This past October the folks at BBC Video took us on a wonderful trip to
the Galapagos Islands. Continuing in that vein, they now take us on a wonderful tour of the great river of India, the
Ganges. Here are the particulars from the studio:
Filmed in stunning high definition and coming to DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, Ganges is a sumptuous series that tells the story of the most extraordinary river in the world. The Ganges runs through the heart of India. For millions of Hindus it is India's sacred river, but they share its banks and waters with a rich variety of wildlife.
In a kaleidoscope of color and energy, this amazing series reveals how the Ganges has shaped the wildlife, culture and beliefs of India. The journey begins at the source of the river, high in the cold peaks of the Himalayas. It heads down past tigers, otters, peacocks and wild herds of elephants before reaching Varanasi, one of the oldest and most sacred cities in the world. Arriving at the delta, where the Ganges meets the sea, modern cities such as Calcutta join with the ancient swamps of the Sunderbans.
This amazingly diverse wetland, rarely filmed before, is home to giant lizards, man-eating crocodiles and forests full of monkeys. Here the tiger is still king, and man is on the menu.
Despite Toshiba's
recent announcement pulling out of the HD DVD business, the BBC is continuing their plans -
told to us in early January - with several more HD DVD titles in 2008 (they told us they had already mapped out plans for 4 titles;
Ganges is apparently one of them).
As a result,
Ganges arrives for DVD ($19.98 SRP), Blu-ray Disc ($28.98 SRP) and HD DVD ($28.98 SRP) on
July 1st. There are 3 episodes on 1 disc, running a total of 155 minutes. "Daughter of the Mountains," "River of Life" and "The Tiger's Realm" are the episode titles. Narrations are in English, Hindi and Bengali, and it is closed captioned for the hearing impaired. Extras include Deleted Scenes and a Behind-the-Scenes Featurette. Here is the packaging for all three formats:
