BBC/Discovery TV Series Documenting the Wonders of Nature
Komodo dragons kill a water buffalo in Indonesia. Greater bulldog bats catch minnows in Belize. In Papua New Guinea, male Vogelkop bowerbirds decorate nests with eye-catching objects to try to attract a mate. In the Pacific Ocean off Tonga, half a dozen male humpback whales battle one another to win the right to copulate with a female. A bottlenose dolphin in Florida Bay uses its tail to stir up a ring of mud, panicking fish so that they leap out of the water and are immediately eaten by other bottlenoses. These are but a few of the many amazing vignettes you can see in Life, a television series that originally aired on the BBC in the UK in 2009 and on the Discovery Channel in the US in 2010. The UK version was narrated by David Attenborough, while the US version was narrated by Oprah Winfrey.
The DVD Set With Narration by Oprah Winfrey
The two versions of Life are being released separately on Region 1 DVD (which means the discs can be played using standard North American electronic equipment). The DVD set being described here contains the version that aired on the Discovery Channel. There are four discs containing 11 episodes, each of which is about 43 minutes long. The total runtime for the entire series is a little under eight hours.
The first episode is sort of an extended teaser for the rest of the series, seemingly constructed from the most interesting footage shown in subsequent episodes. Presumably this was supposed to be a hook for the TV audience, but for the owner of the DVD set, it makes some of the later material feel recycled.
The core of the series — and there's a lot of spectacular stuff here — consists of the second through the tenth episodes. Eight of these episodes are about animals, and one is about plants. In most cases, an episode centers on a major category of the animal kingdom: insects, fish, birds, mammals, etc.
The final episode is comprised of behind-the-scenes footage. This mostly shows the crews doing difficult shoots at various exotic locations. The episode on plants is seen to be something of an exception in that it involved quite a bit of ingenious studio work.
Theme, Style and Tone
Life is essentially about the struggle for survival. The series mainly shows a large number of atypical examples of animals obtaining food, predators and prey, mating, parenting and adaptation.
The series hopscotches around the globe, showing footage shot on all seven continents. There are something like 150 vignettes, each of which averages only three or four minutes. The presentation is choppy.
Nature isn't romanticized in Life, and some scenes are unpleasant. One of these is where three cheetah brothers, who have learned to hunt as a team, bring down an ostrich. Another shows a big male hamadryas baboon punishing one of the females in his harem.
Release Date: June 1, 2010
Number of Discs: 4
Total Runtime: 7 hours 52 minutes