 BBC’s “Planet Earth” series is possibly the greatest nature series ever produced. It’s an eleven-part series organized into fifty-minute episodes that each cover a specific geographical region or wildlife habitat. Throughout the series, our planet Earth is revealed and glorified through astounding visual and auditory zeniths.
The series, although apolitical and based in science, is woven with a consistent and urgent message of conservation. While the undertone of potential species extinction, plight, and dramatic disaster in the natural world can, at times, leave the audience somber, the series is, overall, positive. “Planet Earth” provides its audience with so much amazing visual stimuli that awe is inevitable.
The cinematography of “Planet Earth” is stunning. The cameras used to film the series are of the highest HD quality. The images are crystal clear, mind-blowing, and perfect. Bonus features provide behind-the-scenes explanations of how they were able to get such incredible shots and the challenges they faced, such as weather, guano, and untrained, wild, unknowing animals as their main characters. The audio is equally amazing. Decorated composers George Fenton and Sam Watts created a fantastic orchestral score to coincide with the most dramatic events and back up the narration.
One of the greatest things about the series is that it strays from the common depiction of nature as beautiful. Granted, nature is beautiful and the series displays some of the most beautiful views of nature ever captured on film. But “Planet Earth” removes the rose-tinted glasses and offers an up-close view of the reality of the natural world, including a three-hundred-foot high mound of guano that was swarming with hundreds of thousands of cockroaches.
Don’t be scared off by the reality of nature, though. Yes, predators are documented eating their prey, and cockroaches and droppings are present, but that is nature. “Planet Earth” definitely favors beauty over the less-aesthetically pleasing aspects of nature. The series possesses a delicate balance that inspires many emotions, from joy to heartache, as you watch the natural world unfold.
“Planet Earth” has received high marks and strong praise from around the globe and from a wide variety of audiences. It is, unquestionably, the best display of the natural world that exists.
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