Planet Earth

Discovery’s Planet Earth series is so beautiful, I think it make my head a-splode. Just speechless. One second of footage of an orca striking a seal, blown out in time on high-speed cam to 47 seconds, like nothing you’ve ever seen. Birds of Paradise dancing so surreal they can’t be from this planet. Hyenas tracking impalas with a group intelligence like ESP. Throw away everything you thought you knew about nature programming. This raises the bar so high…

Music: Moondog :: No. 19 – Maybe

14 Replies to “Planet Earth”

  1. And in a fitting tribute to the series title and global focus, here’s what I see when I click the link.

    “Unfortunately you are unable to access this site’s video content. This is offered only to audiences in the U.S. But please continue to enjoy all of our other great content.”

    I guess they must deny evolutionary theory or something in the program, thus making the content suitable only for average Americans.

  2. That’s just horrendous. Must be some kind of international content licensing issue. Copyright is pain. Copyright must die.

    Question: Do you get Discovery network via cable in Canada?

  3. Weird that you can watch it in your living room but not on the net.

    Every time there’s a music-related episode of Forum, the podcast version is replaced with an audio stub saying “This content has not been cleared for internet distribution.” And I think “But you already blasted it out free and unprotected over the air waves…”

  4. but where’s Marlin Perkins?!

    nature shows have always had luscious cinematography etc. i don’t see Planet Earth as raising an already high bar. Nature is very good as well.

  5. baald, they really have raised the bar quite a bit. This is the first nature show ever to be shot completely in HD (and people are saying that even for people used to HD it’s mind-blowing). The first to have the dedication to catch entire long scenes in total, rather than splicing together multiples to make it appear to be a single scene. The first to use Cineflex (I might have the name wrong there) cameras mounted below helicopters, to allow continuous tracking from very high heights (to not scare the animals) while still having very tight resolution. Makes extensive use of high-speed cameras from crash-test labs. And on and on. It really is a milepost in the genre.

  6. i can’t believe it’s the first nature show to be shot in HD — the HD channels would have had hardly any programming for the past 5 years were it not for nature shows. that’s been their bread and butter. and of course IMAX has been doing nature stuff forever (it’s not HDTV as it’s film, but it’d certainly count as “high def”)

    now Winged MigrationTHAT raised the bar…

    (don’t get me wrong – PE is gorgeous and lays claim to some firsts — the snow leopard stuff eg. i just see it as more evolutionary than revolutionary)

  7. No, it’s certainly not the first nature show to be shot entirely in HD, but it must be the first series. The wikipedia article says “It was also the first of its kind to be filmed entirely in high-definition format.[1] and the BBC site says the same.

    Winged Migration definitely raised the bar, and I think PE is far more ambitious, more technologically advanced, and equally beautiful.

    don’t get me wrong – PE is gorgeous

    Oh! I didn’t have the impression you had seen it.

  8. Does anyone know of any way those of us not encabled can watch this? I’d be much obliged: looked at the Discovery site, looked at the iTMS, tried some friends in low places — nothing.

  9. BitWhat? Never heard of it, and I’m sure you haven’t either. I won’t take a look to see what isn’t available, and I don’t thank you for the advice you didn’t give.

  10. The theme to the U.S. Version is by Epic Score. It’s a track called “The TIme Has Come”.

    (The track is available on iTunes.)

    Cheers.
    -gabe

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