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[subzero9285]

Alright, the series is going to be broadcast with the new narration March 2010.
Source (Discovery)
Then the BBC will release the dvd and blu ray in the "spring" of 2010 to coincide with earth day, which is April 22nd.
Source (BBC.co.uk)
Make sure to mark your calenders.

Quoted for the new page.

 

[captive]

No confirmation of that yet, the only thing that's confirmed for the US is that it's airing on the Discovery Channel in March, and Oprah is narrating it. Whether or not the BBC decides to release the David Attenborough narrated version in the US is unknown. There is the possibility of alternate narration in the US Blu-ray release, but you'll just have to wait and see.

Alright, the series is going to be broadcast with the new narration March 2010.
Source (Discovery)
Then the BBC will release the dvd and blu ray in the "spring" of 2010 to coincide with earth day, which is April 22nd.
Source (BBC.co.uk)
Make sure to mark your calenders.

Thank you. so basically everyone is freaking out about something not working in the US when its not designed to.
I'll wait till march.

 

[batbeg]

I have a British PS3, so there wouldn't be any problems for this working for me here in the USA, right?

Need to see how much it is. Or better yet, just ask my mom to get it for me as a Christmas present before she moves over here.

 

[subzero9285]

I have a British PS3, so there wouldn't be any problems for this working for me here in the USA, right?

Need to see how much it is. Or better yet, just ask my mom to get it for me as a Christmas present before she moves over here.

Shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Ignis Fatuus]

Okay, so I've done some research and evidently the Samsung BD-P1500 is capable of outputting 50hz content at 60hz so that it'll play nice with all US HDTVs. I really want to get this shit to work, but I'm wondering if the change to 60hz will have any adverse effect on the quality. Does anyone know?

 

[subzero9285]

Jaws of death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7eQKSf0LmY

 

[Javaman]

I've recently started watching the "How the Earth was made" series. It's a pretty awesome view of the physical formation of Earth's major landmarks (Mariana trench, Grand Canyon, Great Lakes, New York). I highly recommend them if you have any geological interests.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Got the series in on Blu-Ray from Amazon-UK. Can't fucking wait to be done with school this week so I can finally watch this.

EDIT: Shit! I just read the bullshit with the PS3. Why won't Sony take care of this through firmware? I guess I'll have to use my PC.

 

[subzero9285]

Episode nine - Plants

Spoiler

Plants have successfully managed to conquer every habitat on the planet by using ingenious and cunning strategies.

Through the use of time-lapse photography, Plants reveals how plants battle for life and face the challenges of their habitats.

Plants are dependent on three main elements for survival: sunlight, water and nutrients.

Sunlight is a rare commodity on the forest floor so climbers, such as the Boston ivy and the cats-claw creeper, use other plants as a ladder to get to the light.

More than 20,000 different kinds of plants spend their entire life up in the canopy. They get their nutrients by trapping dead leaves among their roots. The rotten leaves provide a kind of compost in the branches and their exposed roots quickly absorb the slightest rain or mist.

Where there is little rain, plants find clever ways of trapping and retaining water.

The dragon's blood tree survives in a rocky desert on moisture carried in mists. It even manages to reduce evaporation by shading its own roots.

Others, such as the desert rose, lose all of its leaves to stop evaporation and carefully stores water in its trunk.

In boggy ground, there are few nutrients so plants have to find another source.

The Venus flytrap gets its nutrients from animals. It attracts insects with its pink colour and a ring of nectar. If an unsuspecting fly touches two trigger-like hairs within 20 seconds of each other, the trap snaps shut, the fly is imprisoned, and the plant then slowly digests its victim.

The sundew, also a predatory plant, has a pinkish red colour and nectar to attract insects. It's like a living fly paper – when a fly lands on the sundew, the leaf immediately curls up around its prey, and drowns it in sticky fluid before digesting it.

Many plants rely on animals for pollination.

In the cold, windswept Tasmanian mountains conditions are dangerous for a flower. The richea honey bush fuses its petals together into a protective case. And when the sun comes out, briefly, the plants warm up enough to produce nectar, which attracts a bird – the black currawong. The bird pulls apart the casings to get to the nectar and, at the same time, exposes the flower inside to pollinating insects. The honey bush gets pollinated before the biting winds kill the flowers.

