Anyone Watching Planet Earth?

[€uroMeinke]

I think my attention span isn't short enought for this program. What I saw was pretty, but the constant commercial interuptions and little messages zipping across the bottom of the screen were maddening. I eventually left during one break to balance my checkbook.

I found I also had a hard time with scale watching this. Is that satelite footage? is that an island group or a continent? Are those creatures huge or microscopic? The uberzooms help but I wish they'd provide a bit more context to some of the images.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

I think my attention span isn't short enought for this program. What I saw was pretty, but the constant commercial interuptions and little messages zipping across the bottom of the screen were maddening. I eventually left during one break to balance my checkbook.

I had the same problem until I started watching it on the HiDef channel (Comcast 722 here in SF Bay Area) fewer commerical breaks than on the regular Discovery Channel.

I think I will enjoy these more, however, if I rent the DVDs with no commercial breaks.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

I think my attention span isn't short enought for this program. What I saw was pretty, but the constant commercial interuptions and little messages zipping across the bottom of the screen were maddening. I eventually left during one break to balance my checkbook.

Oh blessed DVR how I love thee.

We also discovered that the HD broadcast has fewer commercial breaks. Though the points at which there would be commercial breaks stuck out and were a tad distracting, having me reaching for the remote to fast forward the non existent spam ads. I wonder if the DVD versions have those or if they did a different edit for the DVD release.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

I found I also had a hard time with scale watching this. Is that satelite footage? is that an island group or a continent? Are those creatures huge or microscopic? The uberzooms help but I wish they'd provide a bit more context to some of the images.

One of the things they talked about was the camera technology used which allowed for some of the arial close-ups. basically, they could be a kilometer (about 6/10 of a mile) away but the shot would look like they were about 50 feet overhead. They said that enabled them to get the close shots while not disrupting the animal's natural behavior.

Also, on the HD channel, they showed some of how they did things and the technology. One of the things they did was have a ballon that was set up with a wide seat (for two) instead of the usual basket as well as a fan with a rudder (so they could control where they went). However, the balloon was not completely controllable as they showed one shot of them running into a tree

One thing I was fascinated with was showing wolves (or some other kind of pack dog) stalking a gazelle (or some other kind of prey - yeah, my memory sucks). It was fascinating to see about five of them chasing one animal and seeing a couple of them break off (one to the right and one to the left) to flank them in. Researchers have suspected this for a while, but supposedly, this was their first time to actually witness it.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

One thing I was fascinated with was showing wolves (or some other kind of pack dog) stalking a gazelle (or some other kind of prey - yeah, my memory sucks). It was fascinating to see about five of them chasing one animal and seeing a couple of them break off (one to the right and one to the left) to flank them in. Researchers have suspected this for a while, but supposedly, this was their first time to actually witness it.

Heh, we just watched an episode of the Dog Whisperer where a bulldog/miniature pincher pair did just that to a mail carreir.