Our Planet

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Our Planet
Opening sequence for Our Planet
GenreNature documentary
Narrated by
  • David Attenborough (English)
  • Salma Hayek (Latin American Spanish)
  • Penélope Cruz (European Spanish)
  • Jorge Helal (Portuguese)
  • Jaques Frantz (French)
  • Dario Penne (Italian; season 1)
  • Luigi La Monica (Italian; season 2)
  • Christian Bruckner (German)
Composers
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes12 + 1 Behind-the-scenes special ( 1 hr )
Production
Executive producers
Running time48–53 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNetflix
Release5 April 2019 (2019-04-05) –
present (present)

Our Planet is a British nature documentary series made for Netflix. The series is narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Silverback Films, led by Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey, who also created BBC documentary series Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and The Blue Planet, in collaboration with the conservation charity World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The soundtrack was composed by Steven Price.

The series focuses on the wildlife and natural wonders of eight different ecosystems, and has been noted for its greater focus on humans' impact on the environment than traditional nature documentaries, centering around how climate change impacts all living creatures. It is the first nature documentary Netflix has ever made. All episodes were released on 5 April 2019. A behind-the-scenes documentary was released onto Netflix on 2 August 2019.[1] Netflix reported that 25 million households were expected to watch the series during its first month of release.[2] It was later reported that 100 million households had watched the series as of March 2021.[3]

A second season, Our Planet II, was released on June 14, 2023.[4]

Production

On 15 April 2015, it was announced that the team behind the BBC nature series Planet Earth would produce an eight-part nature docu-series for Netflix that would be released in 2019.[5] It was four years in the making and was filmed in 50 countries, and over 600 crew members took part in the production. The series focuses on the breadth of the diversity of habitats around the world, including the Arctic wilderness, the deep sea, the vast landscapes of Africa and the diverse jungles of South America.[6]

In November 2018, David Attenborough was announced as the narrator, with the release date of 5 April 2019 also announced.[7]

Promotion

The series premiere was held on the 4th of April, 2019, at the

Prince William and Prince Harry, Charlie Brooker, David Beckham and his son Brooklyn Beckham, Ellie Goulding and the series narrator David Attenborough, who attended the event to underline their support for action against climate change.[8]

In his speech, Prince Charles said he hoped “Our Planet” would educate hundreds of millions of people around the world about what action was required, while David Attenborough called on the world to "be responsible careful citizens of this planet which is our only home, and for the creatures that live in it."[9]

The first teaser trailer for Our Planet was released on 8 November 2018.[10][11] Three months later, on 4 February 2019, the second teaser trailer was released.[12] On 19 March 2019, the official trailer for the documentary was released.[13]

Episodes

Series overview

SeriesTitleEpisodesOriginally released
1Our Planet85 April 2019 (2019-04-05)
2Our Planet II414 June 2023 (2023-06-14)

Season 1 (2019)

[This] series will explore the Earth's most important habitats, and celebrate the life they still support. We will reveal what must be preserved if we are to ensure a future where humans and nature can thrive.