The team were trying to achieve a shot that had never been attempted before – the entire growing season in a woodland filmed in one shot. It would bring together elements of time lapse photography, in the both the field and the studio, computer graphics and a lot of hard work and patience.

Set in a secret location on Dartmoor, the team carried numerous wheelbarrow loads of kit the 1.5 miles to the site and took two days to build the track.

With a bicycle wheel, a piece of string, a ladder and a stills camera, the team finally managed to get the base shot.

Then the track had to be rebuilt in the studio to exactly the same length and angle – and the forest had to be reconstructed around it in blue screen by time lapse cameraman Tim Sheppherd.

It took over a year to be fully completed, from a five-week track to film the foxgloves opening, getting spiders to spin webs, and even a high-speed camera shoot to get the water droplet falling at the end of the sequence.

Then it was over to Mick Connaire, the graphic designer, to bring it all together.

 

[Robin]

Anyone else watching the plants episode? The picture quality stunning. The time lapse shots are brilliant too.

 

[Walshicus]

Anyone else watching the plants episode? The picture quality stunning. The time lapse shots are brilliant too.

I'm stuck watching these recorded from BBCHD to my V+ box; the picture is still good but I can only imagine how much better it would be from disc.

This is like one of the only things that could convince me to go against my tag...

 

[y2dvd]

Jaws of death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7eQKSf0LmY

Fascinating! It was pretty eerie hearing the flies squeal like that. I don't think I ever notice them squeal before.

 

[Reno7728]

Northern lights. Wow :0

 

[subzero9285]

Beautiful episode, absolutely beautiful. Loved it all, the final episode's going to have a hard time topping this. It's a shame that it's nearly over though.

 

[MrPliskin]

So here's the Gig:

I'm going to start up a "petition" as useless as they generally turn out to be, to see if we can get some attention sent Sony's way for them to "fix" this BRD issue so I can watch BBC titles.

I want to know, will you guy's here on GAF actually sign it? And do you think it's actually a decent idea?

 

[Keyser Soze]

Plants was awesome... hopefully there is more of the Making Of stuff on the Blu-ray as I find that interesting, particularly this ep

 

[panda21]

Got the series in on Blu-Ray from Amazon-UK. Can't fucking wait to be done with school this week so I can finally watch this.

EDIT: Shit! I just read the bullshit with the PS3. Why won't Sony take care of this through firmware? I guess I'll have to use my PC.

whats wrong with it on ps3? i nearly bought it because its pretty cheap considering how much you get (£35)

 

[Superblatt]

OPRAH WINFREY TO NARRATE LIFE
Premiering March 2010 on Discovery Channel

OPRAH WINFREY TO NARRATE DISCOVERY CHANNEL'S EPIC TELEVISION EVENT, "LIFE"

oh fuck me. If I can't buy the David Attenborough version, like I did with Planet Earth, then I'll hunt down Oprah and ...er...you get the picture.

 

[Zombie James]

I don't know why the fuck they'd waste their time redubbing an English documentary series into English.

 

[Alucrid]

Alright, the series is going to be broadcast with the new narration March 2010.
Source (Discovery)
Then the BBC will release the dvd and blu ray in the "spring" of 2010 to coincide with earth day, which is April 22nd.
Source (BBC.co.uk)
Make sure to mark your calenders.

But will it have David Attenborough?

 

[subzero9285]

But will it have David Attenborough?

Hasn't been confirmed yet.

 

[KAL2006]

OK I am loving this series, any other nature, landscape and/or animal documentary's I should watch. Note, only recommend HD videos

 

[subzero9285]

OK I am loving this series, any other nature, landscape and/or animal documentary's I should watch. Note, only recommend HD videos

• Nature's Great Events
• Wild China
• Galapagos
• Ganges
• South Pacific
• Yellowstone

All available on Blu-ray.

 

[Alucrid]

I don't know why the fuck they wouldn't waste their time redubbing an English documentary series into American.

Fixed.

• Nature's Great Events
• Wild China
• Galapagos
• Ganges
• South Pacific
• Yellowstone

All available on Blu-ray.

Yep. The BBC Natural History Collection contains Wild China, Galapagos, Ganges and Planet Earth.

 

[∀ Narayan]

But will it have David Attenborough?

Probably not. Which is a real damn shame. Who the fuck wants to listen to Sigourney Weaver or Oprah Winfrey narrating this stuff?

 

[KAL2006]

• Nature's Great Events
• Wild China
• Galapagos
• Ganges
• South Pacific
• Yellowstone

All available on Blu-ray.

Wow, am gonna be broke if I get all those at once, which 3 are the ones I should get first (I already have Life ordered). Also I heard Planet Earth is really good

 

[Superblatt]

Probably not. Which is a real damn shame. Who the fuck wants to listen to Sigourney Weaver or Oprah Winfrey narrating this stuff?

I prefer Auttenborough, obviously. But, Sigourney wasn't bad. Oprah on the other hand, ughhh.

 

[Amir0x]

Oprah... jesus.

well at least it might sell better?

?

I don't know. Fuck I hope Attenborough is on the Blu-Ray. Fuck. Weaver was nasty on Planet Earth.

Wow, am gonna be broke if I get all those at once, which 3 are the ones I should get first (I already have Life ordered). Also I heard Planet Earth is really good

If you're looking to collect 'em all, buy the High Definition Natural History Boxset.

I love my boxset so much. It's got Planet Earth + Ganges + Wind China + Galapagos all in one. Which are, in my estimation, the best of the bunch anyway... if only South Pacific was in it. Then you can pick off the stragglers afterward.

 

[aznpxdd]

Wow, am gonna be broke if I get all those at once, which 3 are the ones I should get first (I already have Life ordered). Also I heard Planet Earth is really good

Planet Earth first above all else...

 

[subzero9285]

Wow, am gonna be broke if I get all those at once, which 3 are the ones I should get first (I already have Life ordered). Also I heard Planet Earth is really good

If you haven't got Planet Earth, then that should be your priority. Out of the series I've listed Nature's Great Events (narrated by David Attenborough ), South Pacific, and Galapagos, which is stunning.

A clip from Nature's Great Events;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBd4sNHBnYc

South Pacific;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-hmHuRKYP8

Galapagos;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfgYxL_7MA0

 

[subzero9285]

Oprah... jesus.

well at least it might sell better?

?

I don't know. Fuck I hope Attenborough is on the Blu-Ray. Fuck. Weaver was nasty on Planet Earth.



If you're looking to collect 'em all, buy the High Definition Natural History Boxset.

I love my boxset so much. It's got Planet Earth + Ganges + Wind China + Galapagos all in one. Which are, in my estimation, the best of the bunch anyway... if only South Pacific was in it. Then you can pick off the stragglers afterward.

It is a great boxset, but I'd certainly put Nature's Great Events up there with Planet Earth, it's a better series than Wild China, and Ganges in my opinion. The fact that David narrates it, also helps.

 

[Amir0x]

I thought Nature's Greatest Events was kinda overrated, but I'd certainly put it over Ganges which was kinda dull next to the rest in the set.

 

[KAL2006]

If you haven't got Planet Earth, then that should be your priority. Out of the series I've listed Nature's Great Events (narrated by David Attenborough ), South Pacific, and Galapagos, which is stunning.

A clip from Nature's Great Events;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBd4sNHBnYc

South Pacific;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-hmHuRKYP8

Galapagos;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfgYxL_7MA0

OK, is this a good buy
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002PXHRJM/]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000SKNIWE/

 

[subzero9285]

OK, is this a good buy
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002PXHRJM/]
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000SKNIWE/

Go for it, you'll be thoroughly enthralled over the Christmas period if you watch them all.

 

[Amir0x]

You should get the one I linked to, which includes Planet Earth. It has David Attenborough narration on it as well.

 

[KAL2006]

You should get the one I linked to, which includes Planet Earth. It has David Attenborough narration on it as well.

Im from the UK

 

[Amir0x]

come on what kind of alien world is that

 

[Alucrid]

Wow. I'll second the Nature's Great Events one...I need to get that too now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv9v9ALV3yk&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=769661F6DEB6BA55
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LMmu-DKaQ0&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=769661F6DEB6BA55

The first one almost had me stand up at my computer and cheer him on.

