Life [DVD]

This outstanding Documentary contains the proof, that we are not the only Intelligent Creatures on Earth. All Life has its own Intelligence ( since the hudge till the tinniest Creature ) and a surprising capacity to develop means of adaptability to confront the dramatic changes of Earth's Monumental Environment. 40% of Individuals we see here ( absolutely amazing Creatures ) were completly unknown. Among those we already know we can observe the learning of new skills in order to meet challenges. True lessons of Survival, like Polar Bears in uncommon habitats: not digging the ice in search of Seals but on dry land after swimming several miles in search of any food. Close encounters like we've never seen before, of isolated Males and entire families of Polar Bear mothers and youngsters feeding on a carcass. Adding to this, a community of Dolphins in Florida with a new strategy to catch fish in very low waters, and a group of three male Cheetah brothers in Kenya, hunting a huge prey the same way Lionesses do! Great scenes of devotion: a worry Bull Frog father taking care and saving from death an big pool of babies. Ingenious: Flying Fish constructing a huge nest on an Ocean's lost Palm Tree. Beauty: a Grebe's courtship ceremony, starting with a serious of graceful duets and ending with a breathtaking exhibition of Ballet over waters! Insects, Birds and Plants are also outstanding Docs with unbelievable moments! Monkeys Doc was another surprise! When you think you have already seen everything about them, you're wrong. Imagine a very cold Winter. It's snowing outside. An elegant SPA in a confortable Hotel. There's a rule: you have to own a specific ID and the Hotel porter is asking for it. If you're wealthy and well-born you are welcome, though if you're not, you have to stay outside in the cold. This is the behavior of a particular Monkey Society in Japan, as you see very similar to our Societies! Even the gestures and facial expressions of those Animals sharing that private, idyllic and luxurious habitat are exceptional! They simply look like us! There's no doubt a considerable Intelligence here not to speak about the powerful Instinct. At last, the filmmaking I was expecting for years! Two exceptional scenes and impressive moments of Jurassic: Komodo Dragon ( Varanus Komodoensis ), the biggest and most dangerous Lizard on Earth in a hell of a fight and a hell of a hunt in its Natural Habitat. I've already seen other Docs about this ugly Beast but nothing comparable. This scary Animal owns three lethal weapons: the bite, the claws and that powerful tale. Although it looks like heavy and slow, it runs faster than you! When you observe it you have no doubt, you are looking at the last living Dinosaur on Earth! This filmmaking was carefully done and I already knew by books how it should be. Even so I was taken by surprise in the chasing scene and have to tell you it's not a good thing to look at! Even both Photographer who had to do the job, and watch for a week long the details we fortunately don't see, didn't hide their distress! I think we are already prepared for that quick feline's bite, but not for this! An exasperating moment, though one of the best captures in the Wild! What more about this Project? It is a perfect extension of Attenborough's other great Docs as Life of Mammals, Life of Birds, Life of Plants and In Cold Blood, with the most fantastic new Creatures pictured in tinniest detail. Not just one more Series about Nature and Wild Life but one more fantastic BBC Natural History Unit research, from the makers of Planet Earth, with the cooperation of Air Force Navy and McMurdo Polar Research Station in Antarctica, and the always charismatic presence of Sir David Attenborough who continues to be the Top One, in the difficult Art of Narration and Presentation. The most perfect Camera and Soundtrack. Long live High Technology and Human Brain! Breathtaking making of a 60 second specific shot ( Plants Doc ), Practically all done in Studio! Astonishing! Definitely Not to Miss...

