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Planet Earth (1 Viewer)

K

kiosk

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OK, I thought you guys might be interested in giving me some thoughts about one of the tv shows my company is representing that's coming out soon - I work in marketing, and we're working on The Discovery Channel's broadcast of Planet Earth, which as you probably know is pretty amazing, both on a production level and viewing level.

Has anyone seen the BBC broadcast? Reactions? Heard about The Discovery Channel starting up this Sunday night?

I'm interested in any and all feedback you all would be willing to tell me, and any thoughts you have. I'm looking for your opinions. Im trying to get feedback straight from people with valuable intel. And if you have questions, I can answer those also. Really appreciate anything yall have to say....

Here's a clip from the bird of paradise that is hosted and gives you a preview of what the series has to offer, as well:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fDEBNoQs4Mc
 
Hi Kiosk,

In my opinion, Planet Earth is a mixed bag. Without exception the photography is amazing quality, but as a natural history program with a story, it is not really up to the standards of Life on Earth, Life of Birds and the insect one. What you get is amazing footage of essentially unrelated topics, stitched together by the commentary. Some of the sequences are the best ever - outstanding (the Snow Leopard springs to mind aswell as the elephant-hunting lions) and others are not much different from other natual history shows.

Cheers,

kiosk said:
OK, I thought you guys might be interested in giving me some thoughts about one of the tv shows my company is representing that's coming out soon - I work in marketing, and we're working on The Discovery Channel's broadcast of Planet Earth, which as you probably know is pretty amazing, both on a production level and viewing level.

Has anyone seen the BBC broadcast? Reactions? Heard about The Discovery Channel starting up this Sunday night?

I'm interested in any and all feedback you all would be willing to tell me, and any thoughts you have. I'm looking for your opinions. Im trying to get feedback straight from people with valuable intel. And if you have questions, I can answer those also. Really appreciate anything yall have to say....

Here's a clip from the bird of paradise that is hosted and gives you a preview of what the series has to offer, as well:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fDEBNoQs4Mc
Click to expand...
 
Planet Earth isn't & was never meant to be a wildlife documentary along the lines of the BBC's 'Life series'.

It is a stunning showcase of a selection of the natural wonders that this planet still has ......... in many cases a documentation for posterity before it is lost!

It's greatest merit is the visual imagery it contains -all a reflection of the work of some very determined highly-skilled tough wildlife cameramen who, were it not for the Planet Earth Diaries would be the unsung heroes of the project.

Planet Earth is a shop-window product -> it will stop you in your tracks with a high woooooow factor, it will not educate the masses on bio-systems, ecology or animal behaviour but it will fascinate, entertain & hopefully encourage viewers to become more interested in the life around us.

In short this is an incredible series & when viewed on high definition screens (I've only seen HD snippets) is beyond superlative.
 
Totally agree with Steve and Bonsaibirders comments.
The diaries section at the end of each programme was actually the most interesting and backed up the imagery brilliantly.
I did read somewhere that they were going to put a big screen version of the series together for sometime this year, but haven't heard anything about this lately.
Those images on a big screen would be mind blowing.
 
Great analysis all, and thanks for the comments.

Bonsai, which sequences did you find "not much different from other natual history shows?" I understand the sequences may not have been different but what really blows my mind (*puts on unbiased television watcher hat*) is the close-up footage that the series features. The scene with the great white I watched repeatedly.....Also, interesting comment on the flow of the sequences -- do you find the "stitched together by commentary" aspect a strength?

Steve, great use of the "shop-window product" phrase. I could go on and on about the aerial photography system "Cineflex Heligimble" that they used to capture a lot of these sequences. In a word, it is AMAZING.

John, I havent heard about the big screen, but am checking on it and will follow up. I could NOT agree more. How awesome would that be? It be really interesting to set it up as a viewing event in cities and invite teachers and students and other interested folks.

other reactions?
 
Visually spectacular, but a bit light on natural history content when compared to others such as the 'Life' series. I bought the DVDs for my kids (7, 5 and 3yrs) - they got a lot out of it, but I found that there wasnt much for me beyond the visual in the main programmes.
That said, the 'making of' sections were an interesting insight into top-level wildlife photography.

'Blue Planet', again an amazing spectacle, got the mix a bit better balanced.
 
Steve G said:
Planet Earth isn't & was never meant to be a wildlife documentary along the lines of the BBC's 'Life series'.

It is a stunning showcase of a selection of the natural wonders that this planet still has ......... in many cases a documentation for posterity before it is lost!

It's greatest merit is the visual imagery it contains -all a reflection of the work of some very determined highly-skilled tough wildlife cameramen who, were it not for the Planet Earth Diaries would be the unsung heroes of the project.

Planet Earth is a shop-window product -> it will stop you in your tracks with a high woooooow factor, it will not educate the masses on bio-systems, ecology or animal behaviour but it will fascinate, entertain & hopefully encourage viewers to become more interested in the life around us.

In short this is an incredible series & when viewed on high definition screens (I've only seen HD snippets) is beyond superlative.
Click to expand...

Hi Kiosk,

I think Steve has summed up my exact feelings about Planet Earth as it was a sensational series. It was all about the real every day challenges and events that go on with our amazing Wildlife, and how they survive....and all too often how sometimes they almost don't or don't at all! I think my most heart-rendering part was in seeing that poor Polar lay down as if giving in to death. I could feel passionately for both animals when he was fighting to get the young Walrus. A programme has to be wonderfully made to capture all that it did and to pull it's audience in to it in such a way as it did.

