Amazing Planet

This is a National Geographic nature show. There are 3 hour long episodes narrated by Patricia Clarkson. The essential aspect is to explain the big global forces driving the planet for its entire life. Ocean Realm deals with the water forces which form the world. It probably has the most new information for me. It deals with ocean currents although I don't always get it. There are takes on the Isthmus of Panama, polar ice cap, and the future continental drift. Born of Fire is about volcano and earthquake and all that stuff. It's child's play and there is nothing new. Destructive Forces deals with erosion and other such forces. This is Nat Geo trying to speed things up and get spicy with quick edits and the fast forward button. The visuals are nothing special. Featured prominently is the Asian tsunami from a couple of years before. There is an idea that nature documentaries are too slow for the ADD generation. I don't believe that or else all those BBC nature docs would all be failures.

As an avid fan of good documentaries about nature and geography, I must say that this three-part series would be among the top in it's class ... if not for the fatal choice of musicians employed to create the soundtrack which accompanies the visual and narrative components of this production. Unfortunately, much as we wanted to watch the three episodes through to the end, my Wife and I were compelled to turn it off half-way through the second episode (re: oceans) due to the aggravation caused by the loud, all-pervasive noise that someone evidently must have mistaken for music.

I would urge National Geographic, who produced this 3-part series, to seriously consider reconstructing and re-issuing the entire documentary - this time using a musical team worthy of the rest of the work. The visual and narrative components are (in our humble opinion) excellent, but made all but un-watchable by the obnoxious auditory component.

My rating of 5 would have been a rating of 10 if the quality of the soundtrack were up to standards.