BBC's new nature documentary series- 'Life'

Anyone else catch this last night? Follows on from where 'Planet Earth' left off, without all the super-long range shots. Some really great shots, including a seal dodging 12 killer whales, dolphins herding shoals of fish using sand clouds and some awesome shots of a chameleon's tongue in action.

Going to be a must-purchase boxset, I think.

i had to laugh when we were told the chameleon's tongue shoots out at 15 metres per second

it was cool, but you 'had to laugh'?

Terrific tv, although this first episode felt a little disjointed - maybe just cause it was setting the scene. I don't know if "enjoyed" is the right word, but the footage of cheetahs working together to fell an ostrich was incredible to watch. The nut-crackin' monkeys were amazing too.

The dancing birds were so great but the seal flaying around the young penguin was tough to watch

i've seen the nutcrackers before, maybe on 'planet earth' actually.

yeah, it did seem a little more 'collection of clips' than a fully themed hour long programme, but if the quality of the clips remains that high then long may it continue.

amazing shot of the butchered penguin dropping to the bed, completely stripped.

i had to laugh when we were told the chameleon's tongue shoots out at 15 metres per second

― Michael B, Tuesday, October 13, 2009 12:32 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

sounds like the start of a Viz letter

I quite liked how it continuously flitted from different animals/continents, good for people with short attention spans

i think the first episode of planet earth was the same, am assuming the rest of the eps will be more specialised

<3 this show. hasn't got the epic sweep of planet earth but it has these really intimate, moving segments. it was the attack on the penguin last week and this week that sinister, epic komodo dragon hunt. the "making of" bits are giving good value too.

and this is like the bbc natural history unit's b-team isn't it, w/ alistair fothergill still filming frozen planet?

I was all ready to start scoffing when Attenborough talked about the Komodo's venomous bite, "of course, it's actually BACTERIA in the saliva that induces blood poisoning". Good job I checked and found out that this was disproved earlier this year, and it's real venom. It did feel reassuring to be reminded that Sir David is truly infallible.

With this and the Planet Earth blu-ray box set I got for birthday gift last week the autumn evenings can draw in all they like.

i liked pelicans once. not no more.

is this on in USA

watching on bbc myself

Pelicans have history for this type of thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO5ifLzLYiU

Macro photography on the insects episode tonight was all kinds of awesome; the shots of beads of water on damsel fly wings particularly stunning imo.

The music for this series has been perfection too - the work of George Fenton who did Planet Earth etc as well. He's able to strike the perfect balance between levity (the tossing beetle theme and its romantic flourish for when Mr & Mrs beetle get it on) with wonderful poignance (the damsel fly's one day of life).

the damselfly bit was amazing, I watched slack jawed.

my girlfriend and i have been blown away by this series. the cinematrography is just stunning - how did they manage to film the little tadpole under water inside that plant high up in the tree?!

this is the first natural history tv i've ever seen, what other series should i watch next? preferably with david attenborough involved. i'm getting planet earth after the mentions above, and i'm guessing blue planet is worth it too. what else is essential viewing?

Planet Earth is the best TV show of the past decade. So get that, no question.

can't believe i didn't give a special mention to last week's episode- a fish climbed up 100ft of rock using its mouth/upper lip to get to a spawning ground. unbelieevable jeff.

Every Attenborough series is very much worth having on dvd. The Life series boxed collection, Blue Planet, Planet Earth.
Some of the early ones aren't as high def as the latest ones, obv., but even so, they're still among the most impressive stuff our species has managed. :-)

So... no discussion of Frozen Planet?

It's shit like this I pay my license for frankly.