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Life in the Undergrowth (2006)

David Attenborough  |  NR |  DVD
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)

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Product Details

  • Actors: David Attenborough
  • Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
  • Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
  • Number of discs: 2
  • Rated: NR (Not Rated)
  • Studio: BBC Home Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: May 2, 2006
  • Run Time: 250 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (124 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000EBD9W6
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,879 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • Learn more about "Life in the Undergrowth" on IMDb

Special Features

  • Five episodes on two discs
  • Interview with Mike Salisbury
  • Original score (audio only)

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Attenborough: Life in the Undergrowth Season 1

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

By getting up close and personal with Life in the Undergrowth, this extraordinary BBC series sets a new standard of excellence in wildlife cinematography. Hosted by veteran nature expert David Attenborough and utilizing the latest advances in macrophotography, the five-part series is dedicated to bugs of all shapes and sizes, from microscopic gnats to cave-dwelling millipedes so large they can capture bats in mid-flight and feast for hours thereafter! The patience involved in filming such previously unseen marvels must have been grueling (as confirmed by producer Mike Salisbury in a splendid bonus interview), but the results are nothing less than astonishing, with a parade of sequences so impressive that even insect-haters will pause in amazement. With an emphasis on reproduction and mating behaviors, each program focuses on a different, generalized group of creatures, many of them never filmed before, so that lay-persons and entomologists will be equally enlightened by discoveries made in the process of filming.

As always, Attenborough serves as an expert witness, cordial, fearless, and quintessentially British as he explains what we're seeing, from the nocturnal fluorescence of scorpions (glowing at night in ultraviolet light, they perform a mating dance playfully described as "a nuptial pas de deux") to the mysterious, 17-year life cycle of the cicada. Throughout, we see everything, both frightening and beautiful, from an intimate, bug's-eye view, in detail so vividly colorful that you'll never view the insect world in quite the same way again. (Likewise for the diverse variety of critters on view in episode 3: "The Silk Spinners," which according to Salisbury is capable of curing arachnophobes from their irrational fear of spiders.) Just when you think Life in the Undergrowth couldn't get any more fascinating, it does: episode 4, "Intimate Relations," shows how many insects symbiotically depend on other species for food, shelter, or completion of their reproductive cycles, and episode 5, "Supersocieties," focuses on the social complexities of insect colonists like ants and termites. Enough to give you the creeps for days, you say? Think again, for after seeing Life in the Undergrowth (a perfect companion piece to the Nova episode "The Unknown World"), you may find yourself in the garden, on your knees, eager for a better look at the countless millions of tiny creatures that surround us every day. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

David Attenborough guides the viewer through a miniature universe teeming with life, never normally seen, yet all around us. New technology reveals surreal vistas and their extraordinary inhabitants -- swarming antler moths, desert locusts and a mountain of cockroaches -- up close and personal. The bizarre and the beautiful are represented and their habits, lifestyles and characteristics explained in David Attenborough's inimitable style. Though small, these creatures are as ferocious as any seen before.

Customer Reviews

Another great David Attenborough documentary. Iain  |  34 reviewers made a similar statement
Wonderful photography, very interesting information and great for all ages. Ellen L Boerner  |  36 reviewers made a similar statement
I think it's really amazing to keep a kid's attention for that long. W. Xinru  |  12 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
179 of 180 people found the following review helpful
By dooby
Format:DVD
This is a beautiful documentary series. Sir David Attenborough's latest release is a 5-part documentary on terrestrial invertebrates (as opposed to marine invertebrates which are not covered here) with a major emphasis on insects and to a lesser extent, spiders, with a passing glance at snails, slugs and worms which actually only feature in the first episode. While many of the species he showcases can be found in and around your neighbourhood gardens, he still criss-crosses the globe to highlight the diversity of forms and habitats that related species occupy across our planet. He is helped by advances in photography, especially ultra-high-speed photography, microphotography and high-resolution infra-red photography and the new high-definition video which can present it in such spectacular detail on DVD. These highly detailed images are truly gorgeous to look at and make you wish this series was at least twice as long.

The 5 episodes (50 mins each) are:
Ep 1: Invasion of the land - A very brief description of how the invertebrates moved from water to land and the adaptations they underwent during the transition.
Ep 2: Taking to the air - Focusing on insects and their conquest of flight
Ep 3: The Silk Spinners - On invertebrates that make use of silk, including insects but focusing mostly on spiders
Ep 4: Intimate Relations - On symbiotic, parasitic and commensal relationships between various invertebrate species and between invertebrates and plants.
Ep 5: Supersocieties - On insects that form colonies and supercolonies - bees, wasps, ants, termites.