— David Attenborough, "One Planet"
No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleProduced byOriginal release date [14]
11"One Planet"Adam Chapman5 April 2019 (2019-04-05)
Off the coast of
orchid attracts a male orchid bee in search of a mate and attaches its pollinium onto the bee's back, providing the bee with fragrances to attract a mate. Different species of manakins have different types of courtship display. A herd of caribou retreat into a forest to take shelter from the harsh winter weather, but are hunted by a pack of wolves. Attenborough then warns of the rapid melting of sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctica, showing the impact it has on polar bears. In Greenland, a glacier
collapses, creating a large tidal wave.
22"Frozen Worlds"Sophie Lanfear5 April 2019 (2019-04-05)
wandering albatrosses raise their chicks. Leopard seals stay the winter in the warmer waters of South Georgia to hunt king penguins out to find food for their chicks. Two male southern elephant seals fight over dominance. Far north in Svalbard, the impact climate change has on polar bear's hunting habits is shown, as ringed seals use dens less often, removing the bears' advantage of ambush. During summertime in the Canadian Arctic, narwhals wait for a crack in the ice to hide from predators in a shallow bay. Over a hundred thousand walruses have hauled out on a beach in the Russian Far East
due to much of the sea ice having melted. Some of the walruses manage to scale the high cliffs, but many fall to their deaths.
33"Jungles"Huw Cordey5 April 2019 (2019-04-05)
In the
black spider monkeys visit a salt lick down on the forest floor. Leafcutter ants ensure that their gardens are disease-free with the help of bacteria, however, one of the ants succumbs to a fungal infection that takes over its whole body. The episode ends in the rainforest of Sumatra, where mother Sumatran orangutans
teach their young important life skills of survival.
44"Coastal Seas"Hugh Pearson5 April 2019 (2019-04-05)
Several giant trevallies and mobula rays work together to feast on a shoal of anchovies. At the Everglades National Park, bottlenose dolphins herd mullet in a ring of mud. Grey reef sharks have a cleaning symbiosis with cleaner wrasses and at nighttime, they and whitetip reef sharks work together to hunt within a coral reef. Corals have a mutualistic relationship with algae, which help provide them with food, but because of rising sea temperatures, coral begin to lose algae, endangering the world's coral reefs. Sea otters and California sheephead help control the population of sea urchins in the Californian kelp forests. Steller sea lions and humpback whales congregate to feast on breeding shoals of Pacific herring. Due to overfishing and unsustainable fishing methods, Pacific herrings have been declining. The increasing temperatures have allowed compass jellyfish to skyrocket in numbers. Millions of seabirds roost off the coast of Chile. Although sharks were once extirpated from the Raja Ampat Islands, the surrounding seas were protected and it was turned into a shark nursery, restoring balance to the ecosystem.
55"From Deserts to Grasslands"Adam Chapman5 April 2019 (2019-04-05)
The dry Atacama Desert provides refuge for Socotra cormorants. Over the Dhofar Mountains in Oman, a male and female Arabian leopard mate. At the Rub' al Khali sand dunes, only desert specialists like the Arabian oryx are capable of survival. A herd of desert elephants are led by their matriarch to an oasis. A coalition of five male cheetahs take down a wildebeest. During the summer, male American bison fight over mating rights. Butterflies are abundant in farmlands in Hungary and the caterpillars of the Alcon blue rely on ants to carry them to their nests, where they will be fed by nurse ants. Once abundant throughout the Eurasian Steppe, saiga antelope are now critically endangered, but conservation efforts have been protecting them for years. Conservation efforts and captive breeding have also helped save another grassland animal, the Przewalski's horse. In the grasslands of India, a Bengal tiger stalks deer from the tall grass. Despite poaching and the growing population in India, the tiger population has been on the rise.
66"High Seas"Hugh Pearson5 April 2019 (2019-04-05)
A large pod of dolphins manage to escape from a pack of false killer whales with their superior speed. The Gulf of California provides a safe haven for female blue whales and their calves. Off the coast of Costa Rica, yellowfin tuna shadow a pod of spinner dolphins as they hunt lanternfish. Despite their tiny size, phytoplankton play an invaluable role in the ocean's food web and cloud formation. Deep into the twilight zone, several unique creatures like the giant oarfish and deep-sea anglerfish have unique adaptations to survive in a world of darkness. Deep water coral like Lophelia are home to smaller organisms like bristle worms, however, a lot of deep sea reefs have been destroyed by deep sea fishing nets. In the Southern Ocean, giant petrels, black-browed albatrosses and Wilson's storm petrels find a dead sea lion and are all scared off by the arrival of a wandering albatross. Hundreds of Pacific bluefin tuna pursue a bait ball of anchovies. Because of a combination of overfishing and plastic pollution, several fish species are now in peril. Squid numbers have been increasing, affecting the diets of some species. The episode concludes with a super-group of humpback whales aggregating off the coast of South Africa.
77"Fresh Water"Mandi Stark5 April 2019 (2019-04-05)
After the
Alaskan brown bears await their arrival. The Caño Cristales in Colombia has flourishing populations of the colourful Macarenia plant. The warm Floridan rivers provide a winter refuge for manatees. Millions of mayflies emerge from the Tisza to mate before their deaths in three hours. In the Pantanal floodplains, a jaguar hunts a caiman. Male callipterus cichlids collect shells to attract females. The Siamese fighting fish is well adapted to living in oxygen-poor water. During a drought in Tanzania, several hippos are crammed in a muddy pool. African buffalos struggle to find water but African elephants are able to dig for water in the sand with their trunks. The Platte River, once a hotspot for sandhill cranes
has now been dammed, although conservationists have been working to manage the river's flow to restore the cranes.
88"Forests"Jeff Wilson5 April 2019 (2019-04-05)
Deep in the forests of
Chornobyl. Despite the amounts of radiation after the Chernobyl disaster, plants began to germinate after a decade and today, it still sustains a thriving population of animals including roe deer
, Przewalski's horses and wolves.