After Planet Earth became a legendary hit on home cinema for certain sequences on full HD, there were high expectations placed on any HD follow up releases. Life doesn't disappoint in this respect. 4 Years in the making, this Latest series is a bewildering showcase of the reclusive types of life we find on the planet and technology used to capture it. As opposed to being a purely educational lesson on the variety of species and their relations with each other and their environment, it is the weird and wonderful species that get the film time. This is a good thing due to the rarity of some of the obtained footage. The skill that has been required by the team to capture these moments is immense, probably not replicable by all other wildlife documentary makers due to time and budget constraints. Episodes are 50 minutes long followed by a ten minute insight into their efforts at the end illustrating the techniques used to film a single scene in an episode. Each episode covers a separate animal group, with some episodes covering broader issues such as hunters and prey and general challenges faced by some life. These broader episodes do often have repeated footage, eg some penguin sequences are shared between the `challenges of life' episode and the `birds' episode. As I watched these all in quick succession, I found some parts repetitive, but watching some of the more stunning sequences for a second time was still welcomed. Particular highlights were seeing the primates at work and using tools, which deeply illustrated our genetic proximity to them. (It made me wonder at times if I could actually find an example of a primate making more intelligent use of its environment and each other than a human). I generally appreciated the sequences that depict a species clever use of environment or body parts that hints towards higher intelligence than we would normally attribute to the other members of the animal kingdom, and there were plenty of these occasions to behold. The marine episode also captured some striking sequences and the butterflies collecting in huge numbers on the insects episode was stunning. The HD picture quality is more evident in some places than others, though generally id say its excellent overall and still definitely more consistent than Planet Earth was. As the filming takes place in the real world with real lighting and positioning constraints, not all images are going to be as fantastic as the next. The underwater sequences showed a mix, where some of the coral and organisms looked wonderfully sharp and illuminated, but other shots could look murky due to the impurities in the water. I would say every episode captures at some point a jaw-dropping sequence that gives you the full justification for why you bought your Bluray player. In many cases it really had to be appreciated how some things so small such as ants could be captured in sufficient detail to fit a full 1080p image with no focus issues. This series seemed designed to bring images to shock people, as they would come to realise that such weird organisms exist in reality and not just in CGI movie sequences. Of the seemingly almost infinite variety of species on the planet, only a tiny fraction is represented here, that leaves me wanting another series to continue the showcase. No doubt Attenborough and team will oblige.

If you watched 'Life' on TV and are wondering right away if it's worth splashing out the extra money on the blu-ray, then absolutely yes. The cameras they filmed this series on are beasts and HD really does them justice, i still am flabbergasted by some shots, both at the quality and how they GOT them. If however you're looking for something to flesh out your blu-ray collection and haven't yet seen life, then you're in for the biggest treat of all. Learning about animals is only one part of the appeal of the series. Theres education, Visual Treats, and convincing drama. This is possible because of the superb editing and voice over, they build up characters for the animals and you begin to really be interested in their storys, even if they are only 5 minutes or so each. Right now i'm watching a new episode and am typing without looking at the screen for the most-part to see if this little animal will escape, it's that good. As an added bonus, the 'On location' segments at the end of every episode are mini-docs following the crew themselves as they attempt to get the amazing footage you've been sitting in awe at. These sections are filmed in a mix of HD and SD, but it really doesn't effect what is an appealing extra for me as a student filming docs myself. The one following the crew trying to film komodo dragons was especially good. Overall, 100% reccomended, i'm only 1 disk of 4 in, and i already feel i've got my monies worth. Rory.

Loved it, thanks!. Grate film. Lots of information and interesting footage in colour!

brilliant

WHAT WILDEBEEST ARE REALLY UP TO WHEN WE AREN'T AROUND... The camera work was totally amazing. Mind and heart blowing stuff indeed! The evolution sermon from Davey was the usual sermon; all about misapplying human thoughts and behaviours onto the animals. (At one point David tells us that a male Bird of Paradise is actually "feeling dejected" because he has been rejected by a female he was hoping to woo - I mean really? If that bird could talk to us would he ask us for directions to the nearest psychologist's office so as he could rest his weary wee wings, lie down on a leather sofa and chirp on and on about how hard it was cracking his way out of the egg because that must surely be the beginning of his low-wing-self-esteem). Davey boy does that a lot throughout all his sermons, applies human thought and behaviour reasoning onto animals. The other thing slightly annoying about Davey boy is he seems always to be telling us that this is what these creatures do whenever they are alone and once again ignores his contamination of the experiment created by the presence of humans and machines onto or into the environment being examined. For all we know, herds of wildebeests are sitting about with their hooves up, reading the New York Post, drinking cappuccinos with lookouts up on every hill until suddenly one of the lookouts yells, "Quick! It's Davey" as the leader hides his newspaper, skulls his coffee and orders the herd, "Alright now 90% of you chaps onto all fours and moo a lot; 5% of you have a quick fight and scratch your arses on a tree or something and the rest of you start humping" And when Davey's crew are gone, they're are all back to boiling eggs, straining noodles and playing back-gammon, smoking freshly packed pipes and swirling their martinis with an antler. My point is we don't know what animals do when we are not around because they do it when we are not around; we do, however have a little bit of a clue as to what some animals do when we are around huffing and puffing our way through the dense underbrush, lugging cameras and microphones and tents and whatnot, or hovering overhead in some noisy, pollution spewing helicopter - these creatures have rather good senses after all, and if I can hear a helicopter 5000 feet up in the sky, guess what! The sermon based on the religion known as Evolution loses this program one star. Personally I find it amazing that anyone could witness what we are witnessing on these Blu rays and not believe in the One who created all things seen and unseen; for me, it is yet another reason to be filled with awe at what God can do; the heavens themselves declare His Glory, as the Bible would rightfully tell us. The four stars are for the sheer beauty of the camera work. Jaw dropping!!! Absolutely... Hang on! One of the lookouts just yelled that Davey-boy is coming back. "Moo..." Signed Willy the Wildebeest.

