Our Planet in High Definition
Premiering in the US in HD on satellite TV on the Discovery Channel in mid-2007, Planet Earth is a stunning 11-episode series documenting various habitats on the Earth. The first nature documentary to be filmed in high definition and the most expensive nature documentary ever undertaken by the BBC, Planet Earth has been billed as 'the definitive look at the diversity of our planet.'
Planet Earth was the follow-up to executive producer Alastair Fothergill's critically acclaimed The Blue Planet, which explored the history of the planet's oceans, and has proven immensely successful as well. Broadcast as The Blue Planet: Seas of Life in the US, this documentary also premiered on the Discovery Channel.
Planet Earth recorded a number of events in the natural world that had never been seen in the history of television. Included in these events are a snow leopard on the hunt in Pakistan, the first aerial shooting of an African wild dog hunt, a feeding frenzy of piranha filmed underwater, and a pride of lions hunting African Elephant. With virtually the entire series having been shot in HD, the footage displayed in Planet Earth was an immediate hit, and by the end of 2007, Planet Earth was one of the most popular series on television, and the DVD set was the best-selling high definition title of the year.
In the wake of the overwhelming success of the Planet Earth series, executive producer Alastair Fothergill has returned to the wild to create two additional full length nature documentaries, African Cats: Kingdom of Courage, and Chimpanzee, both in conjunction with Disney Films. In addition to these two feature-length films, another Fothergill nature series entitled The Frozen Planet, focusing on the polar regions of the Earth is currently in production. Like Planet Earth before it, The Frozen Planet is being co-produced by The Discovery Channel, who will premier the series in the US in high definition on satellite television in the Spring of 2012.
While nature lovers eagerly await the premier of The Frozen Planet, alternative options for nature programming continue to sprout up. Old favorites have upgraded to high definition channels including Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, and The Weather Channel HD. Additionally, some new high def options available include Planet Green, the Science Channel, and National Geographic Channel HD, all broadcasting on satellite TV today.
With interest in the environment growing to levels never seen before, the amount of nature, animal, and environmental-related television is expanding exponentially, allowing for amazing programming that is both educational and entertaining. From the Lazy Environmentalist on the Sundance Channel to Shark Week on Discovery, the advances in technology make the people who grew up learning from National Geographic and Ranger Rick magazines feel pretty old. For those of us who can't afford an African Safari, a Whale Watching Vacation in Argentina, or a trip to Canada, Alaska, or Russia to see the Polar Bears, however, the change is a welcome one, as it gets us closer to exotic parts of the Earth that we would otherwise never be able to experience.