Season 2 - Our Planet II (2023)

No.
overall
No. in
season
TitleProduced byOriginal release date [15]
91"Chapter 1: World on the Move"TBA14 June 2023 (2023-06-14)

All life on earth depends on the freedom to move. During the dry season on the

Locusts take advantage of growing vegetation, eating as much as they can before changing form and growing wings to travel further and eat more vegetation, travelling from Africa, crossing the Red Sea and reaching Tibet. Night fall on British Columbia, and Ancient murrelet chicks race to the sea to reunite with their parents, who they'll follow out to sea in order to feed. In Laysan, a Laysan albatross chick waits for its parent to return with food along neighbouring Black-footed albatross chicks, but their meals could be their last, as the adults sometimes feed them plastic
without knowing.

On the warming
Tiger sharks
begin to congregate to take advantage of the albatross chicks' first flight attempts. With the laysan albatross chick now grown up and ready to fly seeing other fall to a gruesome end, will it manage to take off and escape or suffer the same fate?
102"Chapter 2: Following the Sun"TBA14 June 2023 (2023-06-14)

The earth's surface isn't even, and the sun's energy triggers countless journeys as the seasons go. Following the previous events of the first episode, the young Laysan albatross takes flight and splash lands into the sea, barely escaping the attack of a tiger shark before managing to take to the skies. On a meadow in July, a

grizzly bears
who follow them.

In the

garter snakes
, but their attacks are minimal to their numbers. America's pacific northwest's rivers are now filled with water, the perfect stage for
Harbour seals
, but the vast majority reaches their spawning grounds where they lay their eggs and die. Continuous daylight in the arctic has melted most of the sea ice, making the life of a mother polar bear and her two cubs a hard one. The family arrives on a small, rocky shore to find food, but one of the cubs struggles to keep up, and when it does, the food the mother has found is already eaten, and the family moves on.

In the
Nile crocodiles
are waiting for the crossing. With a zebra and its foal about to cross the river, will the young zebra reach the other side safely?
113"Chapter 3: The Next Generation"TBA14 June 2023 (2023-06-14)

To provide the young the best start, some animals make astonishing journeys. The zebra foal from the previous episode crosses the Mara river, sticking close to its mother and safely crossing to the other side. On the pacific coast of

elephant seals begin to practice swimming in rocky pools, but a pod of orca
, led by an experienced female, swim into these pools to catch unwary pups.

In New Zealand, Fiordland penguin pairs breed unded the protection of the forest, though their nesting ground locations mean they must trek over boulders, roots, ravines, and any other obstacle the jungle puts in their way; once the chick is grown up, the penguins leave for the sea, making a journey away from the rich waters of New zealand half way to Antarctica, making it a "quite pointless migration" The monsoon rains arrive on

christmas island red crab. Their route may have been altered by human activity, but people have provided the crabs paths to cross and reach the shore to spawn. In some years, and with luck, the hatcling crabs return to shore and make the journey back to land, crossing the same path their parents made while avoiding yellow crazy ant
colonies as well as... their own parents.

Late november, and in
asian elephants
to leave their forest homelands and travel into a new, threatening world; their travel was witnessed by the world, the struggle of an animal family trying to find a place to live in the largest populated country in the world
124"Chapter 4: Freedom to Roam"TBA14 June 2023 (2023-06-14)

When animals are faced with dramatic change, the urge to move away can be overwhelming- The elephant family from the previous episode reached the city of Kunming, where the city elements proved too frightening for the family and forced them to make the journey back home; however, people helped the family on their journey back, and they soon reached their forest home, where the drought had ceased. It's now January in the

leopard seals
make the new swimmers hessitant; despite the challenge, however, they must feed out at sea. In the rush, one chick is separated and chased by a seal, it's now a one-on-one.

February, and while the northern end of the planet is still in darkness, snow geese make their journey up north across

bald eagles
attack and kill the injured ones from the panicking flocks. On the north, a
rocky mountains
, but like with the geese, their migration route has changed. Most of their natural predators have been driven away while fences and roads cause new problems for the nomads.

baja peninsula, a mother gray whale gives birth to a healthy calf, but with no food for the mother to consume and turn into milk for the calf, the two start a migration north. Keeping close to the coast, the family is met with dangers like industrial ships dissorienting and striking them, but it's in Monterey Bay
where the biggest challenge for the pair is faced... and failed. A pod of orca ambush the family and kill the calf, leaving the mother to finish the journey on her own.

Specials

A 1 hour long bonus episode "Our Planet - Behind The Scenes" about the project is accessible under Additional Videos on Netflix.[16]

Reception

TIFF Bell Lightbox
.

The

weighted average, assigned the film a score of 88 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[18]

Lucy Mangan of

Indie Wire gave out an overall B+ for the series, and claims that the series ruthlessly contrasts the world's natural wonders with the environmental crisis killing them off, he wrote "Their deaths are a warning for the darkness underlying all of Our Planet, a nature docuseries no longer content with passive commentary. It also offers all the stunning imagery you've come to expect from these documentarians, but its attitude may surprise you. Individual entries feel a little less memorable because of it. The light, comic touches that made for lovely little moments in Planet Earth are overshadowed if not spoiled entirely, by the traumatic lessons put front and centre."[21]

Will Gompertz of BBC also handed out a 4 out of 5 stars for the series, stating it "gives us some of the most dazzling images you are ever likely to view on TV. When necessary, they are embellished with Attenborough's commentary, which is never obtrusive and always written with brevity and wit...It has been created by masters of their craft with an exceptional narrator, I do wonder, though, if the experienced executive producers at BBC would have sharpened up the first episode a little."[22] Stuart McGurk of British GQ said "It's hard not to see this as a direct rebuke of the BBC's nature documentaries: take one well-worn spectacular of the natural world, shoot it even more spectacularly than the BBC ever did and structure your whole opening episode around the idea that, without taking things like global warming seriously – without putting it front and centre about any show you're making about the natural world, because how could you not – then pretty soon they'll be nothing left to film so beautifully."[23] Kevin Yeoman of Screen Rant concluded the series as "stunningly ambitious", he wrote "Where Our Planet excels [Planet Earth and Blue Planet], though, is in its presentation. It's not trying to convince anyone of anything — the time for doing that is long past. It's simply stating this information as fact, in as straightforward a manner as possible. Not that it's particularly difficult considering the evidence the series has on hand."[24]

However, Ed Power of

global warming, mass species extinction and environmental degradation which were woven into the narration that accompanied the breathtaking scenes and imagery, but she also argues it did not go far enough and should have been more radical given current ecological crises. In particular, she says the program should have called out those responsible for this ecocide. When Attenborough's narration tells the audience "We have destroyed half the forests on earth", she retorts "But, who is we? As well as the fossil fuel industry, where is the fishing industry? Agriculture? The plastics industry? The vested interests that keep the planet burning? Yes, we are all complicit – those of us in affluent societies with high-consumption lifestyles more so than anyone – but there are greater powers at work. Describing the scale of the challenge is necessary but I wanted the series to go further, to peer under the hood."[26]

