Are any of my friends here on NPN watching this great series? I have learned so much and last night was about some really neat birds. I liked the one that had a nack for decorating his palace. So very interesting. I was a bit disturbed by the white pelican eating baby birds in one gulp but that is life on life's terms I know.
I've watched some of it, but missed last night. I'm not quite as impressed with Life as I was with Planet Earth, but it's still very nice when compared to the other venues offered on TV.
The "Planet Earth" series with long time BBC environmentalist David Attenborough, also brother to outstanding veteran actor Richard Attenborough, is a must see wildlife and environmental production.
I understand there was also one with Sigourney Weaver, but I'm not sure about that series at all. Might be the same only with her narration possibly.
Posted by Toni Lankerd on April 5, 2010 at 10:46 AM
Paul...the Planet Earth series that I saw was indeed narrated by Sigourney Weaver.
Life is simply stunning - an improvement on Planet Earth, if anyone thought that even possible. The technology is awesome and dedicating months to delivering only seconds of footage is surely what makes it stand out. You have to wonder how these documentaries will ever be improved - but they will!! When I got the series on DVD - we watched all 12 episodes in 2 days and are now on round 2 The soundtrack is also beautiful...
Posted by Brian Jackson on April 5, 2010 at 11:15 AM
Life is simply stunning - an improvement on Planet Earth, if anyone thought that even possible. The technology is awesome and dedicating months to delivering only seconds of footage is surely what makes it stand out. You have to wonder how these documentaries will ever be improved - but they will!! When I got the series on DVD - we watched all 12 episodes in 2 days and are now on round 2 The soundtrack is also beautiful...
Really? You're the first person that I've heard have positive comments. I thought Planet Earth was one of the greatest shows ever. I was so excited to watch Life and after watching the first 3, I gave up of boredom.
Posted by Keith Bauer on April 5, 2010 at 11:38 AM
I am really enjoying the LIFE series. Some great stuff. I like the fact that with each series they have focused on something very different. The BIRDS series showed birds that I didn't know much about (if anything). Many times those shows will focus on the more likely birds (Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, etc). I can't imagine getting bored watching this incredible series, but I guess each person sees it differently.
Posted by David Bostedo on April 5, 2010 at 12:32 PM
I understand there was also one with Sigourney Weaver, but I'm not sure about that series at all. Might be the same only with her narration possibly.
The US versions of Planet Earth was, in fact, exactly the same except for the narrator. (Sigourney Weaver instead of David Attenborough.)
Life is narrated by Oprah Winfrey in the USA, but I think that David Attenborough is also the narrator for the UK version.
I have seen and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing so far. The last night of the series is to have a segment on the making of the series which should be interesting. Planet Earth is a hard act to follow.
Posted by Howard Cihak on April 5, 2010 at 12:40 PM
I only wish that Sigourney Weaver was chosen to narrate LIFE. Oprah, bless her heart, narrates like she's reading to a group of grade schoolers. Blehhh!
The US versions of Planet Earth was, in fact, exactly the same except for the narrator. (Sigourney Weaver instead of David Attenborough.)
Life is narrated by Oprah Winfrey in the USA, but I think that David Attenborough is also the narrator for the UK version.
David B., that is the same information I found on the net. Nothing against the other versions of narrations overall, but Sir David Attenborough has a very long history with the BBC and many wildlife and natural world productions, both as a producer and great narrator. As such he understands the subject matter being presented first hand.
Posted by Jim Sabiston on April 5, 2010 at 1:23 PM
Planet Earth was nothing less than a mind blowing production and would be a tough act to follow for anyone. Life suffers only in comparison to that monumental work. The production seems a bit choppier, somehow and Oprah does not strike me as the ideal choice for narrator. I thought Ms. Weaver did a very good job on Planet Earth.
Life is still miles ahead of the usual claptrap available on televesion, such that I officially reserved TV time each Sunday night to watch it (a very rare exercise in my paternal authority!) - this when I rarely venture in front of the noisebox for fear of permanent brain damage.
Cheryl - the bird you mentioned is known as the Bower bird.
