Planet Earth II is a 2016 British nature documentary series produced by the BBC as a sequel to Planet Earth, which was broadcast in 2006. The series is presented and narrated by Sir David Attenborough with the main theme music composed by Hans Zimmer.
The first trailer was released on 9 October 2016, and the series premiered on 6 November 2016 in the United Kingdom on BBC One and BBC One HD. Planet Earth II is the first television series produced by the BBC in Ultra-high-definition (4K).
Video Planet Earth II
Production
The series was announced by the BBC in 2013 with the working title One Planet, but the title was later changed to Planet Earth II.
The BBC trailer for the series used the same music featured in the trailer for the original Planet Earth, "Hoppípolla" by Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós.
The original Planet Earth, airing in 2006, was one of the first natural documentary series to be made in high definition (HD) and Planet Earth II utilised new technologies developed since the first series, including ultra high definition (4K), improved camera stabilisation, remote recording and aerial drone technology.
Maps Planet Earth II
Broadcast
British television
The premiere of Planet Earth II took place at Bristol's Cinema de Lux on 2 November 2016 with special guest appearance by Attenborough. Bristol has been the global home of BBC's Natural History programme making for almost 60 years. The series debuted on BBC One and BBC One HD the following Sunday (6 November) from 8pm to 9pm. Each of the six episodes included a 10-minute making-of documentary called Planet Earth II Diaries. The previous week's episode was repeated in an earlier time slot the following Sunday.
International
The series was broadcast internationally on BBC Earth channel with a few exceptions for some countries.
The series aired in Belgium on the Flemish channel Canvas, narrated in Dutch by Vic De Wachter, with episodes airing each Wednesday from 7 December 2016. In the Netherlands the series is airing on the Dutch channel NPO 1, narrated by Peter Drost, with episodes airing each Sunday from 1 January 2017.
In Japan, the series aired on NHK - with four special episodes aired on 23 December 2016 and concluded on 19 February 2017 respectively, while all the six original episodes were broadcast from 29 March 2017 until 6 May 2017.
In Australia, the series premiered on 15 February 2017 on the Nine Network. As for New Zealand, it aired from 9 July 2017 at Prime channel.
The series debuted in Canada and the United States on 18 February 2017, with the Canadian broadcast on the local BBC Earth channel (which recently launched), In the United States, the series premiered with a three-network simulcast across BBC America, AMC, and SundanceTV (owned by AMC Networks, who manages BBC America on behalf of BBC Worldwide).
In Israel, the series premiered on 20 May 2017 on the new public broadcasting network KAN 11.
Episodes
The series comprises six episodes plus the compilation episode "A World of Wonder". Official episode viewing figures are from BARB. The first episode gained 12.26 million viewers in the United Kingdom, the highest under the current system of viewing figures for a nature documentary.
Reception
The Independent's Christopher Hooton said of the series: "It is undoubtedly the greatest TV nature documentary to date and there's a strong case for it being one of the best TV series full stop." Michael Hogan from The Telegraph compared this series to the original Planet Earth series and said that "advances in technology have enabled intimate high-definition close-ups and gasp-inducing aerial shots" and going on to say that "It has become predictable to heap superlatives upon the BBC Natural History Unit and wax lyrical about Attenborough's status. But both institutions should be treasured while we're lucky enough to still have them."
However, Martin Hughes-Games, while calling the series "spectacular and fascinating", said that it has "become a disaster for the world's wildlife" and that while world animal populations are declining, "the producers [of this show] continue to go to the rapidly shrinking parks and reserves to make their films - creating a beautiful, beguiling fantasy world".
Awards and Nominations
Merchandise
DVD and Blu-ray
The series was released as a two-disc DVD and Blu-ray sets on 5 December 2016, while a four-disc 4K UHD Blu-ray + Blu-ray sets were released later on 13 March 2017. It was distributed by BBC Worldwide in the UK.
In the US and Canada, the DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD Blu Ray sets were released on 28 March 2017 and distributed by BBC Worldwide Americas.
In Australia and New Zealand, the DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD Blu Ray sets were released by ABC DVD/Village Roadshow on 29 March 2017.
Books
An accompanying hardback book was written by Steven Moss with a foreword by David Attenborough and published by BBC Books (ISBN 978-1849909655). It was released on 6 October 2016 in the UK, and on 15 February 2017 for the US release.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released with a compilation of the incidental music specially commissioned for Planet Earth II. The main theme was composed by Hans Zimmer, with the original music for each episode composed by Jacob Shea and Jasha Klebe for Bleeding Fingers Music. A digital soundtrack was released worldwide on 11 November 2016, while a two-disc soundtrack became available on 2 December 2016 in the UK.
Notes
References
External links
- Planet Earth II at BBC Programmes
- Planet Earth II at BBC Earth
- Planet Earth II at BBC Earth Asia
- Planet Earth II at BBC Media Centre
- Planet Earth II on IMDb
- Planet Earth II at NHK (in Japanese)
- Planet Earth II - Conservation on Film via Conjour (Conservation Journal)
Source of article : Wikipedia
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