A couple years ago BBCs Planet Earth was huge. With breathtaking cinematography and rare moments of wilderness seldom if ever seen by human eyes it impressed even those not partial to nature documentaries. Now the crew that brought you that extraordinary series is back with Natures Most Amazing Events (titled Natures Great Events overseas). But dont let the bad title fool you, this might as well have been called Planet Earth 2.
Again hosted by David Attenborough (Britains answer to Morgan Freeman) the viewer is taken through six more hours of rare and amazing moments on this planet. From the Arctic to the Southern tip of Africa, from rivers of North America to the great desert in Botswana. Your jaw is sure to drop more than once as you see a group of Narwhals navigate the slowly breaking ice, Grizzly bears catch salmon as they swim up stream, a whale eating a whole school of fish in one bite and the feeding frenzy that is brought on by the salmon run along South Africas east coast.
There is a running theme to this series which is best summed up in Attenboroughs opening narration to each episode. “The power of the Sun drives the seasons, transforming our planet. Vast movements of ocean and air currents bring dramatic change throughout the year, and in a few special places, these seasonal changes create some of the greatest wildlife spectacles on Earth.”
Each of the six episodes is spectacular and, like Planet Earth, the diaries at the end of each episode give wonderful insight into how these miraculous images were captured and what the crew had to go through. There are some pretty gruesome and heart wrenching moments that are sure upset, but thats all apart of nature.
Episodes: The Great Melt, The Great Salmon Run, The Great Migration, The Great Tide, The Great Flood and The Great Feast.
(Note: While the DVD has the altered American title, the producers of the DVD decided to confuse things more by using the original BBC episode names.)
Presented in widescreen 16:9 Enhanced and Dolby Digital Stereo Sound. These episodes look and sound fantastic. There are many times when you feel like youre right there instead of watching it on TV. I can only imagine how this looks on Blu-ray.
Sadly there are none.
If you liked or loved Planet Earth then you will feel the same way about this collection. These are six perfect episodes that capture the majestic beauty of our planet. We can only hope they continue to produce shows of this caliber. The only real complaint is the lack of special features.
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BBC Earth and 2 Entertainment present Natures Most Amazing Events. Created by: BBC Natural History Unit. Starring: David Attenborough. Running time: 360 min. on two discs. Not Rated. Released on DVD: June 2, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
