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Life on Earth

  • TV Mini Series
  • 19791979
  • 11h 42m
IMDb RATING
9.2/10
3K
YOUR RATING
Episode guide
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Life on Earth (1979)
  • Documentary
David Attenborough's groundbreaking study of the evolution of life on our planet.David Attenborough's groundbreaking study of the evolution of life on our planet.David Attenborough's groundbreaking study of the evolution of life on our planet.
IMDb RATING
9.2/10
3K
YOUR RATING
  • Star
    • David Attenborough
Top credits
  • Star
    • David Attenborough
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 8User reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 4 BAFTA Awards
      • 1 win & 4 nominations total

    Episodes13

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    1 Season
    1979

    Photos176

    Life on Earth (1979)
    Life on Earth (1979)
    Life on Earth (1979)
    Life on Earth (1979)
    Life on Earth (1979)
    Life on Earth (1979)
    Life on Earth (1979)
    Life on Earth (1979)
    Life on Earth (1979)
    Life on Earth (1979)
    Life on Earth (1979)
    Life on Earth (1979)

    Top cast

    Edit
    David Attenborough
    David Attenborough
    • Self - Presenteras Self - Presenter
    13 episodes13 eps • 1979
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit
    British naturalist David Attenborough examines the diversity and origins of "life on earth." As is usual with David Attenborough's work, the camera work is outstanding and employed techniques which were ground-breaking in their day. Also, as is his custom, Mr. Attenborough filmed this series in locales all across the world. —Jason A. Cormier
    • life
    • tv mini series
    • Plot summary
    • Plot synopsis
    • Genre
      • Documentary
    • Parents guide
      • Add content advisory

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      An additional item on the DVD is David Attenborough being interviewed by fellow naturalist Tony Soper regarding the making of Life on Earth including the equipment used (at around 23 mins)
    • Quotes

      David Attenborough: There are some four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. Four million different solutions to the problems of staying alive. This is the story of how a few of them came to be as they are.

    • Alternate versions
      The original home video release was severely edited down to fit on two video tapes, meaning half or more of the original broadcast was omitted.
    • Connections
      Featured in A Zed & Two Noughts (1985)

    User reviews8

    Review
    Top review
    Pure grandeur
    The opening music - redolent of `Also Sprach Zarathustra' - still sends a shiver down my spine. One hears it and just KNOWS that this is one of THE ground-breaking television documentaries of all time. Some of the detail is bound to be outdated by now; but so far as presentation is concerned, `Life on Earth' is timeless, wearing its years far more lightly than `Cosmos' does, or than `The Civil War' will.

    The title says it all. Attenborough is giving us nothing less than the story of life on Earth, from the beginning to the present, but concentrating on a few key innovations (episodes bear titles like, `The Invasion of the Land', `A Watertight Skin', `Pouch and Placenta', and so on). The other emphasis is on the poetry of life on Earth. So it's not an even-handed history. What we're getting is a look at the origin of particular things alive today: so birds get much more attention than trilobites; animals get more attention than plants; mammals get more attention than insects; and we hominids have a whole episode to ourselves. This is as it should be. When cockroaches start making documentaries, they can concentrate on what interests THEM; but tough luck, they can't, so it's our show. All the same, watching the final episode (`The Compulsive Communicators'), AFTER having watched all the preceding episodes, gives us a stronger feeling of our true place in evolutionary time than any number of diagrams or Carl Sagan calendars.

    This gets my vote for being Attenborough's best work, the best television documentary ever made, and possibly (not that I know enough to judge) the BBC's greatest achievement. It's long overdue for a re-screening.
    helpful•22
    2
    • Spleen
    • Jan 13, 2000

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 16, 1979 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Official site
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Жизнь на Земле
    • Filming locations
      • Bermuda
    • Production companies
      • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
      • Reiner Moritz Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      11 hours 42 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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