But before we start gushing too much... let's talk about Oprah. There's no denying that nature shows are made or unmade on the basis of their narrator host. Whether your heart leaps at the thought of Marlin Perkins, Jacques Cousteau, David Attenborough, or Sigourney Weaver, you know on some level that there's a bit of the student/teacher relationship at work here. Perhaps this line of commentary has sexist connotations, but were we on some level responding to the traditional hosts because they were "authoritative" men, or simply because we respected their experience in the field? Sigourney and Oprah turn in excellent performances, but I'll wager that some viewers worried a bit about the notion of a more populist nature show when they saw names like Weaver and Winfrey on the billet. At least in the case of LIFE, rest assured there has never been a nature show so painstakingly researched, planned, and executed as this one. The choice of Oprah as narrator for the US version of the show may not please all people, but she turns in top-notch work throughout the entire series. Oprah as a disembodied voice may at first be strange for even die-hard Oprah fans, but the writing is good, the production is good, and her delivery is fantastic.
The structure of LIFE carries us across the entire globe, zooming in during each episode on a particular slice of animal or plant life. Much like Attenborough's earlier series with the same name, LIFE takes us deep into the roots of particular animal behavior and reveals secrets that were in some cases only uncovered during the filming of this show. Where we might normally associate nature shows with action, LIFE takes a slightly different approach. The magic of the show is turning events that are almost ordinary into magical sequences. The Plants segment is probably one of the series' best, and includes one of the most technically challenging pieces of visual production ever created. The 500x time-lapse photography used to illustrate motions of creatures flourishing under Antarctic ice turns something that would otherwise be worthy of still shots into a wonderful play of color and drama. Elevated shots of Monarch butterflies clustering in trees at the southern end of their migratory path absolutely dazzle you, plus there are multiple slow-motion shots that illustrate complex movement in bugs, bats, and birds. Even if you think you know about these animal groups, you'll still find plenty of surprise and delight. Considering the vast amount of time, human effort, and cutting-edge technology used to create LIFE, its no surprise the end product turned out to be so great.
In addition to several DVDs collecting individual episodes, the LIFE compilation comes with deleted scenes and a Making Of segment. The subtitle of this Making Of piece should probably be, "Why You Will Never Be a Wildlife Photographer." There was a scary amount of focus and dedication shown by the men and women that worked to produce this series. Watching it behind the scenes is almost as fascinating as watching the final film. It's as if the bits on how LIFE was made are being shown to us as aliens, to demonstrate the final animal group on this planet. Seeing the strange and amazing things done to produce this show will raise your opinion of human potential, much like you'll start to think differently about the natural world you observe during LIFE. Photogs that camp out in bird blinds for days and days, camera operators that put themselves in seemingly precarious conditions to capture that special spot, and entire crews that work unending hours to capture what amounts to 60 seconds on the screen for viewers... This show truly was a labor of love. LIFE makes for a great expansion to your collection, and is a must-buy for fans of the older Attenborough series or the slightly less old Planet Earth collection. Discovery Channel certainly lives up to its name, and we're fortunate to have such a great record of LIFE on this Earth as a result of their efforts to support those working to find and capture on film so many truly special moments across the planet.