There aren't superlative's enough to describe this achievement. But it is not only phenomenal but also intimate, rich in detail, storylines well constructed, and captivating. And for those reasons, to be quite honest, I found it to be even better than "Earth". To stories told offer an unique insight and often are the first of it's kind - ever. And then Sir David Attenborough - ahh. What can you say, he is simply the best. He explains what is necessary, he pauses when to take in the scenery, he has a good humour, and most importantly for me, he is "Genuine". The only thing that disappointed me a little, is that I don't believe the description of the blu-ray to be true. It states to be 1080p, I found it to be 1080i. Nothing to worry about, the picture quality is spectecular. Still one might wonder if it is a typo or a deliberate mistake. An otherwise such brilliant monument in documentary deserves better than that. It has 10 different episodes of about 50min: 1. "Challenges of Life" 2. "Reptiles and Amphibians" 3. "Mammals" 4. "Fish" 5. "Birds" 6. "Insects" 7. "Hunters and Hunted" 8. "Creatures of the Deep" 9. "Plants" 10. "Primates" And each episode is tailed by a short "Making of". This is not some information on the side but something which adds tremendous value. (By the way, "Earth" blu-ray hasn't got the "Making of" - only the DVD version.) For example the additional images given in the production of the Komodo Dragons was just breathtaking. The attacking Komodo Dragon scene couldn't be presented in the Episode because it was chasing by a cameraman. The hazzle and emotion of the team gave a better understanding of the whole story. So here it is: One of THE BEST DOCUMENTARY there is.

Having watched Sir David's earliest documentaries, the thing that strikes me most about the 21st century output is the accelerating brevity of the Series and the episodes, neither of which can be altogether plausibly attributed to his increasing frailty! Though the music now commissioned is stunning and utterly perfect and beautiful (the young Elizabeth Parker's well-intentioned but sonically hideous electronic post-Stockhausen caterwaulings make the early stuff very difficult to enjoy) the actual footage culled from years of footage we'll never get to see is cursory, and not helped by 20% of the programme being devoted to The Making Of... with repetitive footage, best put on disc as extras! The latest, AFRICA, is definitely in "Oh, Dear: poor Grandad - what have they done with him" territory. By contrast THE LIVING PLANET strikes me as the best nature documentary series of all time: time being the operative word. Time to linger on the subject. Time to show a real series! We've gone from LIFE ON EARTH's 13 1 hour, totally original episodes to AFRICA's 5 43 minute, parson's egg combining stunning, ground-breaking film with rather blatant recycling of old material. As for LIFE: basically undeniably a must-have item, it does contain the second most gruesome of Sir David's subject matters (2nd only to the nightmarish gray whale episode on BLUE PLANET). Having watched the komodo sequence once, I cannot bring myself to watch it again! Give me an honest tyrannosaur any day. It is reviewed as edited from 1000s of hours of film, which rather proves my main objection to the brevity and the trivial broadcast time allotted!

