You might have heard about March of the Penguins, a French film that follows Emperor penguins as they begin their long trek to mate and return to the ocean. The film cost an estimated $8,000,000, but it's brought in nearly $80,000,000 at the box office, making it one of the most profitable movies for 2005. BBC Home Video dug out their 1993 documentary, Life in the Freezer to be released alongside March of the Penguins (it comes out a week before Penguins). Another of the David Attenborough documentaries, this series examines the creatures that call Antarctica home.
This 6 episode series comes on a single disc:
Disc 1 (2:55:20)
The Bountiful Sea (29:10)
The Ice Retreats (29:21)
The Race to Breed (29:03)
The Door Closes (29:08)
The Big Freeze (29:20)
Footsteps in the Snow (29:18)
Video
I've seen all the BBC Attenborough releases so I had a fairly good idea what I was getting into. This is the oldest of the 4 shows I've seen (it's full frame), but the video quality stands up, and it's better than The Life of Birds. The series was shot using a combination of 16mm film and video; 95% of it is filmed. There's some grain, which is expected when 16mm is used, but it's not horrible like it was in The Life of Birds. There's a "play all" feature, but there isn't a chapter after the opening of the show (grrr, BBC hasn't caught on like everyone else).
Audio
I find grading audio on a documentary a very difficult task. The narration sounds good; everything is clear and easy to understand. The location sound is fine as well, but it doesn't make very good use of the stereo format, though I wasn't expecting it to. Pretty much everything comes from the center speaker. There are English subtitles is you need them.
I love the Attenborough documentaries! I've seen a number of good nature shows and documentaries, but the Attenborough shows seem to come together in a way that none of the others can come close to. There are some of the most incredible shots you'll ever see on screen, and Attenborough's narration imparts amazing facts about the subjects. I enjoyed the final episode of the series, "Footsteps in the Snow," because they talked about the people that live and work in the Antarctic. They also show you the rigors of shooting the series, and had interviews with some of the cameramen.
I won't tell you to buy this instead of March of the Penguins, I'll recommend that you buy them both! You may want to bundle up before you watch this; I felt cold!
