Product Details

• Actors: David Attenborough
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630027134X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,593 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars like reducing Moby Dick to the first and last 50 pages..., September 18, 2003

By 

C. Moon (Valley Village, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life on Earth: A Natural History [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It is rather unclear what the intentions of this grotesquely abridged version of Life on Earth were, but what stands out above everything else is that this two video tape set does little justice to the original series. I had seen several episodes complete while in college and a few years back purchased this edited version--knowing quite well it was edited. But the severity of the cuts was never clear until viewed side-by-side with the original version. It might seem that the episodes were perhaps 30 minutes long but instead they were a full 50 minutes. Given that many of the episodes on this tape are little over 10 or 20 minutes, you can imagine just how much has been lost.

And what did they choose to lose? As another review made clear, the most interesting, the most novel and the most educational elements were discarded leaving a program that is still interesting if nothing else is available, but chopping out almost everything that made this program one of a kind.

The truth is, unlike many of the other fantastic 'life' installments, 'Life On Earth' is quite intellectual, and really oriented toward the college level viewer. That doesn't mean that younger people won't like it, but seeing it next to 'Life of Mammals' for instance, the difference in the target audience is abundantly clear. Unfortunately, almost all the college level material is dropped from the 4 hour version. Comparison to fossils, extensive discussions of evolution, co-evolution, speculations on the adaptive function of certain forms...almost all of this is gone!

I for one am a fan of all Attenborough's work, but 'Life on Earth' is by far one of the most amazing efforts in nature films and probably Attenborough's crowning achievement. It is (as tht title suggests) an overview of the world's natural history, crammed into thirteen fifty minute episodes with beautiful examples of every kind of life from all over the world. In the scope of science/nature documentaries, it is undoubtedly the finest of its kind.

For those who question where they might be able to purchase the entire series, I would suggest checking Amazon's UK branch as the BBC has issued the entire series there (though I don't imagine US machines will play it.)

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK Intro to Hit Attenborough Show, March 11, 2004

By 

Michael J. Holly (Hamilton, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Life on Earth: A Natural History [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I bought this set from Amazon 4 years ago and watched it. It is an extremely edited version of the 13 part tv series by Sir David Attenborough. I wqs disppointed that most episodes were edited down and many neat parts, such as fossil discussions and habitat discussions, were left out. The complete series on DVD is available in the UK, but, unfortunately, not available in the uS. However, a Chinese DVD business sells the complete unedited series on a DVD set along with Living Planet and private Life of Plants. I recently won a copy of the set from E-Bay and will be getting that soon in the mail.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Warning: this has been severely edited, January 15, 2001

By 

Cian Dorr (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life on Earth: A Natural History [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The original TV series 'Life on Earth' ran for 11 hours in all; this is an edited version, reduced to under 4 hours. Lots of beautiful sequences are still in there, although there are a few odd transitions. If you're used to watching Attenborough on television, this will seem unsettlingly briskly paced.