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Frozen Planet

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Frozen Planet
GenreNature documentary
Created byBBC Natural History Unit
Narrated byDavid Attenborough
ComposerGeorge Fenton
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes7
Production
Executive producerAlastair Fothergill
ProducersBBC, Discovery Channel, The Open University
Running time60 minutes
Original release
NetworkBBC One

Frozen Planet is a nature documentary series, co-produced by the BBC, the Discovery Channel and The Open University.[1] It was filmed by the BBC Natural History Unit. Other production partners are the Discovery Channel Canada, ZDF (Germany), Antena 3 (Spain) and Skai TV (Greece).[2] The production team, which includes executive producer Alastair Fothergill and series producer Vanessa Berlowitz, were previously responsible for the award-winning series The Blue Planet (2001) and Planet Earth (2006), and Frozen Planet is billed as a sequel of sorts.[citation needed] David Attenborough returns as narrator,[3] and the series was shot entirely in HD.

The seven-part series focuses on life and the environment in both the Arctic and Antarctic. The production team were keen to film a comprehensive record of the natural history of the polar regions, because climate change is affecting landforms such as glaciers, ice shelves, and the extent of sea ice.[citation needed]

Filming finished in 2010 and focused on the challenges facing polar bears and arctic wolves in the north and adelie penguins and wandering albatrosses in the south, although many other storylines are developed. After an introductory episode, the subsequent four episodes depict the changing seasons at the poles, before an episode focusing on mankind’s activities there.[4] The final episode, "On Thin Ice", focuses on the changes in the polar regions.[5] Filmmakers worked in new locations, including Antarctica’s active volcanoes and the Russian Arctic. Sequences captured include migrating eider ducks, footage of a fur seal colony from the air, and pack hunting of seals by orca. The aerial photography used the Cineflex and Gyron cameras pioneered on Planet Earth, which enable steady footage to be captured from long-range without disturbing the animals.

From late April to early May 2009, BBC crews were in Hay River, Northwest Territories, Canada[6] filming the annual breakup of the river of the same name, which flows into Great Slave Lake.

Frozen Planet was broadcast on BBC One starting October 26, 2011, with the Australian broadcast one day later on October 27th on the Nine Network and the United States broadcast on Discovery scheduled for early 2012.[7]

Episodes

All episode names from BBC website[8]

1. "To the Ends of the Earth"

UK broadcast 26 October 2011, 6.82 million viewers (27.4% audience share);[9]

Our journey begins with David at the North Pole, as the sun returns after six months of darkness. We follow a pair of courting polar bears, which reveal a surprisingly tender side. Next stop is the giant Greenland ice cap, where waterfalls plunge into the heart of the ice and a colossal iceberg carves into the sea. Humpback whales join the largest gathering of seabirds on earth to feast in rich Alaskan waters. Further south, the tree line marks the start of the Taiga forest, containing one third of all trees on earth. Here, 25 of the world's largest wolves take on formidable bison prey. At the other end of our planet, the Antarctic begins in the Southern Ocean where surfing penguins struggle to escape a hungry sea-lion and teams of orcas create giant waves to wash seals from ice floes -a filming first. Diving below the ice, we discover prehistoric giants, including terrifying sea spiders and woodlice the size of dinner plates. Above ground, crystal caverns ring the summit of Erebus, the most southerly volcano on earth. From here we retrace the routes of early explorers across the formidable Antarctic ice-cap - the largest expanse of ice on our planet. Finally, we rejoin David at the South Pole, exactly one hundred years after Amundsen then Scott were the first humans to stand there. [10]


2. "Spring"

UK broadcast 2 November 2011, 7.93 million viewers (31.4% audience share);[9]