Controversy

Netflix cut together footage of walrus from two different haul out sites in Russia, both filmed in 2017. Producer Sophie Lanfear clarified that "the sequence includes footage from two separate beaches."[27] The producers consider the cut walrus segment "the most powerful story they found during four years of filming."[28]

Parents of children in Canada and other Netflix viewers complained about certain graphic scenes.[29][30]

Soundtrack

Our Planet
Universal Music
ProducerNetflix

The soundtrack was released with a compilation of the incidental music specially commissioned for Our Planet. The theme song "In This Together", which is a collaboration with English singer and songwriter Ellie Goulding, is also included.

No.TitleEpisode TitleLength
1."This Is Our Planet""One Planet"3:43
2."The Numbers Build""High Seas"5:04
3."They Work as a Team""Frozen Worlds"3:41
4."The Importance of This River""Freshwater"2:40
5."An Ingenious Technique""Coastal Seas"2:49
6."The Ocean Returns the Favour""Deserts and Grasslands"2:20
7."Baby Blue""High Seas"4:51
8."Regeneration""Forests"1:51
9."An Unknown Signal""One Planet"5:08
10."Too Big to Argue With""Jungles"5:35
11."Frozen Worlds""Frozen Worlds"3:26
12."Mayflies""Freshwater"3:08
13."Great Rolling Waves""Coastal Seas"6:36
14."Crucial to Their Survival""Jungles"7:25
15."Every Year There Are Others""Forests"2:48
16."Where Life Gathers""One Planet"3:20
17."The Perfect Gift""Frozen Worlds"2:53
18."The Oceans Belong to Us All""High Seas"6:19
19."Deserts and Grasslands""Deserts and Grasslands"2:56
20."The Mighty Mekong""Freshwater"2:01
21."Corals""Coastal Seas"2:17
22."Leaf Cutters""Jungles"1:18
23."Chernobyl""Forests"7:03
24."Into the Woodlands""One Planet"4:35
25."Signature Moves""One Planet"2:35
26."Every Other Breath You Take""High Seas"4:21
27."Arctic Refugees""Frozen Worlds"6:38
28."A Sudden Turn""High Seas"2:11
29."A Nest of Bubbles""Freshwater"1:56
30."He Wins Her Approval""Jungles"1:42
31."Majestic Submarine Forests""Coastal Seas"2:28
32."They Came Back""Deserts and Grasslands"2:33
33."We Must Preserve What's Left""Jungles"2:28
34."Ice Caves""Freshwater"2:26
35."Mythical Creatures Follow""Frozen Worlds"3:31
36."They Have Come to a Desert""Deserts and Grasslands"1:41
37."This Glacial Ice""One Planet"7:42
38."A Greater Resilience""Coastal Seas"4:02
39."The Next Twenty Years""One Planet"1:41
40."In This Together"With Ellie Goulding4:43
Total length:120:26

Broadcast

Starting from 20 June 2020, the series was aired on Indonesian television network TVRI as a part of Belajar dari Rumah (Study from Home) programming block, made possible by a partnership between the Ministry of Education and Culture and Netflix. The broadcast marked the first Netflix original documentary series ever aired on conventional television, alongside a collection of Netflix documentaries included in the partnership.[31][32]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Netflix has made the first series available for free streaming on YouTube as an educational resource.[33][34]

