The Blue Planet - Seas of Life (2001)

The Blue Planet, Part 4: Frozen Seas (1/3)

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. Broadcast 4 October 2001, the next episode compares oceanic life in the Arctic and Antarctica. The winter in these regions brings temperatures of minus 50°C and frozen seas that create the biggest challenge. However, there are polynyas in the Arctic, which are free of ice owing to the pressure of currents on either side, and such places do provide refuge for some species, like the walrus and the bowhead whale. A pod of belugas is shown: their movements are limited to a single hole in the ice — therefore putting them at risk of attack from polar bears. Everything changes with the arrival of summer, when melting ice brings a variety of migratory visitors. At the other end of the planet, in the Antarctic, winter is even more harsh, but emperor penguins and Weddell seals stay throughout. Under the sea ice, krill shrink in size and revert to their juvenile form in order to save energy. Chinstrap penguins overwinter to the north, beyond the ice, but return during the spring to breed. Having managed to get ashore, they have to walk a great distance to find a nest site, and the most favoured is Zavodovski Island, an active volcano whose warmth keeps ice from forming. Further south, as the icebergs break up, humpback and minke whales appear, their target the abundant krill. The leopard seal is the Antarctic's top predator. It is most effective underwater, and emperor penguins propel themselves at speed through its territory. Nonetheless, it almost invariably makes a kill.

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