Frozen Planet

If you decide to watch "Frozen Planet", you might want to think twice if you are squeamish or if you're watching with small children. This is because it depicts nature in the raw...and that sometimes means footage of animals killing each other or dying from exposure. I personally prefer this over an overly sanitized program...but it's best you know and understand this so you can make the appropriate choice.

The film is about both the Arctic and Antarctica and most of the episodes consist of showing the same season in each region. So, for example, the summer in the Arctic would be June-September but in Antarctica you are seeing its summer from December-March. During the course of the episodes you see the usual amazing footage you see in the other recent "Earth" documentaries with David Attenborough...and you often marvel at the people who went to such lengths to get such perfect film. Pretty amazing...and marvelous on a large television.

I think this is a nearly perfect show. My only complaint, and it's a minor one, is that some of the material is repetitive and really noticable if you are binging on the show. I honestly feel they could have edited out an episode or two to make it much more compact.

I was looking forward to this BBC series and I was not in any way disappointed. The work that went in to bringing us these wonderful visions of the polar regions is amazing. Thankfully, in New Zealand, we saw the David Attenborough-narrated version as it was meant to be. No disrespect to Alec Baldwin, who narrated the US version, but Sir David has been there and done that in wildlife film-making for the best part of 60 years. He KNOWS what he's talking about. I'm very aware of the "controversy" that surrounds the seventh episode titled On Thin Ice, and the apparent reluctance of US TV to show it because it deals with climate change. My advice is: don't let anyone tell you that this is a piece of climate change propaganda. It's not. It simply lays out the facts in a non-judgmental way and backs them up with historical photography and clear satellite imagery. Watch it and make up your own mind.

I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to work on the promotional campaign as an editor at Discovery Channel in 2011-2012, and is still one of my favorite projects to date. The only challenge I faced was trying to choose which visuals to use in the 60/30 second commercials, because they were all breath taking. From start to finish, the production value, imagery and breathtaking landscapes are captured with perfection in this documentary series. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this series when I had to (work), and then watched it again when I wanted to (at home)! Over all, well done!

To describe all the beautiful footage in this documentary is simply not possible. It's easily the best i have ever seen, even better than BBCs "planet earth" which was unique because of its big budget and extended production time (16M £, 5years). It's probable that production paid off in terms of skill and it certainly comes to show here in BBCs next effort when the mysteries and beauty of our planets frozen worlds is on the agenda.

More than anything else this production is a profound statement on how precious and unique our planet is and how immensely important it is that human impact on fragile ecosystems is kept to a minimum.

Richard Attenbourough is, as we all know by now, the perfect narrator. His deep interest and knowledge in natural history is apparent, adding a pleasant edge to this marvelous achievement.

True genius. It makes standing in the poles, what' really seems like an exhilarating experience feel it's being done by yourself. With polar bears and penguins in the joy of spring, the summertime with less blues, autumn filled with the excitement of the mating season, the hard land that is winter, and then in the conclusion, you have people living there and you can see them. This is a classic series with brilliant moments all through it. It won 4 Emmys because it deserved them more than anything else in 2009. Madagascar- one of Attenborough's best works, the amazing documentary Ocean Giants and the classic Human Planet. Frozen Planet beat all them because some of the amazing stuff, as well as educational (not something I look for in Docos) and exciting (this one is exciting, animal-action-packed series) but also never filmed before. Nobody had filmed at Antarctic volcanoes or the Russian arctic before. Migrating eider ducks was new and never done before. That is the magic behind a classic series. Do yourself a favour if you haven't already. Watch all 7 parts. Won't waste your time. You could do an episode a day and be finished with it in a week. Come on. It won't wreck your life or anything. C'mon.