See also

References

  1. ^ "'Our Planet: Behind the Scenes' Documentary Arrives on Netflix". What's on Netflix. 2 August 2019.
  2. ^ Porter, Rick (16 April 2019). "'Umbrella Academy' Draws 45M Global Viewers, Netflix Claims". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  3. ^ "Every Viewing Statistic Netflix Has Released So Far". What's on Netflix. 8 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Netflix Expands Natural History Slate with Six New Documentary Series, Beginning November 22 with 'Our Universe'" (Press release). Netflix Media Center. 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  5. ^ Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (15 April 2015). "Planet Earth team head to Netflix for epic new series Our Planet". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  6. ^ Spangler, Todd (15 April 2015). "Netflix Slates 'Our Planet' Massive Nature Documentary Series for 2019". Variety. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  7. ^ Waterson, Jim (8 November 2018). "David Attenborough to present Netflix nature series Our Planet". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  8. ^ Ling, Thomas (5 April 2019). "Royals join David Attenborough for star-studded Our Planet Netflix premiere". Radio Times. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  9. ^ "UK royals attend Netflix 'Our Planet' premiere". Reuters. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  10. ^ Kamp, Justin (8 November 2018). "Netflix Shares Teaser for New Documentary Series Our Planet". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  11. ^ Netflix (8 November 2018), Our Planet | Teaser [HD] | Netflix, retrieved 10 April 2019
  12. ^ Netflix (3 February 2019), Our Planet | Official Teaser [HD] | Netflix, retrieved 10 April 2019
  13. Indie Wire
    . Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  14. ^ "Our Planet - Listings". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  15. ^ "Shows A-Z – Our Planet II on Netflix". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  16. ^ "Our Planet Netflix Official Site", Netflix, retrieved 7 June 2019
  17. ^ "Our Planet: Season 1", Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved 19 April 2019
  18. ^ "Our Planet Reviews", Metacritic, retrieved 19 April 2019
  19. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  20. ^ Resnick, Brian (8 April 2019). "Netflix's Our Planet focuses on the most important nature story of our time: loss". Vox. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  21. ^ Travers, Ben (5 April 2019). "'Our Planet' Review: Netflix's Stunning Nature Doc Is Here to Tell You We're Screwed". IndieWire. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  22. ^ Gompertz, Will (6 April 2019). "Review: Our Planet, Sir David Attenborough's Netflix debut". Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  23. ^ McGurk, Stuart (2 April 2019). "David Attenborough's new Netflix series Our Planet is a direct rebuke of the BBC". British GQ. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  24. ^ "Review: Netflix's Our Planet". ScreenRant. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  25. ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  26. ^ Jones, Lucy (7 April 2019). "Our Planet: We are already into the sixth mass extinction – Attenborough's new Netflix series is just not urgent or radical enough". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  27. ^ YONG, ED (8 April 2019). "The Disturbing Walrus Scene in Our Planet". The Atlantic. Retrieved 19 April 2019. This confusion arises from the ways in which documentaries elide space and time. Lanfear clarifies that the sequence includes footage from two separate beaches—one with the 100,000-strong congregation and one with the falls.
  28. ^ Damian Whitworth (5 April 2019). "David Attenborough's Our Planet: Walruses plunging to deaths become new symbol of climate change". The Times. Retrieved 19 April 2019. the plight of the walruses is regarded by the producers as the most powerful story they found during four years of filming. "It was really traumatic.
  29. ^ "After complaints from parents, Our Planet director defends footage of walruses plummeting to their death". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019. A Netflix nature documentary that shows walruses plunging from a cliff to their deaths has provoked condemnation from some parents, who were caught unaware as they watched with their children
  30. ^ Thinus Ferreira (11 April 2019). "Netflix faces backlash over walrus death-plunge scene in David Attenborough's 'Our Planet' doc series". News24. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019. Netflix is facing growing pushback from viewers
  31. ^ Bona, Maria Fatima (18 June 2020). "Netflix Documentaries to Air on TVRI for Distance Learning". Jakarta Globe. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  32. ^ "'Our Planet', Marie Kondo among Netflix documentaries to air on TVRI". The Jakarta Post. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  33. ^ Planet, Our. "Watch Our Planet at home on YouTube". WWF. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  34. ^ "Our Planet to be Voiced by Sir David Attenborough". World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved 11 January 2021.

External links

External videos
video icon Our Planet: David Attenborough speech at premiere on
YouTube