David Attenborough - The Private Life of Plants [DVD]

Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of Sir David Attenborough. His lifes achievement is something you just have to admire and I do hold him in the highest regards for that.Therefore I acquired over the years a whole bunch of documentaries and spend thousands on them. But like everything else, it has to be put in perspective.And that being said I find this to be one of his lesser features.Why is that?- The facts are sometimes wrong, either because it just wasn't know at the time or because of lacking thoroughness. For example the Giant Sequoia is labeled the heaviest living creature on earth. Well, I doubt that anybody would not count fungi among the living organism. And there is one genetically identical mushroom in Oregon which stretches for about 2.400 acres, that is 1.665 football fields. In size as well as in body mass it dwarfs the Sequoia. Then a conifer tree is labeld the oldest organism on the face of the earth - about 4.000 yo. Funny thing is, in the documentary "Living planet", Sir D. Attenborough himself exclaimes a Cresote bush to be the oldest living thing and estimates it to be over 10.000 yo.- And yes, even the Maestro himself is not without fault. In the section about the corals on the 2nd DVD I was shocked to see his behaviour. Someone like him should know better. As a scuba diver he paddels on the reef-top, holds on to the coral, stands up on the coral to explain something to us and then for good measure plunges back into the waves by pushing real hard off the coral. Then, to make it look very sportive, he paddles aggressively among the coral and with his fins breaks off the better part of a huge table corral. The bits and pieces that break off are clearly visible in his path. In short - he does pretty much everything wrong you are supposed to do as a responsible diver and thereby sets a bad example. Sorry to state this harsh critic, but it has to be said. By the way, his statement that coral must have light, is in it's absulteness wrong. It applies to the reef-building coral which do live in symbiosis with zooxanthella. But than there are many coral which do not fall under this category. Amonge those the best known might be the red coral, which is used for jewelry. It grows in utter darkness, upside down from a cave ceiling.Still, I do love Attenborough in front of the camera, I really do. But then there is this scene with the bush fire. A mediocre small flame is in the grass and a little smoke. And just to prove how agile he is he runs through it. It looks childish and is a rather unfortunate scene. Nothing big, but there are just a few too many of those clunkers.- Plants is a good topic. And while it was good footage and some of it even great, I must say I have seen better than that - it is not overwhleming like many other documentaries. Also the central theme is there - Plants - , but there is no coherence between the different sections. I had the impression it was footage from the vast stock they have, just thrown together. Very often from the island of the United Kingdom, than again from other parts of the world.Sorry for listing just the negative. The positive is there as well.Needless to say, it is fun to watch, very informativ. The sound and picture quality by the standard of the time is good. Nice 16:9 format, which spans nicely across the screen. Something which can not be said about some other productions, like "Life on Earth" for example.But to be quite honest with you, this is the standard I do expect when I buy a D. Attenborough documentary. So I focused more on the bummers in the hope that you know what you get, but do not get deterred from buying this otherwise nice production.Still, I don't regret having purchased this documentary. It is nice to watch and I would still recommend it. But one must be fair and rate it according to other productions which are out there and quite simply better than this. It would be unfair to "Earth", "Blue planet", "Planet Earth", "Sharkwater", "Yellowstone", "Pacific", etc. to rate this any higher.

Phantastic natural film about plants. Thought provoking.

Originally screened on tv in mid-90's but this series has held up well. Lots interesting facts have emerged on plants for me (not that I knew a lot!) but very well worth watching, that am sure even professional gardeners will pick up lots facts of interest as well as amateurs. As always, Attenborough proves a first rate narrator.

An enjoyable romp through the world of plants in the Attenborough style but he clearly is not an expert. Many errors in names he pronounces and SO many more fascinating aspects of plant evolution and function should have been shown. But many are shown in great perfection nonetheless. The time lapse sequences are always of great value to us chattering apes to understand their ways. ALL producers of natural history programs should read 'In Praise of Plants' by Francis Hallé which is very helpful in putting things in the right perspective!! So few episodes given to a fundamental subject is a symptom of our blinkered zoocentrist attitude. Ten on the bird (which are only one type of animal after all), series for goodness sake, and only six for an entire kingdom of life?? This is not good enough!

The title is misleading, as the six films discuss various aspects of plant biology across many parts of the world, and I am now able to tell you how plants live from the hottest desert to the cold of Antarctica. If you are a keen gardener, this six hours will take the pain out of deep learning, and instead of textbooks they offer succinct description, and close-up camera work to widen knowledge. The Kew series is sharper, but the themes are similar, and if you yearn for the days of slower more informative television, this is for you. I was glued to my screen, and didn't want to miss a word. I will also remember to water my new additions in the garden to aid photosynthesis, and not count so many dead this time next year due to my own negligence/ignorance, so the plants will benefit too.

The quality of this series is truly remarkable and its title is not misleading: It reveals the private life of plants in a breathtakingly new way. It shows how varied the strategies of plants are in the struggle for survival and it sheds light on the intricate ways in which plants and animals have adapted to each other. The quality of the time-lapse photography in this six-part series is truly amazing. Camera movements, focus shifts and perfect lighting create dramatic time-lapse sequences with a quality unmatched by anything else that has been shown on TV. It's simply a class of its own. See how plants crawl, fight, and devour other plants and animals. The series also demonstrates how plants and animals live together, a relationship forged by half a billion years of co-evolution, and how plants often exploit animals - not the other way around. You'll never see plants in the same way as before.

'The Life of Plants' is a stunning series, and these films are absolute masterpieces, they are a 'must have' for anyone who loves plants or is curious about our, almost silent, co-inhabitors of this planet. These superbly shot studies of plant life are packed full of information and raise a number of very serious questions, none of which, I suspect, will be answered ( or even asked,) in my life time.About David Attenborough nothing more can be said. He is, to my mind, the very greatest presenter of natural history films, his friendly approach, easy manner and sheer knowledge of his subjects, endear him to all.The technical quality of the filming is unbelievable wonderful and very frequently merits the word 'astounding', the editing is superb and the soundtrack beautifully itergrated.In the face of what is in these films language runs out of words. Buy it and see what I mean.