IR TV Review: PLANET EARTH III - EPISODE 1 (“Coasts”) [BBC America]
Planet Earth's undeniable strength as a program (since its groundbreaking inception likely more than a decade ago) is that it pushes the realm of the nature doc show farther than many have. Other programs try to emulate it but BBC has always been able to increase the tech while still understanding the aspect of telling an exact intimate story (usually of a creature and its strife). It is understandable that editing has to narratively adjust some aspects but that is understood. However, as the 1st episode of "Planet Earth III" entitled "Coasts" suggests, there are always more stories to tell. The challenge here for these pillars of filmmakers is trying to find something we haven't seen before. From the inception on "Coasts" though, the different contexts is what sets it apart. Great White Sharks trying to attack seals on the coast of South Africa is very timely and pertinent. However it is the evolving animal behavior or perhaps some that have been around for hundreds, thousands or millions of years that are interesting. We are now just able to find where to see it.
But some of the aspects Planet Earth finds, one wouldn't know unless you were exactly looking for it. What this episode does talk to is how climate change and warming is affecting everything. Granted that aspect is more explained in a short "making of" after Episode 1 but it is clear in its telling. Two other aspects including under the melting Artic shelf (again showing climate change which is even more defined than a decade ago) as well as coastal hunting by lions in Nambibia simply show the awe that one can still see, especially since the imagery and the tech is so macro now. However at times it is the small details, whether it be a snake hunting for food underwater along the Canadian coast or fish shooting bugs into the water with aimed spitting skill created over millennia. Planet Earth with Part III continues to show a bigger world despite at times it getting much smaller. A
By Tim Wassberg
