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Video Description
Broadcast 12 September 2001, the first episode looks at how ocean life is regulated around the globe by currents and the varying position of the sun. Near a Pacific seamount, there is a large concentration of marine animals because when the current makes contact with the submerged rock, it forces upwards plankton and other organisms. This in turn attracts other fish to the area that are higher up the food chain, like tuna, and those that are higher still, such as silky sharks. Off South Africa, a similar situation occurs every June when sardines migrate and are pursued by a caravan of various predators. The South Atlantic waters are the roughest, and storms also churn up nutrients to the surface. These feeding grounds have led to the world's largest albatross breeding colony, on Steeple Jason Island, west of the Falklands. Phytoplankton forms the basis of all sea life, and every night some 1,000 million tonnes of creatures ascend from the deep to search for food. Lunar phases can also have a bearing on events and the mass arrival of Ridley sea turtles on a Costa Rican beach is shown. Herring initiate the most productive food chain, providing sustenance for humpback whales, and Steller's and California sea lions. In addition, their eggs are nutrition for many, both above and in the sea. Along the coast of California, a migrating gray whale and her calf are targeted by a pod of orcas, who hunt down and kill the calf. Meanwhile another gray whale carcass has sunk to the bottom of the deep sea. Hagfish, a sleeper shark, and other scavengers arrive to feast on the carcass. A year and a half later the carcass is striped to the bone. This episode won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Cinematography for Non-Fiction Programming". George Fenton's work in this episode won another Emmy for "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore)". This episode was broadcast in the United States with the title "Ocean World".
David Attenborough introduces the series and programme:
"A blue whale, 30 metres long and weighing over 200 tonnes. It's far bigger than even the biggest dinosaur," says David Attenborough. Its tongue weighs as much as an elephant and its heart is the size of a car. Some of its blood vessels are so wide that a human could swim down them. This is the largest animal that has ever lived, and yet absolutely nothing is known about where it goes to breed. The blue whale is the perfect symbol for the oceans - a vast blue expanse that dominates the planet yet remains largely unexplored and mysterious.
Every summer on the eastern coast of South Africa, a living black 'slick' of millions of sardines is whipped up by the coastal currents. It attracts thousands of cape gannets, hundreds of bronze whaler sharks and thousands of common dolphins. As the predators gorge, the dolphins work together and release walls of air bubbles that corral the sardines into tight bait-balls for an easy catch. A Bryde's whale appears and polishes off the feast.
Every evening, as the sun sets, the largest migration on the planet takes place in the oceans. One thousand million tonnes of deep sea creatures journey up towards the surface in search of food.
For a few days each year, a squid spectacle is seen off the Californian coast as millions of squid come up from the deep to breed and lay their eggs. Almost as soon as they appear they disappear back into the deep or die.
The moon's gravitational pull controls the ebb and flow of the tides. Every year on the coast of Costa Rica there is an extraordinary event called the arribada, which is closely linked to the tides.
On a last or first quarter moon, up to 5,000 female Ridley's turtles hit the beach each hour to lay their eggs in the sand. Over the course of three or four nights, 400,000 turtles come to one beach, just a mile long, and lay an estimated 40 million eggs.
Grey whales take a 12,000 mile round-trip migration from their breeding grounds in Mexico up the entire coast of North America to the Arctic Sea. Off Monterey, California, a grey whale is cruising slowly with her calf and this makes them vulnerable to attack. A 15-strong pod of killer whales takes six hours to run down the calf and drown it. The killers only eat the tongue and lower jaw, but this much energy never goes to waste. The carcass sinks to the bottom of the ocean where it attracts scavengers that live exclusively in the deep oceans.
Documentary Description
BLUE PLANET is the definitive natural history of the world's oceans, covering everything from the exotic spectacle of the coral reefs to the mysterious black depths of the ocean floor. With revealing interviews with the scientists and production team, Discovery Channel takes viewers on an epic journey that will profoundly change how we view our planet’s oceans forever. Blue Planet: Seas of Life is the result of a six-year collaboration between Discovery Channel and the British Broadcasting Corporation.
If there were a Nobel Prize for wildlife filmmaking, these producers would get it.'