I don't think Life is anywhere close to Planet Earth. We're unfortunate here to have had Weaver and now Oprah (whom many folks have complained about) narrating our version. However, the Planet Earth DVD sold in the States had Attenborough narrating (thankfully). Not sure if the British version does this, but one thing that killed me about both series was how often Weaver (and now Oprah) would tell us that "this has never been filmed before!" Bragging about it constantly is annoying enough, but I know in the case of the pebble toad, that simply wasn't true anyway, since I've seen video of their behavior before on TV.
There's been some interesting footage in Life, but overall, I don't think the visual story telling is on par with PE. Seems like a lot of random short snippets thrown together... just because they're all mammals in one episode doesn't mean that it all ties together well.
I haven't watched last night's episodes yet, but to date the most interesting stuff for me was the overhead footage of the bat migration, and the dolphins creating mud circles to catch fish.
Yes maybe non comparable to Planet Earth but still some amazing footage that i was quite happy to be able to view at the hard work and expense of another since I wouldn't even know where to begin. I honestly couldn't care who narrated it as well. Just amazing stuff. Thankyou Jim for the birds name . The Bower bird indeed a funny thing to follow
Honestly, I don't think anybody can complain about the stunning cinematography, but I'm not a huge fan of Oprah's narration. The narration content has been inaccurate on a few occasions, and could give a little more info for my tastes. They did do a good job of showing a lot of animals that i didn't know about before. The hummingbird with the ornamental "antennae" coming out of its rear was very interesting.
I agree that Planet Earth outshines Life. Still, it's well worth watching. Beautiful camera work.
I also agree that the narration seems a little dumbed own, but that's OK if it makes a nature lover out of folks or children that otherwise wouldn't give a hoot. I don't know if it's Oprah Winfrey's reading or not. presumably, she didn't write the script.
There was another similar series recently, Wild Pacific (or a similar title) narrated by Mike Rowe (the guy on Dirty Jobs) that also was worth watching.
Another vote for Planet Earth. Still outstanding cinematography, and they have been showing snippets of what it takes to film these productions. Last night had the cameraman in a blind for over three weeks to get the Bower bird footage. I don't have that patience, and there was no A/C in the rainforest!
I do agree the narration by Oprah is less than exemplary, and when she mentions that "this is one of only two amphibians that exhibit this parenting trait.", I'm left hanging;What's the other one and where is it?
Wild Pacific is very well done and a bit more "informative" for lack of a better word.
I think it's great!!! I was completely blown away by Planet Earth, and because this comes second, it's hard to have as much impact. I totally love some of the camera angles and positions thay have in this one though. How do they know just where the subject is going to run, jump or swim( right over the top mof the camera. I'm specifically referring to the monitor lizard chasing the elephant shrew in the mammals episode.
I liked Sigourney Weaver as a narrator in Planet Earth, but am not so impressed with Oprah. You just have to love David Attenborough. I have the original Trials Of Life series on vhs!!! And yes, I think Mike Rowe is pretty good too.
I enjoyed Life a lot too. However, I don't think there was all *that* much new factual stuff that I hadn't seen anywhere before. Of course, everything was filmed with better equipment etc., and I enjoyed it regardless.
But the one thing that left me a little hesitant was the making-of piece of the plant episode. If you've seen the plant episode, you remember the take where the camera pans backwards through a forest scene, and you can see all the plants growing? The plants were filmed in a studio and later digitally planted (pun intended) in the separately filmed forest scene. There's nothing wrong there, but one of the crew said that some of the plants seen flowering in the take don't actually flower at the same time in nature. I'm not saying this sort of thing is unacceptable because it shows something that doesn't appear naturally; I'm saying that the BBC, with its long history of excellent documentaries, should think about this. I don't think this take was out of line, but it's definitely approaching the line, so some caution is, in my opinion, called for. It was very impressive work though, and that one take took two years to make.
As for narration, we had the option of watching either the original with David Attenborough, or the dubbed version (you can do that with digital broadcasting). For decades, we've had the same programme slot on Saturday evenings for nature documentaries; new BBC series always appear in that slot. Our local public broadcaster (YLE) makes a fine job of translating and dubbing documentaries, all thanks to the same, skilled translators and narrators, whose names and/or voices everybody here knows. So I was quite happy to watch the dubbed version, which never happens with commercial channels' documentaries. If the original version had had subtitles, it would've been a tougher choice, because I want to know what the critters are called in Finnish (if anything) and I prefer to leave that job to the translator And we saw Planet Earth and Pacific too in the same programme slot, of course.