Spring arrives in the polar regions, and the sun appears after an absence of five months; warmth and life return to these magical ice worlds - the greatest seasonal transformation on our planet is underway. Male Adelie penguins arrive in Antarctica to build their nests - it takes a good property to attract the best mates and the males will stop at nothing to better their rivals! But these early birds face the fiercest storms on the planet. In the Arctic, a polar bear mother is hunting with her cubs. Inland, the frozen rivers start to break up and billions of tons of ice are swept downstream in the greatest of polar spectacles. This melt-water fertilizes the Arctic Ocean, feeding vast shoals of Arctic cod and narwhal. The influx of freshwater accelerates the breakup of the sea-ice - an area of ice the size of Australia will soon vanish from the Arctic. On land, a woolly bear caterpillar emerges from the snow having spent the winter frozen solid. Caterpillars normally become moths within months of hatching, but life is so harsh here that the woolly bear takes 14 years to reach adulthood. Once mature it has only days to find a mate before it dies! Alongside the caterpillars white Arctic wolves race to raise their adorable cubs before the cold returns. In Antarctica vast numbers of seabirds arrive on South Georgia joining the giant albatross and king penguins that have been there all winter. Elephant seals fight furious battles over females on a beach that contains the greatest mass of animals on the planet. Finally, the female Adelie penguins arrive, chased from the water by killer whales. Mating and chick rearing lie ahead of them.[11] The final part of the programme shows how some of the filming was done, at Cape Crozier, where the Adelie penguin colony was filmed, the crew survived tremendous storms, reminiscent of the storms survived my members of Captain Scott's Terra Nova expedition in the same area, as documented in The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard.

3. "Summer"

4. "Autumn"

5. "Winter"

6. "The Last Frontier"

7. "On thin ice"

Merchandise

Due to the success of the two previous series (The Blue Planet and Planet Earth), the BBC has announced several items of merchandise with the anticipation of this series' success.[12]

Books

A Frozen Planet Book that accompanies the series has been published.released[13] ISBN-10: 1846079624 ISBN-13: 978-1846079627

Calendar

A Frozen Planet Calendar for 2012 has been released.[14] ISBN-10: 1847708560 ISBN-13: 978-1847708564

DVD

A 3 disc DVD boxset of the complete series is to be released on 8th December 2011 for region 2. The DVD will also be narrated by David Attenborough as with the TV series[15]

References

  1. ^ "Delve deeper into the Frozen Planet with The Open University". Press Release. The Open University. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  2. ^ "Discovery, BBC Team Again for 'Frozen Planet' TV Event for 2012". Multichannel News. April 9, 2008.
  3. ^ Holmwood, Leigh (September 21, 2007). "Attenborough is back - again". London: The Guardian. Retrieved May 25, 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ "Expression of Interest: BBC Frozen Planet". International Polar Year website. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  5. ^ "Episode guide". BBC Website. BBC. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  6. ^ "Hay River remains on flood watch". CBC website. May 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
  7. ^ Levin, Gary (April 8, 2008). "Another sweeping nature special when 'Planet' freezes over". USA Today. Retrieved May 25, 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "BBC One - Frozen Planet - Episode guide". Bbc.co.uk. 2011-10-26. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  9. ^ a b {{cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a347801/frozen-planet-premiere-delights-68m.html |title=Weekly Frozen Planet premiere |publisher=DigitalSpy (data available for Frozen Planet broadcast weeks by searching archive) Cite error: The named reference "DigitalSpy" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. ^ Produced by Alastair Fothergill (2011-10-26). "To the Ends of the Earth". Frozen Planet. BBC. BBC One.
  11. ^ Produced by Alastair Fothergill (2011-11-02). "Spring". Frozen Planet. BBC. BBC One.
  12. ^ TV and Radio. "New images from David Attenborough's 'Frozen Planet' series". Telegraph. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  13. ^ David, Sir. "Frozen Planet: Amazon.co.uk: Alastair Fothergill, Vanessa Berlowitz: Books". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  14. ^ Fothergill, Alastair (2009-09-09). "Official BBC Earth Frozen Planet Calendar 2012: Amazon.co.uk: Books". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  15. ^ Fothergill, Alastair. "Frozen Planet - The Complete Series [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: David Attenborough, Alastair Fothergill: Film & TV". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
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