- The Wall Street Journal
Five years in the making, with a budget of over $10 million, Blue Planet: Seas of Life is the most comprehensive series of the Earth's oceans to date. Plunge into the mysterious deep with eight, full-length episodes from the highly acclaimed series. Join Pierce Brosnan and Sir David Attenborough as they lead an unprecedented exploration of the ocean, exposing stories of survival against the odds and revealing new species, habitats and behaviors never before caught on camera.
Features:
* Eight episodes and bonus material on 5 DVDs
* Newly presented in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound and 16:9 Letterbox
* Frozen Seas, Coral Seas, Open Ocean, The Deep – Narrated by Pierce Brosnan
* Tidal Seas, Coasts, Seasonal Seas, Ocean World – Narrated by David Attenborough
* Bonus material includes new interviews with filmmakers and scientists
Frozen Seas
Animals living in and out of the water face their greatest challenge in the crippling polar winters. Breathtaking, rare footage shows how animals survive in these hostile environments.
Coral Seas
A coral reef is one of the most stunning sights on earth; a riot of color, teeming with fish. But this seeming tropical paradise is a Darwinian battleground where every species is locked in a daily life and death struggle, including the coral itself.
Open Ocean
Venture into the largest section of open ocean in the world, where endless blue stretches in every direction. This blue wilderness can seem like an empty desert, but here the ocean's fiercest, fastest and most ruthless predators stalk their prey over immense distances.
The Deep
Two-thirds of the earth is covered in water, but we've only explored about one percent of the ocean floor. With the help of space-age submersibles, take a spectacular journey to previously unreachable depths.
Tidal Seas
Watch as the tidal seas explode with life – thanks to the ever-present tug of the moon's gravity – and learn why tidal marshes are one of the most ecologically productive parts of the world.
Coasts
The boundary between land and sea serves as a demarcation line between the beach-loving creatures that live onshore and the hungry predators that wait just beneath the surface of the water.
Seasonal Seas
Shafts of sunlight radiate through the ocean's 'ceiling' and provide energy for the myriad creatures that live in the temperate sea, the richest of all underwater habitats.
Ocean World
The oceans are an integral part of the Earth's life cycle, influencing weather systems and supporting an enormous range of life. Explore the sheer scale, power and complexity of the mysterious oceans that govern our blue planet.
Bonus Feature
Interviews with the filmmakers and scientists, including, Doug Allan, Rick Rosenthal, Dr. Martha Holmes, and Mike deGruy
Editorial Review from Amazon.com
Extraordinary footage and eloquent narration by David Attenborough highlight the BBC's remarkable wildlife series The Blue Planet: Seas of Life. "Ocean World" begins with astonishing views of a gigantic blue whale--the elusive Holy Grail of undersea photography--and the marvels continue to demonstrate the power, diversity, and profound ecological influence of Earth's oceans. "Frozen Seas" examines whales, walruses, penguins, and other creatures under the extreme conditions of the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. The next two episodes are even better. "Open Ocean" travels thousands of miles into the vast "liquid desert," where currents determine how the ocean's diverse life forms will assume their places in the food chain. More amazing, "The Deep" descends with a state-of-the-art submersible to the ocean's abyssal plain and beyond, filming such bizarre creatures as the fangtooth, bioluminescent jellies, transparent squid, the giant-mouthed gulper eel, and the never-before-seen hairy angler fish.
"Seasonal Seas" focuses on the explosion of life that accompanies every annual blooming of plankton, numbering in the countless billions and captured here with brilliant microphotography. In "Coral Seas," miles-long reefs of living coral are explored, from deep within (requiring brief computer animation) to the surrounding environs, where you'll see white-tipped sharks in a feeding frenzy while beautiful harlequin shrimp wrestle with a starfish. "Tidal Seas" explores the myriad life forms that thrive when lunar gravity pulls the oceans offshore. "Coasts" is easily the most brutal episode, but no less mesmerizing. The most unexpected, and horrifying, sequence is the orca, earning its "killer whale" nickname by capturing, killing, and tail-tossing a seal pup--a sequence so mysteriously primal that even the most seasoned marine biologist will be utterly amazed. One of the finest wildlife programs you're ever likely to see, The Blue Planet: Seas of Life provides the privilege of visiting a truly alien world teeming with the rarest wonders of nature. The series was recut into the feature-length Deep Blue in 2005. --Jeff Shannon
