Life on Earth [Blu-ray]

First broadcast way back in 1979, Life on Earth remains the single most impressive achievement in the history of wildlife film-making.The series offers a broad overview of the whole history of life, beginning with the very earliest cells and leading right up to the appearance of man, using footage of various living plants and animals from around the world to illustrate each major episode in the story. For anyone with an interest in nature, and who would like a good introduction to evolutionary biology that is both stunning and superbly explained, you can do no better than this incredible series.It is true, as many reviewers have pointed out, that the content of this DVD shows some signs of age. This is inevitable when you remember that it is separated from us by 25 years of filming technology and scientific knowledge. Most noticeable to me is that the colour print is not as rich and vivid as a contemporary film, but then again the clarity of the pictures remains remarkably good with only a few short sequences seriously falling below par when compared with a recent film such as Life of Birds. For example, there are some underwater shots in one of the episodes that can't really hold a candle to the crystal clear material that we're treated to in the Blue Planet. The onwards march of scientific research means that, very occassionally, some of the information in the films might be considered out of date, but this is rare. Finally, there were no computer graphics to speak of 25 years ago and some of the animated sequences that are used in particular to illustrate features of ancient, long extinct lifeforms do look very dated. If the series were to be remade today then it would be augmented with much more sophisticated reconstructions.However, when all of this is said and done, the two essential elements of this series still never fail to impress. These are the presentation of David Attenborough - always clear, authoritative and compelling - and, of course, the wildlife photography itself.It is first and foremost to David Attenborough and the BBC that we owe our thanks for the fact that most British people's impression of the natural world about them includes many of the creatures and environments with which we are familiar today. If all we were fed was the kind of cutesy baby animals and crocodile baiting fare of the Disney variety then the effect that this might have had on environmental awareness and charitable giving to green organisations can only be guessed at. And besides, given that the spectacle and drama of the best wildlife films is often far better than most of what you see on TV and down the cinema, we would also have lost a great source of entertainment. Even if this kind of thing were all that the licence fee was spent on, it would still be worth every penny.

I grew up watching repeats of this, so to see it remastered in HD was a must.First, the series itself. This still holds up well to modern standards, and it's fascinating to see how much the presentation style has changed. The more modern series focus more on animal behaviour, imbuing their subjects with unique personalities and emotions. This series is more about biology than behaviour, and the information density tends to be higher too, giving it a more of a feel of a lecture. Not necessarily a good or bad thing - the more recent shows tend to be more emotive and memorable, but if you want a bit more of a clinical, detailed analysis, this is the better choice. This is not to say that Life of Earth is dull or dry either - there are some truly outstanding moments, most notably the famous scene with the gorillas, which is extraordinary now as it was in 1979. There's a reason this was such a success.Second, the blu ray. This being a nature documentary, it pushed the boundaries of filmmaking, so then as now not all scenes are restored to equal quality because that simply isn't possible. Obviously, this means a 4:3 aspect ratio because a widescreen cut would lose much of the image (widescreen TVs were NOT a thing in 1979, people !). Many scenes do have a rather grainy appearance, especially the underwater scenes, and true slow-motion sequences are few and far between. So forewarned is forearmed : if you're expecting film and cinematographical quality on a par with the modern BBC shows, you aren't going to get that. What you will get is a restoration of a ground-breaking series with every sequence at a far better picture quality than in the original broadcast resolution. Many sequences indeed look like they could have been filmed yesterday.In short, set reasonable expectations of the restoration, and if you're a fan of Attenborough documentaries, you won't be disappointed.

outstanding as always David Attenborough excels

Per gli amanti dei documentari e per gli amanti della natura è una pietra miliare da avere assolutamente. La storia dell'evoluzione della vita sulla terra spiegata in maniera semplice e didascalica dal grande Sir David. L'inglese è molto didattico è semplice da capire, la pronuncia di Sir David è perfetta e libera da accenti ed inflessioni. L'edizione è buona, la qualità è la migliore possibile considerando che il prodotto ha ormai quasi quarant'anni.