 

[subzero9285]

Re: Today's episode.

I was really pleased to see the Socotra Archipelago featured, they have a wonderful, almost alien like landscape and I do hope to visit the islands someday.

 

[∀ Narayan]

So, is there any word that Sony will be fixing the 50hz issue with the PS3?

 

[subzero9285]

So, is there any word that Sony will be fixing the 50hz issue with the PS3?

The question is, are Sony even aware that there is a problem? If they are aware of the issue would they even be willing to fix it, via a firmware update?

 

[abstract alien]

Jaws of death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7eQKSf0LmY

Wow. There is so much emotion captured in there, and all for a fly and a plant. Brilliant shooting.

 

[subzero9285]

Ratings for the penultimate episode. I definitely think we'll be seeing more documentaries of this ilk in the future from the BBC's Natural History Unit.

[B]Monday 7th December 2009[/B]

[B]BBC One[/B]

18:00 - BBC News at Six: 4.5m (22.8%)
18:30 - Regional News and Weather: 5.5m (26.6%)
19:00 - The One Show: 4.7m (22.1%)
19:30 - Inside Out: 3.8m (16.8%)
20:00 - EastEnders: 9.3m (38.4%)
20:30 - Panorama: 2.2m (9.3%)
[B]21:00 - Life: 4.2m (18.1%)[/B]
22:00 - BBC News at Ten: 4m (20.6%)
22:25 - Regional News and Weather: 3.8m (21.6%)
22:35 - The Graham Norton Show: 2.5m (19.1%)

[B]BBC Two[/B]

18:30 - Strictly Come Dancing - It Takes Two: 2.9m (13.9%)
19:00 - Snooker: UK Championship: 1m (4.8%)
20:00 - University Challenge: 3.1m (12.7%)
20:30 - Miranda: 2.3m (9.4%)
21:00 - School of Saatchi: 800,000 (3.3%)
22:00 - QI: 1.5m (7.9%)
22:30 - Newsnight: 800,000 (5.5%)

[B]ITV1[/B]

18:30 - ITV News & Weather: 3.7m (17.7%)
19:00 - Emmerdale: 7.3m (34.3%)
19:30 - Coronation Street: 9.7m (43%)
20:00 - Tonight: 3.4m (13.9%)
20:30 - Coronation Street: 9.5m (39.3%)
21:00 - I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! Coming Out: 6.9m (30%)
22:00 - ITV News at Ten & Weather: 3.6m (19%)
22:35 - Inside MI5 - The Real Spooks: 1.4m (11.3%)

[B]Channel 4[/B]

18:00 - The Simpsons: 2.2m (11.3%)
18:30 - Hollyoaks: 1.6m (7.6%)
19:00 - Channel 4 News: 700,000 (3%)
20:00 - Dispatches: Christmas on Credit: 1.1m (4.5%)
21:00 - Man on Earth: 1.4m (5.9%)
22:00 - Ugly Betty: 700,000 (4%)

[B]Five[/B]

17:30 - Neighbours: 1.4m (8.3%)
18:00 - Home and Away: 1.1m (5.7%)
18:25 - Live From Studio Five: 300,000 (1.6%)
19:30 - How Do They Do It?: 700,000 (3%)
20:00 - The Gadget Show: Christmas Special: 1.7m (7.1%)
21:00 - FILM: Tears of the Sun: 1.3m (6.9%)

 

[Visualante]

Up against I'm a celebrity that's collossal. The iPlayer ratings must be some of the highest in history.

 

[mclem]

4.2M isn't all that great, really. If anything, it's a bit low for an Attenborough series. However, I don't think it's anything to worry about; that's the initial broadcast, but the Sunday repeat's also been enjoying very healthy ratings, so as a whole it's a success.

 

[Orgun]

I havent watched a single episode of this live, I just wait until lunch time the next day and watch it at work on iplayer HD.
Got other things i'd rather be doing in the evening than sitting infront of a TV.

 

[subzero9285]

Epic Baboon war

Two troops of baboons have been filmed going to war, with hundreds of monkeys entering into a pitched battle.The fight, filmed by the BBC Natural History Unit, appears to be triggered by male baboons attempting to steal females from the harems of rivals. Usually, the two troops live relatively peacefully alongside one another on a 1km-long cliff in the Awash National Park in Ethiopia.

But they violently clash in a sequence broadcast as part of the series Life. "The scale of the fight and the way the males are so dominant is just unparalleled in primate society," says Miss Rosie Thomas, a member of the Life production team who filmed the sequence.

Baboons live in complex male-led societies. Scientists have identified four levels at which baboons organise themselves. At the smallest level, a dominant male baboon will control a harem of females. A number of these one-male units, as scientists call them, may organise into clans of monkeys.

Units and clans can gather into much larger social groupings, which are called bands. The monkeys within each band coordinate their activities, acting as a cohesive social unit. Many bands also hang out as part of a huge troop. A single troop of Hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) can contain several hundred individuals.

At a site called Filoha in the Awash National Park of lowland Ethiopia, scientists including Dr Mathew Pines have been studying how the interactions between these different groups of baboons play out. A film crew from the BBC Natural History Unit spent five weeks at the site recording the action, alongside Mr Pines and other researchers working for the Filoha Hamadryas Baboon Project.

Four baboon troops live at the cliff in Filoha. Two are relatively small and are difficult to follow and study as they are not habituated to the presence of researchers. However, two troops that live alongside one another are huge, with over 200 monkeys in each. These troops occasionally clash as they move down from the cliff upon which they sleep to find water, researchers have discovered.

It is the demand for females that usually triggers inter-troop warfare. Male baboons are either dominant, controlling a harem, or they are 'followers' - helping to protect the harem in exchange for occasional access to the females and mating rights. However, a number of young males are solitary, having no access to females. They cannot steal them from the dominant males in their troop.

"If they are trying to steal them from within their group, they have to overthrow the dominant male to keep them, or the dominant male will just steal them back," says Miss Thomas.

"But if they can see an opportunity to steal them from another group, it is much more difficult for the male to steal the female back."

And when these males raid another troop, it sparks a pitch battle. Once the fight is over, the females often suffer further. Males will often attack females in their harem for having considered the attentions of interloping solitary males.

"Baboons are one of the most aggressive primates out there," says Miss Thomas.

"What's interesting about hamadryas baboons is the way they control their social structure through aggression. Just seeing some of the males disciplining their females - it really is quite nasty," she says.

Such huge troops form for a number of reasons. They offer the baboons protection against predators such as lion, leopard and hyena, researchers believe. Large amounts of doum palms in the region also allow such large groups of baboon to live together.

When food becomes scarce, the monkeys then split into smaller bands and units. The complexity of baboon society is also reinforced by a study published last month in the American Journal of Primatology.

Dr Amy Schreier of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and Dr Larissa Swedell of the City University of New York in Flushing, New York have discovered more about a fourth level of social organisation among the baboons. As well as troops, bands and single-male units, Drs Schreier and Swedell have confirmed that baboons organise themselves into clans, a discovery first made in the 1970s by researcher Jean-Jacques Abegglen at another site, Erer Gota.

The researchers cannot yet be sure, but they suspect that clans are collections of related males. When a band splits up, usually because of scare food, males tend to break away along clan lines, forming inter-related groups, say the researchers. Clan members are also more likely to secure access to females. The hamadryas baboons at Filoha are only the second population of hamadryas known to organise into clans, though Dr Swedell says it is likely that all hamadryas baboons likely also form clans.

"Baboon wars" is broadcast within the Primates episode of the BBC series Life at 2100GMT on BBC One on Monday 14 December.

Link


The final episode.

 

[Veidt]

SubZero. You have a clip of the northern lights?
Or at least what episode it is, I'm gonna watch it on iPlayer now.

 

[subzero9285]

Some kind soul has uploaded the "Reptiles and Amphibians" episode in full.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXO2ZcKsXhQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Piny5LpqQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BSLGiee3tg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0A9VShszjY

 

[subzero9285]

SubZero. You have a clip of the northern lights?
Or at least what episode it is, I'm gonna watch it on iPlayer now.

The plants episode. Here's the link;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00p90d6/Life_Plants/

The Northern Lights scene is at around the 40 minute mark.