There’s no question that our home world is full of amazing wonders. While there have been hundreds of documentaries made to capture the uniqueness of our planet, none have ever been made with the scope, technology, and budget as the BBC mini-series Planet Earth. BBC reportedly spent $25 million to send filmmakers literally across the globe in an attempt to create the mother of all nature films and I believe they have succeeded.

Planet Earth was originally broadcast over 11 episodes on the BB… throughout 2006. It came to the states in 2007 and aired in high-def courtesy of DiscoveryHD. Each episode covers a specific portion of the earth such as oceans, mountains, jungles, etc., and discusses the various plants and animals that inhabit the areas. This is done in typical documentary style narration. (A side note: David Attenborough narrated the original BBC series and was replaced by Sigourney Weaver for U.S. broadcast).

The series is presented very tastefully and is family-friendly. Other than a few scenes, I felt very comfortable allowing my small children to watch along. Planet Earth is also less weighty than say, March of the Penguins, which I found boring and slightly depressing (while not without merit). This series is a celebration of the planet and nature. While you won’t learn intricate sexual habits of the red-eyed tree frog, you will think, “Wow, our planet is awesome!” and come away with a deeper appreciation of the world (without political subtext). The scale of the production is large and varied enough that I believe anyone can enjoy the educational aspects without feeling like they are sitting in science class.

I had the pleasure of viewing a few of these episodes on DiscoveryHD and was blown away not only at the films themselves, but brilliance of the overall HD quality of the presentation. When I heard that the series would be released as a box set for HD DVD & Blu-Ray, I decided to wait for the discs to watch the remainder of the series as I knew this would likely be a must have for my collection.

The verdict: the HD DVD set does not disappoint. I have not viewed the Blu-Ray version of the series however the encoding is exactly the same for both formats.

Video

As a viewer of as much HD content I can get my grubby hands on, I can safely say this set is demo material in the video department. The majesty and beauty of our planet filmed in HD is unbelievably breathtaking. Nearly every scene seems monumental and this just adds to the epic feel of the entire series. The video is given more room to breathe on the HD DVD flipper discs than it had on broadcast TV. This leads to a sharper picture with fewer artifacts (more like none) and compression isn’t evident. The vivid colors give us the great “3D pop” that HD lovers crave and the vast array of scenery allows the format to really flex its muscle. The aspect ratio is 1.78:1, so it will fill up your HDTV screen nicely.

Audio

The audio is presented in English in Dolby 5.1 surround. David Attenborough’s original narration is back and Sigourney Weaver is out. To me, the inclusion of the original narration is a good choice and I’m glad they went back to it (nothing against Sigourney, I just enjoy David Attenborough). Aside from narration and the natural on-location sounds, there is a musical score which can best be described as appropriate. It didn’t hurt or harm the series, it was more just kind of there. Despite this, a TrueHD track would have really been nice to have and is still missed. The audio we do get is clear and the narration comes through without difficulty. Again, it’s not that George Fenton’s score was bad by any means, it just didn’t particularly stand out.

Special Features

None, zip, zero. This was really the only major disappointment to me. I really would have liked to seen some “How’d they do that?” material and some behind the scenes footage even had it been standard definition. Speaking of which, the standard definition set did include these types of features, so why couldn’t they have even just added an extra standard DVD disc to the set for those features?

Final Thoughts

Nature documentaries may not be typically considered big budget types of affairs and may be largely ignored outside of their respective niche audience, but Planet Earth is not to be missed. Although there are no supplements, and the audio is mostly unimpressive, the real purpose of this documentary is the visuals. Whether you enjoy nature films or not, I highly recommend this set for purchase. If nothing more, it is a great way to demonstrate the appeal of high-def.