disk dubbed as a companion series that focuses on the future of the planet's ecosystems. As a result of this dual aspect to the different ideas, the main series is able to remain free of any overt conservation messages about the sorry state of the environment to focus on a much more upbeat theme of the beauty of the Earth's wonders. Beauty is actually an understatement with this visually stunning series, since the best aspect of this documentary is the great cinematography that includes innovative visual tricks to show off the Earth's great sights and sounds of the wild. Nature fans will sure to be thrilled with this release, but I think the appeal of this film is universal for every earthling on this planet, the only one we have to call our home.