Product Description

See over 120 minutes of some of the most startling wildlife photography ever to have been shown on television! The Blue Planet: Seas of Life features amazing new discoveries and photographic breakthroughs in two episodes: "Ocean World" and "Frozen Seas." 135 minutes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36584 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2002-02-05
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 98 minutes

Features

• The Blue Planet, the definitive exploration of the Earth's final frontier is now over. From the deep to the shore, from pole to pole it revealed extraordinary life and behaviour that had never before been filmed. In some cases the species were only recently known to scientists.Programme 1 - Introduction "Our planet is a blue planet," says David Attenborough. "Over 70 per cent of it is covered by t

Amazon.com
Extraordinary footage and eloquent narration by David Attenborough highlight these two segments of the BBC's remarkable wildlife series, The Blue Planet: Seas of Life. "Ocean World" begins with astonishing views of a gigantic blue whale--the elusive Holy Grail of undersea photography--and the marvels continue to demonstrate the power, diversity, and profound ecological influence of Earth's oceans. From the surface feedings of dolphins to the pitch- black environs of deep-sea predators rarely glimpsed by humans, the oceans are seen as living entities teeming with nutrients and rejuvenating currents essential to all life on earth. This marvelous portrait of the food chain--from plankton to sharks to killer whales--continues in "Frozen Seas," examining whales, walruses, penguins, and other creatures under the extreme conditions of the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. The Blue Planet: Seas of Life is one of the finest wildlife programs you're ever likely to see. --Jeff Shannon

Additional features
How did they film these awesome images? The DVD's behind-the-scenes featurettes offer tantalizing answers, along with informative photos and factual data.

Customer Reviews

Ridiculously beautiful
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 ;-)!

As good as it gets
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.

Beautiful images and narrative
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.