Antarctica

Antarctica gets top billing, but two different documentaries are included in this compilation from public television's NATURE series. The first, Under Antarctic Ice, chronicles an expedition to the cold continent (consistently mispronounced “Antartica” by narrator Hilary Swank) by a team of scuba divers. This isn't merely “going to the ice,” as visitors call a trip to Antarctica; it's going under it, into waters that, at 28 degrees Fahrenheit, are cold enough to freeze your blood. But the payoff is worth it, as the divers (after training, studying, and prepping for the absurdly harsh and unpredictable conditions) descend into what may be the clearest water in the world, with visibility up to a quarter mile and a surprising variety of animal life, including Weddell seals, minke and killer whales, jellyfish, and more—all startlingly vivid on Blu-ray. The second program, somewhat sensationally titled Encountering Sea Monsters, follows photographer Bob Cranston as he studies cephalopods (primarily squid and octopi) in locales including British Columbia, Indonesia, Australia, and Mexico's Sea of Cortez. Some amazing creatures are on view here (the blue-ringed octopus, found mostly in the western Pacific, is only a little bigger than a ping-pong ball, and carries a venom so toxic it can paralyze a human in minutes), but Cranston is mainly interested in the Humboldt squid, a large, fast, and extremely fierce predator with which he once had a very scary encounter and now is eager to meet again. Recommended. Aud: P. (S. Graham)