Planet Earth II

A decade ago, the BBC landmark series Planet Earth (VL-5/07) set a new bar for nature documentaries with its extraordinary scope and heretofore-unseen close-up footage of animals, birds, and insects all over the globe. While not quite the game changer that the first series represented, this sequel filmed in 40 countries over the course of 2,000-plus shooting days serves up oodles of amazing scenes. Where the original series ran for 11 episodes, Planet Earth II only has six—again geographically-themed, including “Mountains,” “Deserts,” “Grasslands”—and is once more narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Although the series features numerous (and mostly predictable) predator/prey sequences, it also regularly surprises viewers with interesting factual tidbits (saiga antelopes always give birth to twins, sea-going iguanas can hold their breath underwater for half an hour, etc.). Ultimately, however, the draw of Planet Earth II lies not in the words but rather the images, which include an eye-popping march of millions of red crabs, snow leopards in the Himalayas, flamingos (literally) on parade, flying draco lizards, a new species of river dolphin in a flooded forest in Brazil, luminescent fungi, a huge locust swarm, and the railroad worm (which is actually a caterpillar-like beetle with yellow and red lights on its body that it strategically controls). Perhaps the most interesting episode is the final one, “Cities,” which explores how animals have infiltrated and adapted to urban areas, including hand-fed hyenas in Ethiopia, and an Australian bowerbird whose nest—designed to attract potential mates—features human-made objects such as a shiny toy car and a cloth red heart. Each episode concludes with a “Planet Earth Diaries” featurette taking viewers behind-the-scenes of one or more of the filmed sequences. Also available in a 4K UHD edition for $59.99, this is highly recommended. Aud: J, H, C, P. (R. Pitman)