Highlights include the giant centipedes that hunt for bats by catching them in mid-air, 6-foot long giant earthworms in Australia that make so much noise burrowing underground that the earth gurgles beneath your feet, parasitic wasps that inject their eggs into the bodies of caterpillars which proceed to hatch and eat their hosts alive, one species even allowing the caterpillar to pupate only to kill it in the chrysalis and emerge as a fully-formed wasp at the end as if by some act of devilish magic. There's a beautiful sequence taken in Waitomo, New Zealand where the ceiling of a dark cave twinkles with a constellation of blue fairy lights, like stars in the Milky Way. Only on closer inspection do you see that they are the larvae of fungus gnats. There's also a segment on spiders which work in concert (in thousands) to construct 60 foot high webs that form a veritable silken wall across the jungle canopy, trapping insects, birds and well-nigh anything else that fly into them.

The series was shot in 1.78:1 high definition widescreen and is presented as such on DVD (enhanced for widescreen TV). Picture quality is breathtaking. Sound is in 2.0 Stereo with surprisingly good bass extension, notably in the accompanying music. The DVD includes a half-hour long interview with producer Mike Salisbury on the making of the series but unfortunately none with Sir David. It also comes with a separate recording of the complete score by Ben Salisbury and David Poore in 2.0 Stereo, playable separately with 25 individual cueing tracks.

Breathtaking as all this is, it is also a little sad to realise that with this series, David Attenborough has apparently precluded any separate "Life of Insects" series to add to his other "Life Of..." documentaries. Alas, so much to do in so little time. Perhaps we should just count our blessings and be thankful that Sir David has shared so much of his life with us. He has brought home to millions around the world the joy and passion he holds towards all living things on our singularly beautiful living planet. I personally know of many people whose love for the life sciences were sparked by exposure to his inspiring documentaries and books. You could probably go to any corner of the world and be able to find life scientists who hold him in the highest regard and the deepest affection. To think that he is now into his eighties and still hard at work (he reached 80 earlier this month - May 8). A truly remarkable man. He has just premiered his new 2-part documentary on climate change and its effects on wildlife (BBC UK). And he is currently working on the forthcoming "Life of Reptiles". For those interested in learning more about the various creatures featured here, this series comes with Attenborough's beautifully illustrated hardcover book, published by the BBC in the UK and by Princeton in the US.
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55 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is certainly the best and most exciting movie on invertebrates (and indeed life on Earth) with stunning shots, details on the biology of many species and macrophotography which even I as a specialist haven't seen, and I could not see with my usual equipment. Indeed, almost any sequence has its unprecedented merit from an esthetical point of view, as well as from a scientific.

Rarely in my live, I would be watching movies during my precious business hours. It makes you addicted to invertebrates and their private lives.
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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars My god.. August 3, 2006
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm a biology major at Wesleyan University, and I have never, EVER seen a more fair, true and beautifully detailed representation of insect life. This documentary should be seen by everyone, as it would foster much more of an appreciation and respect for the insect life on this planet that outnumbers us by a factor of billions. A must see for anyone and everyone.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent
This is a phenomenal video, with unprecedented footage of the intimate relationships between organisms in the undergrowth that we barely acknowledge exist. Read more
Published 13 days ago by Janice Thies
4.0 out of 5 stars Worth adding to your library.
Not as interesting as Life, but I think that's just a personal preference. This show is still worth watching, and anything Attenborough is ok in my video library.
Published 1 month ago by jwjensen
5.0 out of 5 stars Great videography and descriptions!
I love Attenborough's productions! He gets into the heart of the subject and describes what happened, is happening, and going to happen in understandable yet scientific... Read more
Published 1 month ago by S. J. Brunskill
4.0 out of 5 stars My granddaughter got this also
this is the same high quality that was in the other productions, but this one did not captivate her as did the others.
Published 1 month ago by Susie
5.0 out of 5 stars <3 Attenborough
I was introduced to David Attenborough and the nature BBC teams stuff through Planet Earth. Going back to their older work I can see where all their experience came from, making... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jonathan Kreiser
5.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFUL AND AMAZING
Great production! My daughter enjoys watching the series! We plan to buy more of this kind! Very educational and great material!
Published 2 months ago by Hung Jui Huang
1.0 out of 5 stars will not play !!!
ad says coded for u.s. but will not play on u.s. players, what a shame , what a waste of money !!!
Published 3 months ago by john holland
5.0 out of 5 stars Life in the Undergrowth
Nothing as facinating as seeing how nature lives and works. Wonderful photography, very interesting information and great for all ages.
Published 3 months ago by Ellen L Boerner
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing stuff I've never seen before
I watch a lot of nature documentaries. This documentary series was full of information I had never seen before. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Gregs of Wrath
5.0 out of 5 stars BBC
All of these nature shows narrated by Attenborough are excellent. And are watchable again and again.The BBC can't be out done!
Published 4 months ago by Larry
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Will Life in the Undergrowth ever come out on Bluray??
Great question!
Dec 5, 2010 by S. Velasquez |  See all 4 posts
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