This is still Attenboroughs best series ever. The animation is primitive but the narrative is so informative and the photography stands the test of time. No other series ever tackled the complex theory of evolutionary development. His later sshows showed more but this one was the one that changed everything.

Schon in den 80ern, als diese Serie unter dem Titel "Das Leben auf unserer Erde" im deutschen Fernsehen lief, war ich hin und weg von den fantastischen Tier- und Pflanzenaufnahmen aus schier allen Lebensräumen dieser Erde und dem verständlichen und doch tiefschürfenden Begleittext, der die Evolutionsgeschichte von der Entstehung des Lebens bis hin zum -- unseres Wissens -- einzigen Lebewesen, das das Medium der Sprache entwickelt hat, erläutert und dabei auch immer wieder auf geologische Vorgänge und Fossilfunde Bezug nimmt. Damals musste ich das Begleitbuch zur Serie einfach haben, und als ich jetzt, rund 20 Jahre später, aus einer Laune heraus mal danach "geamazont" habe, habe ich mich sehr gefreut, dass die ganze Serie auf DVD erhältlich ist, wenn auch nur im englischen Original. Aber was heißt hier "wenn auch nur auf englisch" -- es ist ein wahrer Genuss, dem distinguierte Englisch von David Attenborough zu lauschen!Aktueller Eindruck: Auch 20 Jahre später überzeugt diese BBC-Produktion durch ihre Filmaufnahmen (einen gelegentlichenen und wahrscheinlich dem Alter des Original-Filmmaterials geschuldeten kleinen Grünstich kann man verschmerzen) und vor allem durch das durchdachte, klare didaktische Konzept. Die Texter haben es wirklich verstanden, auch komplizierte Sachverhalte (wie das Verhältnis von Photosynthese und Atmosphärenchemie) auf ein populäres Niveau herunter zu brechen und dabei sachlich absolut korrekt zu bleiben. Da könnte sich so manche heutige "Edutainment"-Produktion und so mancheR Wissenschafts-ModeratorIn (wie z. B. Herr Bublath) eine Scheibe abschneiden... Gut, den paar Trickaufnahmen oder Cartoons, die z. B. zur Veranschaulichung der DNS-Replikation eingesetzt werden, sieht man ihr Alter an, aber bunt und bewegt ist ja nicht unbedingt besser (wie uns z. B. Spektrum der Wissenschaft von Jahr zu Jahr verstärkt vormacht). Und mag die Ediacaren-Fauna inzwischen auch differenzierter gedeutet werden und sich der damals noch recht neue Gedanke, der Einschlag eines Meteoriten könnte zum Massensterben am Ende der Kreidezeit beigetragen haben, inzwischen von einer vagen Hypothese zu einer ziemlich fundierten Theorie entwickelt haben -- von wenigen solcher Details abgesehen, werden in der Serie zeitlose und daher noch immer aktuelle und auf alle Fälle faszinierende Gedanken zum Thema Evolution vermittelt.Eine kleine Warnung muss trotzdem sein: wer nicht bereits weiß, was "Beuteltier" auf Englisch heißt oder keine Vortstellung davon hat, wie man Wörter wie "chelicerates" ausspricht, könnte Schwierigkeiten haben, dem Text zu folgen. Wer sich aber zutraut, "biologische" Wörter auf Englisch zu verstehen, wird mit diesem DVD-Satz 13 faszinierende Stunden vor der Bildröhre verbringen.

I just received this today, and the episodes are just as I remember them, only they look wonderful on my HDTV. The last time I watched these I was just a kid and the TVs of the 80s did not do this video justice. Attenborough fans do not need to be told how good this series is. What I wanted to add is a note about region playability. I took a risk purchasing this as it seems most US BluRay players will not play the discs. A prior review noted it would play on the PS4, and I am happy to confirm that this is the case. I am not an expert on the region specific codes, 50Hz vs 60 Hz, etc, but suffice it to say these discs play perfectly on my PS4. If you don't own one already, having this series on BluRay is all the reason you need to buy a PS4 now.