Planet Earth III

Planet Earth III is a 2023 British nature documentary series co-produced by BBC Studios, BBC America, ZDF, FTV and the Open University and the third instalment in the Planet Earth series. It follows Planet Earth (2006) and Planet Earth II (2016). The series is presented and narrated by Sir David Attenborough. It premiered in the UK on 22 October 2023.

Production

The BBC greenlit Planet Earth III in February 2019, alongside four other natural history productions: Seven Worlds, One Planet, A Perfect Planet, The Green Planet and Frozen Planet II. The announcement was accompanied by a BBC Earth teaser trailer to promote all five series.

The Planet Earth III team filmed in 43 countries and six continents during the five-year production. The series required 134 individual shoots, 50 of which were managed remotely due to the travel restrictions in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Local film-making teams were directed from the UK to gather the material for the remotely-managed shoots.

The production team succeeded in using the latest technology and filming techniques, some of which were developed especially for this series. These included:

• the first ever 'onboard' view from a southern right whale using a motion camera tagged to the animal
• the development of a specially-constructed filming rig to get underwater and split-screen shots of African jacanas
• filming inside Vietnam's Hang son Doong Cave using twin drones to simultaneously illuminate and film the cave.

Rare species, behaviours and events captured on film for the first time included:

• the first footage of blue sharks feeding on a raft of flying fish eggs
• previously undocumented behaviours in treehoppers, insects native to the rainforests of Ecuador, including maternal care and a symbiotic relationship with bees
• the first extensive coverage of humpback whales trap-feeding, a new feeding behaviour first documented in 2011.

David Attenborough officially joined the production in August 2023. He appears in person to present the opening and closing episodes of the series, filmed on location at Downe Bank Nature Reserve in Kent. For the remaining episodes he provides narration.

In September 2023 the BBC released an extended trailer for Planet Earth III, with footage from the series accompanied by Attenborough's narration and the brand new song "Mother Nature". The song was a collaboration between composers Hans Zimmer and Bleeding Fingers Music, singer-songwriter RAYE, and Bastille. Zimmer, Jacob Shea, Sara Barone, producer Russell Emanuel and Bastille’s Dan Smith collaborated on the original score for Planet Earth III. A reworking of Bastille’s hit single, "Pompeii", entitled "Pompeii MMXXIII", plays over the end credits.

Episodes

The series comprises eight episodes.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 7 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.8/10.

Writing for The Guardian, critic Rebecca Nicholson gave the series five stars out of five, stating that "it is possible to watch and enjoy it purely for the astonishing footage – but it will horrify you, too."

Reviewing for the Financial Times, Dan Einav awarded the first episode five stars out of five, writing that "at a time when the news reveals the world to be a dark and ugly place, Planet Earth stirringly reminds us of its overwhelming beauty."

In a review for The Times, Carol Midgley awarded the series four out of five stars, calling it "magnificent, but it's a fast track to becoming really quite sad." She also noted that the crew reportedly broke their non-intervention rule to rescue trapped turtles and sea lions while filming, but considered this a positive act, writing "Good for them. Who wouldn’t help a suffering creature?"

The Evening Standard reviewer Elizabeth Gregory gave the series four stars out of five, writing that the series struggles to meet the challenge of balancing "being both captivating and concerned". Gregory highlighted the shift in focus compared to the previous two Planet Earth series towards showing “how animals are adapting in extraordinary ways, to survive the new challenges they face”, portraying "a sense of the magic of life on our planet – and how close we are to losing it."

References

External links

• Planet Earth III at BBC Online
• Planet Earth III at BBC Earth
• Planet Earth III at IMDb