Nature: The Gathering Swarms Blu-ray Movie

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Nature: The Gathering Swarms Blu-ray Movie United States

PBS | 2014 | 53 min | Not rated | Jul 08, 2014

Nature: The Gathering Swarms (Blu-ray Movie)

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Movie rating

7
 / 10

Blu-ray rating

Users0.0 of 50.0
Reviewer4.0 of 54.0
Overall4.0 of 54.0

Overview

Nature: The Gathering Swarms (2014)

From PBS - A look at some of the planet's great gatherings, creatures that come together in inconceivable numbers - sometimes in millions, billions, and even trillions. Included are bats and bees, locust and ants, monarch butterflies in Mexico, 17-year cicada hatches, grunion in the Sea of Cortez and carp in the Mississippi River, sardine runs off the coast of South Africa, super flocks of parakeets in the Australian Outback, mayflies on the 4th of July, and even penguins and wildebeest. Some gather to breed or to migrate, some for protection, some simply to keep warm in the cold. But in the process, a kind of super-organism is created in which individual intelligence is superseded by a collective consciousness that shares information and moves with a single purpose for the benefit of all. Check out swarm intelligence, essentially a living embodiment of social media in the natural world.

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Specifications

  • Video

    Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
    Video resolution: 1080i
    Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
    Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1

  • Audio

    English: Dolby Digital 5.1
    English: LPCM 2.0

  • Subtitles

    English SDH

  • Discs

    25GB Blu-ray Disc
    Single disc (1 BD)

  • Playback

    Region A (B, C untested)

Review

Rating summary

Movie4.5 of 54.5
Video4.0 of 54.0
Audio4.0 of 54.0
Extras0.0 of 50.0
Overall4.0 of 54.0

Nature: The Gathering Swarms Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf July 11, 2014

The wild isn’t just a place of solitude. For most creatures, strength is found in large numbers, and the “Nature” episode “The Gathering Swarms” inspects the choreography and communication of a hive mentality, traveling all over the globe to detail the rituals required to bring what’s often a defensive and mating force to life.


“The Gathering Swarms” makes 13 stops on its journey to observe masses in motion. It’s an unusually packed episode for the series, which typically takes on one subject at a time. In Mexico, we spy Monarch butterflies after their 3,000 miles journey from America to a warmer climate for the winter. In South Africa, sardines swim for their lives when dolphins and gannets arrive for lunch. In Wisconsin, a plague of mayflies infests a town, swarming every available surface during a mad dash to mate in the summer. In Morocco, desert locusts decimate everything in their path, with voracious appetites stripping local food sources dry. And in Kenya, when the great migration begins, herds of zebras and wildebeests travel across the desert, only to encounter a most patient predator in the crocodile. Throughout the documentary, a study of instinct in group form is introduced, inspecting how these creatures attempt to survive through the power of numbers, with some, like the Emperor penguins in Antarctica, resorting to a system of huddling to protect the individual.


Nature: The Gathering Swarms Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality  4.0 of 5

The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation remains true to its origins as a PBS release assembled from different shoots and various cameras. Consistency is satisfactory, with only a few dips in resolution, offering sharpness that aids in the examination of the creatures on display. Colors are nicely varied and managed, working through numerous hues from fur, scales, and feathers, giving more vibrant subjects a satisfying HD presence. Blacks are stable. Minor banding is detected, but the image is free of most artifacts.


Nature: The Gathering Swarms Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality  4.0 of 5

The 5.1 Dolby Digital sound mix brings a certain amount of definition to the listening experience, but it remains modest. Surrounds are reserved for atmospherics, with chirps and buzzing pushing out around the viewer, creating a sense of placement in these segments. Narration by Jay O. Sanders is crisp and clean, providing a secure guide to the show. Scoring isn't pronounced but it handles support well, never disrupting the moment. Being a "Nature" episode, expectations weren't high for complete immersion, but the potential was there to amplify elements into a more enveloping event.


Nature: The Gathering Swarms Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras  n/a of 5

There is no supplementary material on this disc.


Nature: The Gathering Swarms Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation  4.0 of 5

"The Gathering Swarms" offers incredible footage, slipping periodically into slo-mo to isolate graceful movement and throttle the bustling activity of bats, birds, and bees. Perhaps most impressive here is a summation of unity across disparate subjects, with the tiniest of insects in North America sharing the same cluster instincts as an African zebra, while the circle of life is reinforced with images of those unable to keep pace. These are tiny snippets of existence, but as an overall study of behavior, "The Gathering Swarm" achieves a full sense of purpose and survival.


Other editions

Nature: Other Seasons