Earth (2023) User Reviews

Another classic series from the BBC

[mmillington554 · 9/10 · 1 August 2023]

A series that tries to condense approximately 4.6 billion years of history into five hours, is inevitably going to be highly selective about what to include. The astromological impacts, the changing geology, and the consequential impacts on the atmosphere, were fascinating. The origins of plant and animal life and their subsequent developments were also interesting. The part I found wanting, was an exlanation for the origins and devlopment of fungi. Whilst plant life was demonstrated to have evolved from the sea, when it hit land it developed a symbiosis with fungi, according to the program, resulting in the origin of lichen. But there was no expalnation of where the fungi originated. Furthermore, some early species of fungi were apparently enormous, towering over everything else that grew at the time. Yet, how these enormous structures came to exist, when according to the program the world was still made of bare rock with little or no organic material, was not explained.

The series could have been longer and more detailed, but it is in my view, one of the most important natural history series in a long time. It clearly demonstrates how major and sometimes minor changes to the environment can produce dynamic and sometimes unexpected and profound changes to the ability of life to maintain itself.

In these present times of uncertain climatic forces, this is a very timely series.

So much to love but for one glaring problem

[mattwilliamdavies · 9/10 · 28 August 2023]

Beautiful, awe-inspiring and emotional. It tells an amazing story and, in more places than is usual for this kind of show, actually explains the evidence for the statements.

Chris Packham surprised me at being able to hold a bombastic show like this together. His shows are usually much smaller and more informal. He even sounds like Attenborough on occasions!

But the glaring problem? The script keeps using the language of creationism around evolution. It implies evolution had purpose, that organisms chose to evolve, that the Earth created conditions specifically to allow humans to exist. None of this is true. Evolution has no direction or purpose. It is just "whoever had the most grandchildren, their traits will spread through natural selection". I get that it makes for flowery prose, but it is misleading at a time where we need to be literate about this stuff.

The message it gives? Don't worry about climate change. The Earth chose to save us before and will eventually do it again (with volcanoes probably) so don't sweat it. We might even choose to evolve to cope with it. We need to understand the opposite.

Mind-boggling journey of life on Earth in geologic time

[lawrencep0 · 9/10 · 3 August 2023]

A very illuminating survey of the often rocky path of life on Earth through geologic time.

The evolution of life has been heavily dependent on the environment, many times independent of life such as plate tectonics, asteroid collisions, volcanic activity, ice ages. Interestingly, often in concert and through the medium of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Also, often via the environmental impact of life itself in a feedback loop. For instance, the abundant oxygen in our atmosphere, so essential to our existence, only came about due to other life forms.

A profound picture emerges that has never been so clearly expressed before.

The final episode focuses on ourselves. Both putting our environmental impact in context with the long chain of other dramatic changes and emphasising the uniqueness of our situation. Lessons to be drawn for sure.

However, for me, the main take away is the wonder of the mind-boggling series of random events, unforeseeable consequences and feedback-loops that have led to creatures such as ourselves. Humbling. Also, perhaps, of relevance regarding life in the wider universe.

A brilliant series

[navinlutchmun · 10/10 · 7 January 2024]

Chris Packham does a fantastic job of explaining our planet's deep history and how fleeting we are but also how resilient life is.

Thoroughly engaging and immersive.

Great visuals and story telling. The places he visits really help put the different pieces of the geological jigsaw together.

The science behind the story telling is highly credible and Chris uses easy to understand language that makes this series accessible to all.

I have been an avid science documentary watcher, and the BBC have added another masterpiece to their already extensive list of other documentaries such as Planet Earth. This is up there!

Brilliant.

Almost Faultless - Highly educational and compelling documentary series

[alex-278 · 9/10 · 27 January 2024]

I often lamented how the demise of BBC's Horizon represented an inability and lack of confidence in the BBC to aim high when considering how to present a documentary. Well, perhaps there is a resurgence on the way. I binged all 6 episodes.

This series is presented in a logical mature style where the story of the earth unfolds 6 episode, with each episode covering the essential elements that supported the creation of Life. From the atmosphere , to the evolution of plants and humans. There are gaps in the narrative and a few leaps of faith, but the story is well presented by Chris Packham in a personal but still scientific manner.

Now what is absolutely surprising, and a credit to the BBC, is that it was co-produced by US based NOVA and GBH-Boston and does not suffer from being dumbed down but most importantly there are no talking heads interfering with the narrative. The producers have sensibly pushed them to the end of each episode, so that if you want to listen to them if you want to get some further background you can or not. Thank goodness they were not part of the main episode, their style of of presentation would have detracted from the integrity of the Packham's delivery.

Really great. Highly recommended.

