Life on Discovery Channel

Anyone been watching the new Life series on Discovery Channel? They re-ran the underwater show on reef critters again lastnight. Really great series this time around. Even my fiance' was getting into it and she hates Discovery type channels.

TJ

 

I love this series! I'm thinking about actually buying the series along with a couple of others from Discovery Channel.

 

I like this show and all, but I don't think it's up to par of Planet Earth... seems a lot more bland and a lot more... I don't know, 'normal' discovery stuff.

The invert one though blew me away.

 

I missed last weeks episode, was it good?

 

Watched a couple, not too bad. I watched Drain the Oceans a while back that documented the underwater landscape - that was amazing.

 

+1 I managed about 20 minutes of the first show and gave up.

 

Am I the only person who actually likes Oprah?

 

No, I love Oprah! I haven't watched any Life yet, but I DVR'd all of them. So I will have a marathon one day!

 

Cool. I don't watch her show, but I like what she has done, and I actually like how she narrated the series. I need to watch the rest of them when they come on as re-runs.

 

This is my opinion based on my observations:

I had the opportunity to watch the BBC version of this same series which aired in the UK in 2009 before it was edited and repackaged for airing in the US. The world renowned David Attenborough narrates the UK series. For those who do not know who Attenborough is, chances are very very good that if you are a fan of nature documentaries, you are indeed familiar with him. (Yes he has the Brit accent and often uses phrases or words that are more common in the UK than the US).

I found that I prefer the UK version of the series far more than the US version. The UK version is not quite so "animated" with music and "bordering on amusing and cute" narration styles (boy this is hard to explain) as the US version. However, having seen both I totally understand now why it was edited for the US from a media culture standpoint. It was edited to "play to an American audience" which is typical in these cases. However, my boyfriend and I were discussing this and he said something that summed up the "Oprah" factor as far as the narration goes.

His basic statement was that although Oprah has a well-modulated voice which works fine in media productions, when he hears her narrate it versus someone like Attenborough, (who is an incredibly "decorated" nature expert - check out his credentials sometime...holy moly!). That his mind does NOT associate Oprah as a "nature expert" so much as someone who has mass media appeal. I totally understood what he said and realized that was my issue as well. I have no issues with a celebrity narrating. However, I have a hard time associating Oprah with anything nature - my immediate association is more like "talk show stuff".

I love both LIFE and Planet Earth. (Sigourney Weaver was an awesome narrator in the PE series - loved her voice.) However, the PE series was addressing the world in "chunks" based on its major ecosystems as opposed to moving in closer to break down and explore in detail various indigenous species within the ecosystems. PE touched on that but more in context with how the wildlife adapted and thrived in the various ecosystems. Nothing of that magnitude had ever been done before. The focus was the ecosystems with the wildlife as the perfect complement. LIFE seemed to be the next logical step.

Either way, both series are incredible and definitely worth collecting. Nothing calms me more than putting an episode on the TV with volume turned down, turning the house lights off and just listening to it while watching it AND my reef tank.

(if you have read this entire post, please accept my congratulations! LoL)

elizabeth