Customer Reviews

The Blue Planet - Seas of Life (Part 1)

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If you or anyone you know has even a remote interest in the ocean and marine life this DVD is a must. Even if you've seen parts of the "Seas of Life" series on the Discovery channel this DVD is still worth it as the difference in quality is astounding.

Since my childhood I've always been a fan of wildlife documentaries, but nothing can compare with this. It is absolutely, jaw droppingly beautiful. "Ocean World" provides something of an overview of all of the other segments so it's a good intro to the series. "Frozen Seas" probably spends as much time on the surface of the frozen seas as it does within them, but it's still compelling.

I can recommend this DVD without any reservations (something that any of my friends and relatives could attest to ;-)!

If movies are the director's medium and television series the writer's, nature programs belong to the photographers. Good moving pictures, deftly edited, can make a good nature show great. The first two episodes of the BBC program THE BLUE PLANET, `Ocean World' and `Frozen Seas,' have some of the best nature photography I believe I've ever seen.

I'm not usually a great fan of nature shows. Most seem heavily loaded with warnings about global warming, human encroachment, lose of the rain forest, etc. All important issues, but usually more depressing than enlightening. Not too keen on the ones where the host adopts a grizzly cub or peels a poisonous snake off a mambo tree, either. Thankfully THE BLUE PLANET doesn't have an agenda to push or a host's ego to stroke. If you want to see a program that simply celebrates nature, this is the one for you.

Richard Attenborough hosts these programs, adding his considerable credibility to the proceedings. Highlights in the first program include the dolphins herding of the migrating sardines and the arrival of the creatures of the night from the ocean depths. There's some footage of blue whales, but because they swim alone - we don't see a human being in either episode - it's hard to get a sense of their size from the footage. Second episode highlights include a polar bear with cub on the hunt and herds of penguin huddling against the biting wind and bitter cold. Simply amazing footage in both episodes. Also included are a couple of short (9 minutes or so) featurettes profiling the film crews for the two episodes. Highest recommendation for this dvd.

I have all 4 DVDs (8 films) of the series; all are outstanding productions, and clearly the best of the marine documentaries I have seen (which is a lot).

Two aspects of the films stand out the most: the unbelievable image quality and visual narratives. The films capture aspects of animal behavior which have never before been seen on film (polar bears hunting beluga whales; orcas playing soccer with a baby seal, baitball feeding with marlin, dolphins and a sei whale; orca pods attacking a baby gray whale, and so on). And they capture this behavior with extremely moving beauty.

Unlike many nature documentaries, there are no talking heads, only background narration. You get a non-stop flow of images creatively matched to orginal music. But for those who do enjoy the talking heads, each film has great bonus tracks with interviews of the camerafolk, producers, scientists, etc.

Each segment covers one of the oceans (frozen, coastal, tidal, deep, etc.) Each time the top-of-the-notch crew managed to capture amazing footage, the kind of pictures you cannot forget once you saw them. I was just in awe, I could not stop to watch ALL the segments over a week-end - I even had to cancel an appointment. On the english amazon website, you can buy the whole serie in a box. In the US they come as two separate DVDs. If you want to discover a world we know little about, and in the most amazing way, THIS is a DVD to buy. Really.

I was somewhat apprehensive about viewing yet another BBC natural history documentary, however, I need not have been concerned. 'Blue Planet' proved to be an awe-inspiring journey across the oceans of the world which left me both amazed and scared in equal measures about the creatures of our mysterious underwater world.

While the opening image of the series - a 'must be seen to be believed' blue whale at least the size of a double decker bus - is astonishing, I have to go with 'Frozen Seas' as the greatest episode of the series. In this episode the camera work and photgraphy is stunning, capturing both the physical beauty of the barren Arctic and the complexities of survival faced by the smattering of creatures who inhabit the area. The production team are similarly successful in revealing to us, the viewers, the distinctive personalities of these creatures, including the unforgettable sequence about the penguins trying in vain to make shore.

A 'must-see' for anyone who has ever been for a swim in the sea and wondered what lurks beneath them.

Great product...can't say enough about Blue Planet. Very relaxing to watch, and high quality all the way around.

This is one the greatest explorations of the marine world ever made for television. David Attenborough takes you on a journey through the oceans to see the animals and much more in their natural surroundings. If like many of us you don't have a big screen TV, get this version so that the picture will be as large as possible and look the most impressive. You won't be disappointed!

If one is interested in marine biology then the Blue Planet series is the absolute best on the subject. Produced by the BBC, these videos are uncomparable in quality of production and sheer visual impressivness to any other documentary about sea life I have ever seen. If you decide to purchase any of this series of documentaries prepare to spend a lot of time watching and rewatching them and who knows maybea youll learn something in the process. I know I sure did.

A superior and enjoyable documentary exposing people to the animals that live in the Earth's vast oceans.

As far as the technical aspects of the DVD, the imagery is superb with its widescreen anamorphic format and very sharp picture. However, it falls short of some items you would think standard in a documentary, such as multi-lingual or caption capabilites.

If I had to gripe about one thing, it would be the fact that the BBC and WB didn't take full advantage of the DVD format and provide a full 5.1 audio mix. Though the 2.0 mix was adequate for delivering the narration, one would have to think about the endless possibilities a 5.1 mix would have provided.

All in all, if you love nature, particularly the mysteries of the oceans around us, this is a must have.