I just wish BBC would make these series more often!
Posted by Caleb Royer on April 11, 2010 at 9:47 AM
The two versions of Planet Earth have some differences besides the narrator, like DVD menu and different shots.
After watching five episodes of Life narrated by Oprah I can't wait to watch the David Attenborough version, also I noticed in the bird episode of Life that one of the shots was from Planet Earth.
Can't wait to see what Disney Nature's Oceans will be like.
Discussion
21 repliesI understand there was also one with Sigourney Weaver, but I'm not sure about that series at all. Might be the same only with her narration possibly.
Really? You're the first person that I've heard have positive comments. I thought Planet Earth was one of the greatest shows ever. I was so excited to watch Life and after watching the first 3, I gave up of boredom.
The US versions of Planet Earth was, in fact, exactly the same except for the narrator. (Sigourney Weaver instead of David Attenborough.)
Life is narrated by Oprah Winfrey in the USA, but I think that David Attenborough is also the narrator for the UK version.
David B., that is the same information I found on the net. Nothing against the other versions of narrations overall, but Sir David Attenborough has a very long history with the BBC and many wildlife and natural world productions, both as a producer and great narrator. As such he understands the subject matter being presented first hand.
Life is still miles ahead of the usual claptrap available on televesion, such that I officially reserved TV time each Sunday night to watch it (a very rare exercise in my paternal authority!) - this when I rarely venture in front of the noisebox for fear of permanent brain damage.
Cheryl - the bird you mentioned is known as the Bower bird.
There's been some interesting footage in Life, but overall, I don't think the visual story telling is on par with PE. Seems like a lot of random short snippets thrown together... just because they're all mammals in one episode doesn't mean that it all ties together well.
I haven't watched last night's episodes yet, but to date the most interesting stuff for me was the overhead footage of the bat migration, and the dolphins creating mud circles to catch fish.
Max
I also agree that the narration seems a little dumbed own, but that's OK if it makes a nature lover out of folks or children that otherwise wouldn't give a hoot. I don't know if it's Oprah Winfrey's reading or not. presumably, she didn't write the script.
There was another similar series recently, Wild Pacific (or a similar title) narrated by Mike Rowe (the guy on Dirty Jobs) that also was worth watching.
I do agree the narration by Oprah is less than exemplary, and when she mentions that "this is one of only two amphibians that exhibit this parenting trait.", I'm left hanging;What's the other one and where is it?
Wild Pacific is very well done and a bit more "informative" for lack of a better word.
I liked Sigourney Weaver as a narrator in Planet Earth, but am not so impressed with Oprah. You just have to love David Attenborough. I have the original Trials Of Life series on vhs!!! And yes, I think Mike Rowe is pretty good too.
But the one thing that left me a little hesitant was the making-of piece of the plant episode. If you've seen the plant episode, you remember the take where the camera pans backwards through a forest scene, and you can see all the plants growing? The plants were filmed in a studio and later digitally planted (pun intended) in the separately filmed forest scene. There's nothing wrong there, but one of the crew said that some of the plants seen flowering in the take don't actually flower at the same time in nature. I'm not saying this sort of thing is unacceptable because it shows something that doesn't appear naturally; I'm saying that the BBC, with its long history of excellent documentaries, should think about this. I don't think this take was out of line, but it's definitely approaching the line, so some caution is, in my opinion, called for. It was very impressive work though, and that one take took two years to make.
As for narration, we had the option of watching either the original with David Attenborough, or the dubbed version (you can do that with digital broadcasting). For decades, we've had the same programme slot on Saturday evenings for nature documentaries; new BBC series always appear in that slot. Our local public broadcaster (YLE) makes a fine job of translating and dubbing documentaries, all thanks to the same, skilled translators and narrators, whose names and/or voices everybody here knows. So I was quite happy to watch the dubbed version, which never happens with commercial channels' documentaries. If the original version had had subtitles, it would've been a tougher choice, because I want to know what the critters are called in Finnish (if anything) and I prefer to leave that job to the translator
I just wish BBC would make these series more often!
After watching five episodes of Life narrated by Oprah I can't wait to watch the David Attenborough version, also I noticed in the bird episode of Life that one of the shots was from Planet Earth.
Can't wait to see what Disney Nature's Oceans will be like.