Setting the Standard: Why Planet Earth Has Permanently Changed Television
April 4, 2008
The BBC nature documentary Planet Earth may very well be the best thing to happen to television entertainment since the birth of the DVD. A made-for-TV miniseries, Planet Earth chronicles the natural wonders of our planet through eleven one-hour episodes, each focused on a distinct ecosystem or geological feature. The series, which debuted in the United Kingdom March of 2006 and then in the United States a year later, has become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon since its release. The quickly emerging cult following of Planet Earth is remarkable for the sheer breadth of diversity in its membership. Unlike the similarly loyal and cultish fans of productions such as Arrested Development or The Rocky Horror Picture Show, viewers of Planet Earth include people of virtually all ages and walks of life.
With a budget around $25 million, the production of Planet Earth was no small undertaking. Adventurous film crews (and people with similarly awesome professions) spent the five years that it took to complete the series filming in 62 different countries around the globe. Planet Earth is described with superlatives amusingly often, and the scale and cost of its production is no exception. According to its producer, Alastair Fothergill, “Planet Earth is the largest, most expensive and most ambitious series the BBC Natural History Unit has ever made.”
Fothergill is no stranger to large-scale environmental productions. Before he began work on Planet Earth, Fothergill produced The Blue Planet series, a similarly designed, although smaller scale, BBC nature documentary focused exclusively on marine habitats.
There is a bit of overlap between the two series, as Planet Earth covers marine habitats as well as terrestrial ones. Both series follow a similar template, exploring the flora and fauna of a single habitat in each episode, but the grandiose nature of Planet Earth gives it a sense of superiority on all fronts, including the exploration of marine life.
Every episode of Planet Earth, be it “Mountains” or “Great Plains,” “Ice Worlds” or “Shallow Seas,” elicits a childish sense of wonderment rarely evoked by film, more less in documentaries. It has achieved what countless teachers of geology have long strived to do — excite people about nature. Never before has the general public been shown such spectacular images that inspire widespread genuine fascination of phenomenon such as the tropical birds of paradise or the coniferous forests of the Taiga.
Sir David Attenborough narrates the original BBC edition of the series, and although Sigourney Weaver does a commendable job in her American adaptation for the Discovery Channel, the scholarly sensation of Attenborough’s British accent trumps her narration any day. The orchestral music throughout the film, written by George Fenton, is often quite dramatic, but anything less would hardly do justice to the grandeur of the series’ visual feast.
The tremendous success that Planet Earth has enjoyed is partially due to the explosion in popularity of high-definition video, and it is definitely worth noting that watching it on anything but Blu-Ray is a near sinful endeavor.
Planet Earth is truly a landmark in television history, and luckily, people of all backgrounds are beginning to discover its brilliance. I imagine the series will become a staple in primary school science classrooms for years to come, but I hope that it reaches far beyond the classroom and becomes a staple in all households. After all, when is the next time a third-grade daughter, pothead son, and elderly mother will all be so excited to watch television together, and learn?