Frozen Planet

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.

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.

Though I don't particularly enjoy animal documentaries, the second run of the BBC's "Frozen Planet" was on the Guardians list of top TV of last year, so I needed to give it a try. Despite the fact it's not a narrative-based show I still decided to watch the initial run from 2011 first. The effort involved is admirable, but as a documentary I found it to be a little repetitive.

The poles at either side of our planet are among the most inhospitable areas to exist. There are, however, various ecosystems that do survive there, with the changing seasons providing them with enough respite to either feed, breed or migrate as required. Polar Bears, Seals, Penguins and Orcas are amongst those species' films by the documentary, that uses underwater filming and time lapse photography to get unbelievably close to the animals.

This is probably the BBC at it's finest. An altruistic environmental documentary, beautifully shot in high definition and with a David Attenborough voiceover that can only be described as Iconic. The amount of personal sacrifice that goes into making a series like this is truly inspiring, with the "Freeze Frame" sections at the end of each episode giving us an insight into the conditions endured, and perils risked in order to get the footage. The footage is worth it though and even without the educational aspect just looking at what they captured would be enough. The final episode of the series is a change of pace, and focuses on human interaction in the polar regions, with both native people who live and hunt there, exploration bases and mining operations.

This might be a drawback caused by watching all the episodes in just a few days, rather than spacing them out one a week, as it would have originally been released, but there is quite a bit of repetition in the series. Some of this is endemic, Animals essentially eat, procreate, and die so if it's not doing one of these things, it's doing the other. More than that though, some specific bits of the series, I'm thinking specifically of the Orca's iceberg destruction technique and various bits of the penguin walks are shown more than once.

It doesn't derail the series which, like all of them, is a unique and fascinating insight into these ecosystems.

As a rule, I don't enjoy programs or documentaries that are filled with superlatives and hyperbole, and usually rate them lower. Having said that, this series is filled with superlatives and hyperbole, and every one of them is justified. For example, when he speaks of the Taiga, a forest that goes all the way around the world and contains 1/3 of all the world's trees, it is done majestically. When we are told that all the spotted eider ducks in the world are contained in that one spot at that one moment in the Bering Sea, it adds to the wonder of it all.

I learned so much during this series. Then I watched it again. Both my wife and I sat in wonder as we went through the series on Netflix.

My only question is about the "seven" episodes. There are only six on our streaming server. If the seventh appears, we will snap it up quickly.

The narration was engaging and professional, the music was majestic, and the painstaking camera work was incredible. I shook my head in wonder many times how they had attained such amazing footage.

This series was one of the best TV experiences I have ever had.