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David Attenborough: Life In The Undergrowth - The Complete Seires [DVD]

 Exempt   DVD
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Format: PAL
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Classification: Exempt
  • Studio: 2 Entertain
  • DVD Release Date: 2 Jun 2008
  • Run Time: 300 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B001LNW2LK

Reviews

Product Description

The complete series presented by David Attenborough, exploring the extraordinary world of insects and invertebrates. For every one human being, there are 200 million insects, and our planet's ecology is entirely dependent on their existence. In this series, Attenborough uses groundbreaking and sophisticated new camera techniques to investigate how insects first developed, how they adapted to winged flight, how silk became essential to invertebrate survival, and how insects reproduce and managed to develop the most complex social groups in the animal kingdom. Episodes are: 'Invasion of the Land'; 'Taking to the Air'; 'The Silk Spinners'; 'Intimate Relations'; and 'Supersocieties'.

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Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
4.9 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Now the programme makers have a level of technology and skill that enables them to film tiny creatures in their natural environment, so naturally, David Attenborough is on the case. He and his team have made this extraordinary series of 5 programmes (about 50 minutes each) showing different aspects of the life that goes on all around us and under our feet, but that is usually completely unnoticed by us. He casts these invertebrates (that many people see as villains, to be sprayed and swatted out of existence), in a refreshingly positive light - pointing out that if the backboned animals were all to disappear, life on Earth would carry on very well with just the plants and invertebrates, but if the invertebrates were to die out, so would just about everything else. They do so many vital jobs to keep the environment ticking along: recycling waste, turning over the soil, pollinating the plants and so on, that healthy ecosystems depend on them. And when we see these small animals (some less than 0.5 mm) enlarged to a scale where the details of even their faces are clearly visible, they look very beautiful and astonishingly well adapted for the life-styles of their species.

The 5 programmes are: 1) 'Invasion of the Land' which shows how marine invertebrates clambered onto the land about 400 million years ago, and gradually adapted to and populated every suitable environment. 2) 'Taking to the Air' tells how insects began to fly and in some cases became incredibly proficient fliers. 3) 'The Silk Spinners' looks at a variety of invertebrates (not just spiders and silk-worms) that employ silk for many purposes. 4) 'Intimate Relations' examines some of the ways invertebrates interact with other species of plants and animals - both symbiotic and parasitic. 5) 'Supersocieties' focuses on wasps, ants, bees and some sociable spiders, speculating about how social behaviour may have started and showing that hive/nest life is not always as harmonious as we imagine. Finally, there's a very interesting interview with the series producer, Mike Salisbury, who gives us some insights into the triumphs and failures they experienced whilst making the programmes.

It's a fabulous series and I expect it may change a lot of people's opinions about these small animals that swarm under our feet and over our heads (they estimate about 200 million invertebrates to every human being) and that have traditionally been universally despised. As usual, David Attenborough shows us the awe and wonder and persuades us to respect yet another aspect of the natural world. Excellent!
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47 of 50 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Hard not to give five stars 4 Dec 2005
Format:DVD
The BBC's "Life in the Undergrowth", presented by the seemingly indefatigable David Attenborough, takes us down into the diminutive world of the invertebrates. There are a lot of them - they outnumber us two hundred million to one - but, apart from spotting the occasional wasp, bee, fly or spider, we rarely pay them any attention.

The television series takes us down to their scale, using the latest in technology to get astonishing close ups of the insect world. And the images are truly astonishing. The tiniest creatures are revealed in their everyday struggle for survival. You are left with total admiration for their problem solving skills - they have each evolved to find a niche which they can exploit and in which they can thrive. There are spiders with ingenious means of capturing their prey … and there's a millipede which climbs inside caves and hunts bats! They live lonely lives, they live in vast societies. They climb high, they delve low. Some fly, some tunnel. There is such variety, each episode holds you rapt.

And my favourites? I am not happy with spiders - now there's an admission - but they fascinate me. So do ants, and the presentation of the ultimate society at work is utterly absorbing. But, my absolute favourite is the mating of the leopard slugs, incredibly beautiful, incredibly tender, incredibly erotic - and I am not planning to see a therapist.

The series explores the many worlds of the invertebrates and also offers invaluable insight into the way the films were made. It's an instructive set of DVD's which should inspire you not only to look more closely at the teeming life which surrounds you, unnoticed, but which may also stimulate your interest in photography and science. A series you can watch again and again, and, if you are hooked, I advocate that you look at the buglife.org website for further information on the subject.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Petrolhead VINE™ VOICE
Format:DVD
Attenborough puts the world in perspective in this you've-never-seen-it-like-this-before series. He shows you insects and spiders doing amazing things - AMAZING things - and since he only time to show you a few dozen species and there are hundreds of thousands of species out there (pause to think about that for a second)... you are left with the certain knowledge that the world is a wonderful place and you have only scratched the surface. The camerawork and story-telling are up to his usual standard, but the insects are the stars. And the spiders. And the crazy thing is, some of the most amazing stuff he has to show you is not happening in the Serengeti or the Marianas Trench, but in your garden.....
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars superb
I will recommend it indeed and my son and I love it!
erverything in the order went superb I must say! Read more
Published 6 days ago by Lotte Kesje
5.0 out of 5 stars "She will eat him ....later"
This, I must admit has to be my absolute favourite series of ALL the bbc production. I know that sounds a bit strange since it is very hard to have a farourite, they are all... Read more
Published 3 months ago by B. Appleby
5.0 out of 5 stars And yet another masterpiece
Difficult to describe any Attenborough series except in superlatives. Everything simply oozes class. Read more
Published 4 months ago by P. A. Roberts
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Read my review of Life in Cold Blood to read about what I think of this most brilliant of men - David Attenborough
Published 5 months ago by Adam Butler
5.0 out of 5 stars BBC doing what it does better than anyone in the World.
Can't state how much I love this. It may look a little dated, but that takes absolutely NOTHING from the true technical marvel that David Attenborough, and the BBC have made... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Jimbob
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
A very well presented and detailed dvd. Insects, slugs, spiders all very interesting to watch and enjoyed every minute. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. Paul J. Kenney
5.0 out of 5 stars Every family should have one
We oldies have grown up with David Attenborough.
Even today he is still out there grubbing around, gently unearthing more secrets to share with us. Read more
Published 18 months ago by jove
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Attenborough in the Undergrowth
If you require programme information, please see the product details or the full review of T. Bobley "Tibley Bobley" (UK) whose excellent review has gone into great depth about... Read more
Published 19 months ago by RR Waller
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely stunning.
Absolutely stunning production. Breathtaking close up photography combined with a soundtrack and sound recordings not only of the highest quality but pioneering, make these series... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Cirrostratus
5.0 out of 5 stars up and close
another favourite david attenburough dvd of mine, gets up close and personal with the life in the undergrowth that you may never even think of in day to day life. Read more
Published on 23 May 2011 by LAURA
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