欧州向けのフォーマットですので、再生機器によっては見ることができません。 【プレーヤー】 Playstation 3 CECH-3000B … メニュー画面で黒画面停止 Panasonic DMP-BDT320-K … 問題なし Pioneer BDP-320 … メニュー以降は音声のみ 運よくPanasonicで視聴できましたが、購入前に注意が必要です。

Un prodotto fantastico ad un prezzo più che oneosto,l'unico piccolo neo è stata la spedizione. Il pacco è arrivato un po acciaccato (perchè privo di pluriball) e dopo 16 giorni dal giorno dell ordine,personalmente avrei preferito pagare 5 euro in più il prodotto e riceverlo con dei buoni corrieri (Bartolini o Sda) in tempi più rapidi e con un imballaggio migliore,detto questo do comunque 5 stelle a questo ordine per diverse ragioni: 1) Perchè il rapporto qualità prezzo è stato davvero ottimo, 2) Perchè ho avuto una comunicazione ottima con il venditore che è stato gentile e disponibile, e 3) Perchè i lunghi tempi di consegna non sono stati una sorpresa dato che l'onesto venditore aveva scritto che il pacco sarebbe arrivato entro 14 / 21 giorni,ed essendo arrivato dopo 16 la parola data è stata mantenuta. Prodotto eccellente (qualità video/audio etc etc),la BBC è sempre una garanzia :)

Diese Dokumentation stellt alle anderen Natur-Dokus in Schatten! Die Aufnahmen sind unbeschreiblich wunderschön und farbenprächtig. Es sind Szenen dabei, die man noch nie vorher gesehen oder was davon gehört hatte, sehr informativ, unterhaltsam und vor allem kunstvoll dargestellt, immer mit passender Musik und richtigem Kommentar. Für mich persönlich ist "Life" sogar ein Tick besser und sehenswerter als "Unsere Erde". Die Bild- und Tonqualität der Bluray-Discs ist erste Klasse und man ist immer wieder begeistert, solche Aufnahmen hautnah zu erleben. Ich empfehle allerdings die UK-Version zu holen, denn die Deutsche Version (leider) nur die Hälfte der Dokumentation enthält. Die UK-Version hat eine Laufzeit von 550 Minuten und ist auf 4 Bluray's verteilt und kostet dabei geringfügig mehr. Nach jeder einzelnen Episode gibt es ein "Making of" (zumindest in der UK-Version) und wenn man halbwegs Englisch kann, wäre es überhaupt kein Problem, die Doku zu verstehen (vielleicht noch zusätzlich mit Hilfe von englischem Untertitel). FAZIT: ein absoluter "MUST HAVE" für alle Natur-Doku-Fans und Fans von faszinierten HD-Aufnahmen!!

Beautifully filmed most of the time.

I'll start the review with the bad. First, it's not entirely in 1080p. It's 720p or 1080i. So while it'd HD, it's not entirely Blu-ray. The image quality is still fantastic, although I think Planet Earth was slightly better in spots. Overall though, you probably won't notice on anything other than the biggest of home TVs/projectors. Second, this series is a bit repetitious in that the first episode is a preview of all the upcoming episode. That made it a bit of filler for me. Finally, there's not as much breadth or depth as there are in the other Attenborough BBC series. For example, Planet Earth had more breadth, while Life of Mammals/Plants/Birds etc. each had more individual depth. So why the five stars? Well, that's quite simply because what's in here is literally awesome. The footage is brilliant, the animals and plants are compelling, the science is fascinating, and Sir David Attenborough is the best there is at nature narration (sorry Oprah!). If all you've seen is the Discovery version of this show, with Oprah narrating, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the difference a pro like Attenborough can make. But regardless of the version, it's Life that's the real show. From cheetahs, to plants, to frogs, to killer whales, the plants and animals in this series do not disappoint in their ways of surviving and reproducing. Richard Dawkins wrote a recent book on evolution called "The Greatest Show on Earth". This series should be labelled the same! Nature, in all its glory, is just endlessly fascinating and amazing to watch. Overall, this series is a perfect introduction into the world of nature documentaries. Other BBC/Attenborough series might offer more depth, breadth, and even (for some) slightly better resolution, but this DVD series still delivers a ton of fresh content that provides hours of really, really fascinating viewing. Highly recommended!