8.3 | / 10 |
Users | 4.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Our understanding of ocean life has completely changed since The Blue Planet aired in 2001. Travelling from the icy polar seas to the vibrant blues of the coral atolls, Blue Planet II shares these astonishing new discoveries. Meet the strange octopuses lurking in the depths of the Antarctic ocean. Watch giant trevally fish leap to catch birds in mid-air. And ride on the back of a hammerhead shark as it attacks.
Starring: David AttenboroughDocumentary | 100% |
Nature | 88% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (4 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Prolific BBC Nature Narrator Sir David Attenborough (Life, Planet Earth) returns to the recording studio and the water to lend his vocal talents to the gorgeous, majestic, and captivating Blue Planet II, the follow-up to 2001's highly regarded The Blue Planet. While nature documentary fatigue feels like a very real thing in isolation, there's an organic, almost magnetic draw to these sorts of programs. The wonders of the world, which these days is described as "small," are really stretched quite far and wide and, in many cases in Blue Planet II, very deep. Great advances in technology have made not just witnessing, but experiencing, these wonders a much more intimate adventure. Gone are the days of simply aiming a camera at a creature; this film is on the cutting-edge of video capture technology, and the result is a breathtaking journey through the world's waters and visits with numerous creatures, large and small, recognizable and alien, and even if the film is structurally not all that different from its many predecessors, the magic materializes from the first minutes and the draw doesn't dissipate until the final fade on another first-rate exploration of this watery globe that is home to more than 7 billion people and certainly countless more numbers of exciting and diverse undersea creatures.
Blue Planet II was reportedly finished at 4K, and the resultant UHD presentation is a thing
of beauty, not quite perfect but vastly superior to the often very good, but sometimes troubled, Blu-ray. The most prominent quality of the entire UHD release is the great
increase in color depth and brilliance. The HDR encoding pushes the image forward a significant degree from the 1080p counterpart, presenting every
shade with noticeably more intensity, including blue waters, colorful creatures, and deep natural greens. The leap forward just in water, presenting here
in a
much more impressively dense, nuanced, and brilliant shade is worthy of the upgrade alone, but the improvements to subtle variations, the big add to
brightness, and the improvements to black level depth are all astonishing. Textural efficiency is much higher as well. Image clarity enjoys a major
boost to where both intimate creature shots and vast vistas above the ocean's surface dazzle with a newfound clearness well beyond the Blu-ray
format's capabilities. The image is a little glossy in 4K but it's sharp as a tack and, together with the improvements to color, Blue Planet II can
practically take one's breath away.
Beyond the adds to color and clarity, it's the more efficient encode and higher bitrates that help to significantly reduce, if not sometimes altogether
eliminate, some of the problem areas found on the Blu-ray, including excess banding and macroblocking. A few quick examples just from episode six.
As the episode begins, viewers see a large sea turtle on the ocean floor. On the Blu-ray, macroblocking is prominent. On the UHD, it's barely
noticeable, if at all. At the beginning of chapter two, there's a shot of the moon crossing through the night sky kicking off a segment on tides. The
banding on the Blu-ray is unbearable and while it's still present on the UHD, the effect is significantly reduced, perhaps as much as, if one wants to put
a rough estimate number on it, 90%. Throughout the program, the UHD's increased efficiency is a true saving grace, to keep visual distraction perhaps
not to an absolute minimum but reduced enough that such do not necessarily draw the eye when the focal point should rightly be elsewhere on the
screen. If the great increase in color and solid boost to textures were not enough, the bitrate and improved encode certainly should be.
Blue Planet II's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is the same that appears on the Blu-ray disc. It's active and alive, bringing ocean waves, deep underwater bass, creature sounds, and other niceties to life with impressive stage saturation, across the front and through the rears as well. Even without the benefit of overhead channels, there is a very significant sense of top end rush to several key moments -- big waves, underwater depth -- and the stage often feels flooded as water splashes through with great force and greater clarity, even when accompanied by prodigious, stage-stretching and surround- intensive score. Musical clarity and low end accompaniment are just as satisfying as the natural and aquatic sounds. Narration presents without issue.
The only "supplements" on the three-disc Blu-ray version of this release were the ~10-minute making-ofs at the end of the first six episodes. These carry over here, just on a separate Blu-ray disc rather than added on to the programs in UHD. The upside is that they are included, the downside is they do not play immediately after the program and they remain in 1080p and SDR color rather than enjoy a boost to 2160p and HDR. On the UHD, the supplement is simply entitled The Making of 'Blue Planet II' (1080p, 51:37) which is, essentially, a behind-the-scenes exploration of the making of each episode. These segments explore the four-year journey behind making the movie: the project's purpose, the benefits of new diving and camera technologies, shooting treacheries (raging weather, leaking submersibles), deep ocean mysteries, and all of the moving parts necessary to bring the film together, shot by shot and segment by segment.
Blue Planet II may not be a standout in terms of basic presentation and in its most basic depictions of all that it explores, but it's a strong step forward in terms of the intimacy and clarity with which modern technology can reveal a previously mysterious world. The imagery is striking, the creatures are fun and colorful and much more complex and intelligent than man might assume, and the film does well to depict its subjects well beyond mere snapshots and allowing the audience to become involved in their daily routines, all thanks to a magnificently large, grand sight and sound experience. BBC's UHD is spectacular. A little bit of banding, macroblocking, and noise appear, though all are greatly diminished compared to the Blu-ray. Color and details are absolutely exceptional; this is just the sort of program made for 4K, and it thrives on the UHD format. The 5.1 soundtrack is unchanged from the Blu-ray and the end-of-program supplements are carried over on their own Blu-ray disc. Blue Planet II's UHD release earns my highest recommendation.
2016
2019
2022
2018
2021
2023
2022
2017
2001
BBC / Narrated by David Attenborough
2009
The Complete Series
2006
The Original UK Series
2011
BBC
2011
IMAX Enhanced
2016
2013
2003
2004
2008
2018
IMAX Enhanced
2013