Movies - Planet Earth

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Planet Earth (TV series)

	Movies - Planet Earth

Planet Earth is a natural history documentary series, made by the BBC, transmitted from 5 March 2006. It is the first of its kind to be filmed entirely in high-definition format, and is described by its makers as "the definitive look at the diversity of our planet".

The programmes were made over four years by the team responsible for the successful The Blue Planet
(2001), and are narrated by David Attenborough. He finished work on them prior to embarking on the last in his "Life" series, Life in Cold Blood
, which is due for completion in 2009.

Each of the eleven episodes focuses on one of the Earth's natural habitats and examines its indigenous features, together with the breadth of fauna found there. Included are several sequences of animals and locations that have hitherto never been filmed, using innovative camera technology.

Planet Earth Diaries, a 10-minute featurette that details the filming of a particular event, is shown as an addendum to each programme.

The show has been heavily trailed on the BBC's television and radio channels both before and during its run. Each episode has a 9pm Sunday screening on BBC One followed by an early evening repeat the following Saturday on BBC Two. Besides being BBC One's featured "One to Watch" programme of the day, its ratings have been consistently high, averaging between eight and nine million viewers for each Sunday transmission.

Episodes

The series is presented in two parts. The first comprises:

1. "From Pole to Pole"

Broadcast 5 March 2006, the first episode illustrates a 'journey' from the Arctic to Antarctica, taking in all the habitats en route. Footage includes penguins and their young, polar bear cubs taking their first steps into the world, African hunting dogs in pursuit of their prey, swimming elephants in Africa and a variety of other creatures. The Planet Earth Diaries segment shows how the wild dog hunt was filmed with the aid of the "heli-gimbal": a giro-stabilised camera mounted beneath a helicopter. Its lens is so powerful that — besides rotating through 360° — it can zoom in from up to a kilometer away, thus allowing its subject to remain oblivious to its presence.

2. "Mountains"

Broadcast 12 March 2006, the second instalment focuses on the mountains, exploring all of the world's main ranges: the Andes, Alps, Himalayas and Rockies. The programme features the first ever close-up footage of snow leopards, including a hunt. Also shown are geladas in Ethiopia (the only species of primate to live almost entirely on grass), rutting markhor, grizzly bear cubs emerging from their den for the first time, golden eagles, a giant panda cradling her one-week-old cub, and demoiselle cranes migrating over the Himalayas. Planet Earth Diaries demonstrates the difficulty of tracking down the snow leopards — a process which took over a year.

3. "Fresh Water"

Broadcast 19 March 2006, this programme describes the course taken by the world's rivers and some of the species that take advantage of such a habitat. With the aid of some expansive helicopter photography, one sequence demonstrates the vastness of Angel Falls, the world's highest free-flowing waterfall. Also featured are smooth-coated otters repelling mugger crocodiles and the latter's Nile cousin ambushing wildebeest. In addition, there are cichlids, piranhas, river dolphins and swimming crab-eating macaques. Planet Earth Diaries shows how a patient camera crew filmed a piranha feeding frenzy in Brazil — after a two-week search for the opportunity.

4. "Caves"

Broadcast 26 March 2006, this episode explores the planet's "final frontier": the world of caves and tunnels. Mexico's Cave of Swallows is, at 400 meters, the Earth's deepest, and diving into it is akin to jumping off New York City's Empire State Building. Also featured is Borneo's Deer Cave. Its inhabitants include three million wrinkle-lipped bats that live on its ceiling and deposit guano on to an enormous mound below, which is 100 meters high and is blanketed with feeding cockroaches. In addition, there are glimpses of a number of subterranean, eyeless creatures, such as the Texan cave salamander and even a species of crab. The programme ends in a recently discovered cave where sulphuric acid had carved unusually ornate, gypsum crystal formations. Planet Earth Diaries reveals how a camera team spent a month among thousands of cockroaches on a tower of bat guano, and how the final scenes of the cave crystals were shot — the last time that a film crew would be allowed to do so.

5. "Deserts"

Scheduled for transmission 2 April 2006 and, according to the trailer, will feature camels, elephants, lizards and fennec foxes.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Planet Earth (TV series) ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Planet Earth (TV series); it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.