The diaries at the end of each programme were amazing, the things those very brave folk are willing to do in order to capture such great filming for us and bring it in to our homes was just awe-inspiring. It really gave us a chance too see it all first hand.

I'll be honest in saying I've heard nothing about the Discovery Channel starting on Sunday, how do we get to it? I've watched so little TV recently as there's so little to watch or be interested in.

Planet Earth for me was one of THE greatest made.

Sue.
 
Sue Wright said:
I'll be honest in saying I've heard nothing about the Discovery Channel starting on Sunday, how do we get to it? I've watched so little TV recently as there's so little to watch or be interested in.

Planet Earth for me was one of THE greatest made.

Sue.
Click to expand...

Sue
PE was a beeb and discovery channel coproduction. The series is starting this side of the atlantic on discovery this sunday I believe.

Kiosk for me the hype here hasn't worked as well as it could. I like the epic feel of the trailers but didn't think the clips were so well chosen. I think I'd have used longer individual clips as a trailer. In terms of the show itself what I saw in the UK reminded me very much of blue planet (understandable given the involvement of many of the same people). Where it loses out a little in comparison to blue planet I think is that for much of the audience seeing the undersea world in that way was brand new and astonishing. The same cannot be said about terrestrial wildlife imagery.
 
kiosk said:
Bonsai, which sequences did you find "not much different from other natual history shows?" I understand the sequences may not have been different but what really blows my mind (*puts on unbiased television watcher hat*) is the close-up footage that the series features. The scene with the great white I watched repeatedly.....
Click to expand...

The Great White is a very good example. The photography was amazing, but I've seen film of that behaviour multiple times before on tv. Another good example was the bird of paradise - absolutely spectacular display, with the blue luminescent colour shining out of the wings - but I've seen it before on tv. The feat in each of these cases was getting the footage on an HD camera, not documenting or even showing the behaviour for the first time. The zooming in to the Giraffe in the delta from 2 miles up was an incredible demonstration of the capabilities of the camera but nothing new. I thought some of the sequences in the caves were actually quite boring.

On the other hand, the chase sequence with the snow leopard was ground-breaking and one of the best natural history pieces I have ever seen. The hunting dogs (i think they were in the same series) sequence was also ground-breaking although they missed the actual kill.


kiosk said:
Also, interesting comment on the flow of the sequences -- do you find the "stitched together by commentary" aspect a strength?
Click to expand...

I thought there was no connection between any of the sequences really, so I thought it was pointless to try to link them with the commentary. I think they should have been presented as what they were, which was a series of unrelated, top-class, set pieces of nature filming.

It sounds like I didn't like it but I did !!!
 
Sue Wright said:
I'll be honest in saying I've heard nothing about the Discovery Channel starting on Sunday, how do we get to it? I've watched so little TV recently as there's so little to watch or be interested in.

Sue.
Click to expand...
Sue,
Kiosk was referring to the Planet Earth series which is beginning on Discovery's HD channel over here in the US on Sunday. We've had a lot of ads for it on all the Discovery channels and are very pleased we have recently bought an LCD wide screen TV and signed up for HD reception through our satellite company. We also have a DVR, in case we're not home - don't want to miss any of the 11 part series.

They had 2 of the film-makers on one of our breakfast news shows this morning, talking about the shark sequence, the polar bears and the amazing bird of paradise dance!

Can hardly wait till Sunday!!
 
Last edited:
Hi Helen & Isurus,

So, if I understand you both correctly, the discovery channel which will be showing it is only in the US tomorrow, do I presume right???

Thanks to you both,

Sue.
 
Sue Wright said:
So, if I understand you both correctly, the discovery channel which will be showing it is only in the US tomorrow, do I presume right???
Sue.
Click to expand...
To be quite honest, I don't know if the Discovery Channel you get in the UK is the same as we get here. You'll have to check your program guide in the listings from your satellite service or check your newspaper program guides. If you haven't seen any trailers for it on your Discovery Channel, then I would imagine that it isn't going to be shown over there, again, so soon. I've checked the Sky Channel website and I found that it was on last December in the UK on the UKTV Documentory Channel.

For anyone here in the States, it begins at 7pm (CT), which is 8pm Eastern, tonight. They are showing the first 3 programs tonight, with the rest on April 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd.
 
bonsai,

Thanks so much for the clarification, on both counts. You bring up very smart and observant points about the documentation of those events. For non-first timers, perhaps this isnt the most groundbreaking footage, but seeing it for the first time (like myself and others I've watched the pilot with), it really hits you.

As far as the commentary goes, it's important to draw some type of connection between the footage or else you are left with different clips of video with no transitions. . . .And as viewers, I think we are trained to expect transitions and flow in what we are watching (for better or for worse!)
 
HelenB said:
To be quite honest, I don't know if the Discovery Channel you get in the UK is the same as we get here. You'll have to check your program guide in the listings from your satellite service or check your newspaper program guides. If you haven't seen any trailers for it on your Discovery Channel, then I would imagine that it isn't going to be shown over there, again, so soon. I've checked the Sky Channel website and I found that it was on last December in the UK on the UKTV Documentory Channel. For anyone here in the States, it begins at 7pm (CT), which is 8pm Eastern, tonight. They are showing the first 3 programs tonight, with the rest on April 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd.
Click to expand...

I believe it was already aired in the UK on the BBC.

If you are watching in the States, please BE SURE to watch on DiscoveryHD it is markedly better.
 
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