Ocean Giants

An early promise of sex and violence among the ocean's great mammals is no hyperbole in this three-part program from BBC Earth that aired on PBS's Nature series. Witness the amorous right whale, who is not embarrassed to show his record-setting genitals in action for the camera during the first episode, which is aptly titled “Giant Lives” and is loosely organized around the theme of extremes (in addition to the aforementioned sexual organs and other informative sequences, viewers will meet the timid bowhead whale—the world's most fat-laden animal—which may live up to 200 years). The second segment, “Deep Thinkers,” focuses on intelligence (dolphins may be able to recognize their own reflections, and they endow each other with unique names in their communications). The final hour, “Voices of the Sea,” deals with vocalizations and other sounds (a sperm whale's nose emits a hammer-force auditory blast that's used as a hunting weapon against its deep-sea prey, the giant squid). However stirring the surface activity may be—killer whales devouring a grey-whale calf, for example—it's when the cameras go underwater, with a recurring cast of intrepid scientists along with cinematographers Doug Allan and Didier Noirot, that this transfixing sea spectacle achieves its most awesome moments. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)