BBC is known for their series' about the animal kingdom, so when I read about "Blue Planet" I knew it would be good. This is a spectacular 8 part series that reveals sea life most of us have never seen before. The cinematography is amazing, and the subject matter is fascinating. It took them years to plan and shoot the series and their work sure has paid off. The fourth volume in the series contains "Tidal Seas" and "Coasts" as well as the bonus episode "Deep Trouble".
Tidal Seas
The sun and moon move billions of tons of water with every turn of the tide. The strongest tides empty entire bays, smash trees on riverbanks, and strand sea creatures on suddenly dry land. Weaker tides control the movements of huge numbers of fish, coaxing schools of giant stingrays through astounding underwater arches. And as the water recedes, the tide can create unbelievable landscapes- like a sparkling world of salt crystals inhabited only by tiny shrimp and bright pink flamingos.
Coasts
From rocky cliffs to gentle dunes, the coasts are always changing. Day in and day out, they are battered by crashing waves. Seabirds come here by the thousands to nest, while baby turtles hatch and race to the sea, pursued by hungry predators. Young sea lion pups are born and play on the sand-until a killer whale attacks, crashing in on the surf. But when breeding season is over, life returns to the sea and the shores are empty once again.
Menus
Wonderful imagery is displayed behind the menus for this disc, although it makes it a little hard to read the text on the screen at times. These menus are also 1.78 anamorphic widescreen for those of you with widescreen sets.
Video
Unlike most TV releases, "Blue Planet" features a 1.78 anamorphic widescreen transfer, and for the most part it is stunning. The colors of the fish and other underwater creatures are nice and bright throughout the episodes, something that I'm assuming would have been hard to achieve shooting underwater. There's quite a bit of noticeable grain in the above-water shots.
Audio
A big kudos to the sound effects department who put together an audio track that was fun to listen to. Sure, it's stereo, but they did a great job creating underwater sounds for the series. David Attenborough, the narrator for the series, was easy to understand throughout. There aren't any subtitles for this release, but each episode is Closed Captioned. I really enjoyed the music found in these episodes.
A nice bunch of extras on the set; not overwhelming, but not too light either.
Making of Tidal Seas (9:50)
Some behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the episode.
Making of Coasts (9:44)
Some behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the episode.
Deep Trouble (49:02)
This is basically another episode of the series dealing with man's impact on the oceans and the effects of fishing.
Fact Files
11 text screens with information from "The Blue Planet: Seas of Life" book
Photo Gallery
20 photos from the two episodes.
Trailers
Three trailers are included on the disc. "BBC America", an ad for the network; "Walking With Dinosaurs & Allosaurus" and "Walking With Prehistoric Beasts", some other BBC releases I'd love to take a look at.
Summary
I really, really loved this disc and I've recommended it to quite a few people. The oceans are wonderful, mysterious places, and shows like "The Blue Planet" always leave me in awe of how little we know about them. I've tried to find volumes 1 and 2 in local stores but they're always sold out! A gift set featuring volumes 1-4 will be released on August 27th, so if you don't have any of them yet I'd recommend ordering that one.
