![]() ![]() You’ve got seven whole episodes of jaw-dropping documentary footage to enjoy.īut maybe you’re not convinced. Find the highest-definition television you can and some good snacks and settle in. If all of that sounds good to you, read no further Blue Planet II will be one of your favorite TV events of the year, and its deep dive beneath the waves of the world’s oceans will prove both soothing and engaging. Book Review: Poseidon's Steed: The Story of Seahor.Vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark.Species Fact Profile: Suriname Toad (Pipa pipa).From the News: How Goldfish Eluded Huge Predator f.From the News: Brookfield Zoo investigating cause.Species Fact Profile: Leafy Sea Dragon (Phycodurus.From the News: 'Adorabilis' octopus on display at.Documentary Review: The Blue Planet - Seas of Life. ![]() The Blue Planet, I like to think of, is something of a teaser. There are millions of species scattered across seemingly endless amounts of ocean, too much for any one series to cover. or water) is covered in the series, sometimes I feel like the viewer doesn't get a chance to learn too much about any one topic or animal before being ushered along to the next one. Its beautiful shot, sometimes moving (especially the scenes of a successful attack of an orca pod on a young whale), and, like the ocean itself, flows effortlessly and clearly from episode to episode. One modest quibble aside, I absolutely love this series. I mean, there is a creature out there with a Latin name that translates to "Vampire Squid from Hell?" Can we please talk about that one a little more? And don't get me wrong, those animals are cool, but for me the real pleasure of Blue Planet and its sister series (such as the famous Planet Earth) is the chance to discover something brand new, something incredibly unique. Among the fish, it's the sharks that dominate. Whales, dolphins, and seals dominate the series, with penguins, polar bears, and sea turtles probably getting more than their share of screen time as well. Watching some episodes, it would be easy to get the idea that the sea is almost exclusively full of mammals. If I have one quibble with Blue Planet, it's that its focus is a little. Over the course of a year and a half, hagfish, sleeper sharks, and other scavengers reduce the behemoths to bones. The first episode, for instance, features footage of the carcass of a gray whale, having sunk to the bottom of the sea. ![]() Some of the most spectacular footage comes from the bottom of the ocean, where scientists and filmmakers use submersibles similar to those used to explore the Titanic to investigate life in one of the most inhospitable environments we could imagine. The fifty-minute episodes of the series explore a variety of marine habitats, such as coastlines, frozen seas, and the open ocean. In reality, it is home to habitats and ecosystems as diverse from each other as are the habitats on dry land. The ocean is often treated monolithically, as one entity of unbroken water. For example, three years were devoted to solving on of the persistent questions of marine mammal biology - where do blue whales go on migration? It seems remarkable that, for the single largest animal that has ever lived, we didn't know the answer to such a basic question before, but it just goes to show how mysterious much ocean life is. ![]() Many of the behaviors and species featured had not been filmed before, and the filmmakers crossed the boundary between documenting and discovering. Filmed over five years at approximately 200 locations (and narrated by Sir David!), Blue Planet is the most ambitious, complete overview of ocean life on earth. In an effort to correct this, BBC Natural History Unit (the same studio that produced Life in Cold Blood) has produced one of the most spectacular documentary series every filmed - The Blue Planet: Seas of Life. ![]()
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