[zureal-77671 · 9/10 · 11 February 2024]

The documentary boasts outstanding special effects, arguably the best in the genre to date. It's unfortunate that the post-show epilogue doesn't acknowledge the remarkable work put into them, much like the recognition given to scientists and filmmakers.

Chris, the host, brings a passionate energy, though his accent and inflections may take some adjustment. However, his script shines with brilliance, flowing seamlessly and matching the caliber of Attenborough's candor.

While some critical reviews point out gaps in coverage, considering the vast span of 4.6 billion years, the documentary impressively tackles a substantial amount. Addressing the impact of human activities on Earth's biodiversity is a necessary but somber reminder. A follow-up series with Chris, focusing on solutions and engaging viewers to contribute ideas, could be a powerful addition to address the impending challenges.

Interesting but annoying

[stevehudson-01371 · 6/10 · 9 August 2023]

I enjoyed the series - this is such a fascinating subject for sure. As others have said though, condensing so much into a few episodes means at times it's just scratching the surface.

My main irritation though was the tone - it's pitched mainly at a school age audience is my guess. Every event has to have dramatic music behind it to make sure you understand whether it's a Sad Thing or a Wonderful Thing, the script at times is very silly - 'the world had become so hostile that to plant life is must have seemed a hopeless struggle, but just as they were on the point of giving up the struggle, they realised they had a friend, and a friend who wanted to help. And that friend was called...'. Cut to Packham staring resolutely into the camera. 'Fungus.'

It also gives the impression at times that evolution always had the aim to create humans, and that to do so it needed a lot of help from random disasters, a bit of a Lord Of The Rings quest. In fact humans are just the random place to which all the random disasters led.

But enjoyable in small doses (the music really gets to you after about 30 minutes).

The Aspirations Of An Amoeba.

[gwpchamberlain · 4/10 · 24 August 2023]

We've watched three episodes of Earth, more than enough to conclude that we won't be watching the rest.

The roughly three hours that we watched contain perhaps 30 minutes worth of useful and interesting information.

The other two and a half hours are padded out with the following:

• Increasingly repetitive scenes of fiery explosions and arctic wastelands.

• Increasingly repetitive Hollywood style cgi images of fiery explosions and arctic wastelands.

• Gratuitous slow motion shots of the narrator staring meaningfully into the distance as walks past the camera.

-A hilarious Disneyesque anthropomorphized script describing the trial and tribulations of 'Life' as it tries to establish itself in an endless battle against the evil forces of Earth.

All of this is accompanied, or rather swamped by bombastic, overbearing apocalyptic music that would be better suited to a sci-fi horror film.

It was this music as much as any of the other irritating elements that made us loose the will to watch the entire series.

Back to the script, a few examples from episode 3:

"In the depths of the oceans... ..sheltered inside geothermal vents... ..are something miraculous.

Extremophiles.

An extraordinary form of single-celled life.

The ancestors of every living organism on Earth, including plants.

But they are stuck here.

At this point, their chances of making the leap onto dry land... ..are virtually nil.

CHRIS SIGHS."

Yes, we can clearly visualize these single-celled organisms desperately planning their escape from the bottom of the ocean!

If only, they think, with the brain that they don't possess, we could leave this dismal underwater prison and climb out onto the dry land, that we don't even know exists ..... because we live at the bottom of the ocean ... and don't have brains ... or legs ... or even fins ... Pure Disney!

A few minutes later we learn:

"If plants had any aspirations to leap out onto land, it was going to be very rapidly disappointed, because this land was very short-lived."

Right, so single celled organisms now have 'aspirations' ... got it!

And the part that made us laugh loudest:

"Life stayed in the water for 500 million years... ..until a moment about half a billion years ago, when, for reasons we don't entirely understand, plants' ancestors set off into the unknown.

Making base camp on rocky sediments at the water's edge."

My wife and I later discovered that we'd both had exactly the same image of a party of brave little proto-plants making their way up the beach with the classic sticks over their shoulders at the end of which dangle their little bundles of possessions.

Hilarious anthropomorphic drivel!

Oh, and here's a thought: if you're going to make a documentary about the history of Earth how about making it chronological instead of leaping forwards and backwards millions or even billions of years from one episode to the next.

Bewildering

[roboh-1 · 3/10 · 3 March 2024]

I watched the entire series, but am not really sure why I bothered. I generally enjoy nature documentaries and natural history documentaries, but this thing was a complete mess.

Firstly, the timeline jumps around all over the place, both between episodes and inside individual episodes.

The script is totally brain dead. It is full of dramatic pauses where the answer is completely obvious, only for us to have the narrator give us the answer a few seconds later.

The presenter has no real charisma.

The music is overly dramatic.

The special effects seem very repetitive and unnecessary.

By the end of the series, I felt like I knew less than when I started.