Tonight the Discovery Channel broadcasts the first 3 episodes of the 11-part BBC produced series, Planet Earth, narrated by Sigourney Weaver.Just. Tune. In.
I get into nature documentaries about as much as the next guy, but since Jeanne received her review copies a couple weeks ago, this thing has become an obsession for me. Luckily she wrote a fantastic review for the 'Spress-News, so I don't have to. "Luckily" I say because the series tends to leave me speechless. I'm not sure how to put into words the sheer number of mind-boggling sights that have been captured by High-Def cameras for this series -- you kinda just have to tune in and see them for yourself. (The series plays on Discovery HD Theater as well, so if you've got that channel, you know what to do.)
The image above is from the "Caves" episode. It's a diver exploring an underwater cave in Mexico and the still photo doesn't do justice to the moving images you'll actually see in that sequence. Click here for an episode guide and schedule for all five weekends. (Even though it isn't listed, I think Discovery may do an all-day marathon of the series on Apr. 22nd leading up to the last two installments.)
A DVD box set available in standard def as well as both HD DVD & Blu-Ray is set for release on Apr. 24th. It will contain all manner of cool extra footage, but it will also be the original BBC version which was narrated by David Attenborough.
So if you're a fan of Ms. Weaver, the Discovery broadcasts may be your only chance to hear her spin on the narration.
