The Power, Majesty, and Wonder

The best thing, for me anyway, about watching the Discovery Channel's show on the Lost Tomb of Jesus was a commercial I saw in between segments ... a promo for an upcoming series, Planet Earth.

Here below is the minute long promo - it's pretty cool! :-)



I looked up the show on Wikipedia and read this ...

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Planet Earth is a BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 5 March 2006 ..... Each of the eleven episodes (except the first) focuses on one of the Earth's natural habitats and examines its indigenous features, together with the breadth of fauna found there. Several animals and locations are shown that have hitherto never been filmed, using innovative camera technology. Previously unseen animal behaviour includes: wolves chasing caribou observed from above; snow leopards pursuing markhor in the Himalayas; grizzly bear cubs leaving their den for the first time; crab-eating macaques that swim underwater; and over a hundred sailfish hunting en masse.

By contrast with the others, the first instalment gives a general overview of the series by describing each of the environments that are looked at in more detail in later programmes. However, the method used to communicate this — a 'journey' from one end of the Earth to the other — serves to demonstrate the rich variation that exists on the planet as a whole.

Some sequences, particularly in episodes 6–11, are notable for their potentially disturbing content. Examples include a lone elephant being brought down by lions and a polar bear unsuccessfully attacking a walrus colony and subsequently being overcome by hunger and exhaustion. Fothergill confirmed that he asked BBC presentation for an appropriate warning before transmission in such cases:

"The thing is, we have to tread a fine line between showing nature as it really is and not offending the sensibilities of viewers. I think it's an enormous mistake to try and sanitise nature, but I can assure you that there's plenty of footage that we shan't be showing."

Apart from David Attenborough's closing narration, the series rarely makes explicit reference to the world's environmental problems. Attenborough indicated that this was intentional:

"This new series is more a celebration of our planet, not a lament about the state of it. It shows what is still there. In some areas there is no doubt that we are doing damage to our world but, at the same time, there is a vast amount of uncharted and untouched wilderness."

However, the subject of species conservation and man's effect on the world's ecosystems is addressed in the companion series, Planet Earth: The Future .....

In the USA, the series is to broadcast on the Discovery Channel, starting 25 March 2007. The episodes will be shown in a different order to the original. The U.S. version will also feature a new narrator: award-winning actress and conservationist Sigourney Weaver. However, the DVD release that follows transmission of the series in America will be the original UK version, with narration by David Attenborough.

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