By Jesse Cataldo
Groundbreaking in both size and form, Planet Earth, which premiered its first three segments stateside on the Discovery Channel last Sunday, is most impressive for its awe-inspiring sense of perspective.
Cameras, mounted on helicopters, vehicles and tripods, zoom in and out, capturing nature in staggering breadth. This ranges from up-close footage of predators and prey to broad views of outstretched mountain ranges, often in one continuous shot. The effect is acutely cinematic – an apt comparison considering the way the series utilizes technology formerly reserved for big budget movies.
The 11-part British series, which originally aired on the BBC in the spring of 2006, was hailed not only for the size of its span but also, the footage yielded by these innovative techniques. This includes the first-ever video of snow leopards on the hunt, baby grizzlies leaving their dens and giant sailfish feasting on undersea schools.
The Discovery Channel has changed little about the series, most notably shuffling the episode order and inexplicably replacing the soothing, grandfatherly voice of famed naturalist David Attenborough with narration by Sigourney Weaver.
This matters little, however, especially since the focus of the series is the power of its images. In the first three parts-poles, mountains and ocean-the most scientifically celebrated of the footage also turns out to be some of the most rewarding. Images of a snow leopard chasing a markhor, a highland antelope, across a rocky, nearly vertical cliff face are especially breathtaking. The same can be said of the extreme slow motion view of a shark chasing a seal; with shocking, gradual majesty the creature clears the surface and hangs suspended in the air for more than 30 seconds.
The visual beauty is, of course, not limited to the workings of predators. Stop motion photography supplies wonderful scenes of a world in constant motion; clouds gather, animals migrate and mountains are quickly stripped of their snowy covers. South American birds of paradise and ghostly deep-sea creatures are presented, similar only in their uniquely bizarre elegance.
Still, the most arresting images seem to be the result of the natural drive to consume. The oceanic ballet that occurs as birds and dolphins work together to trap a twisting mass of mackerel from above and below is stunning in its complicated motions; the whole thing seems so coordinated that it must have been choreographed. The most skin-crawling scene of the first three segments takes place on the ocean floor, as time-lapsed video speeds up the work of scavengers-crabs, eels and eerily colorless isopods-decimating the carcass of a dead fish.
Together, these images are synthesized to form a vibrant patchwork of the world’s teeming natural life. Transitioning seamlessly between grand shots of ageless rock formations and the miniature lives of tiny shrimp, Planet Earth firmly establishes itself as a dizzyingly comprehensive representation of the world at large.
GRADE: A
