Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series [Blu-ray]

Reviewed by:
Gene Newman

This is the reason HDTV was invented: There's no way in hell any of us would ever see these remote and isolated sections of the planet without worry of certain parasitic death otherwise. (Yeah, let's cave-dive and explore a 300-foot-high pile of bat shit. We'll be right behind you.) It took the BBC five years to make Planet Earth and the effort shows in every frame. It has a level of clarity and quality never before filmed—from the deserts to the rain forests to the tundras to the creepy ocean, nothing is left unexplored (11 episodes in all). Unlike the version that aired on Discovery HD, which featured the soft voice of Sigourney Weaver, this is narrated by David Attenborough. His British accent is fun to imitate and sounds like a grandfather reading a bedtime story. Unfortunately, there are no special features—what happened to the behind-the-scenes segments they aired after each episode on Discovery? Still, it's impossible to say anything negative about a four-disc set that saved us thousands in travel expenses and dysentery treatments.

Planet Earth is also available on HD DVD.