Sunrise Earth: American Sunrises, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		3.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Sunrise Earth: American Sunrises, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

A wonderful concept and a perfect fit for high definition.

Reviewed by Lindsay Mayer June 20, 2008

O, the power of the star that feeds us! There is arguably no greater entity in our existence, none that wields more influence over our livelihood, than our sun. It warms the Earth, nourishes it, and anchors it in a safe harbor of the vast, inky cosmic seas. Astronomically speaking, the sun is a "middle-aged" star that seems deceptively stable. When studied up close on cold scientific terms, one observes a lively and volatile ball of gas, burning silently through space with a handful of rocks meditating for countless eons at its solar altar.

Sol is many things to many beings, and on this particular day, the 20th of June in 2008 AD - its namesake solstice - it is the most dominant, blazing almost sixteen hours of its light on the Earth's northern hemisphere. For ancient human cultures, this was a sacred occurrence. Whole civilizations literally built themselves around the patterns of the sun. In many industrialized cultures today, the arrival of the warm, clear, vibrantly alive season of summer signals a time of recreation and relaxation.

For the creatures of Sunrise Earth, it is not nearly so complex nor sanctimonious a time. It is another cool night melting away, and the start of another calm day in the valley or on the shore. Food is to be procured, the young to be raised, and mates to be courted.

All is well.

The sun rises over Kidney Pond in Maine.

Sunrise Earth is a television series and an unusual form of wildlife documentary. Each episode runs roughly 45 minutes, and captures real-time footage of picturesque locations all around the world, just as dawn is breaking. The activity of indigenous animals in these locales is also recorded with alternating close-ups and long shots. No narration or context is presented in these episodes, save for occasional captions popping up in the corner with time, location, and a relevant factoid on the animals, plants, or habitats that the viewer happens to be seeing. Series creator David Conover has attempted to brand the series as "experiential" television. Indeed, all one really takes from these programs is a simulated "experience" of observing a sunrise, and the movements of nature with it.

Beginning in 2004, the series was produced for the Discovery Channel and HD Theatre, a channel under the Discovery family that showcases mostly educational material and television specials in high definition. The series has, so far spanned dozens of episodes, and more locations are planned for filming after a recent viewer poll. Thus far, only a portion of this series has been brought to home video, with American Sunrises: Volume 1 sporting 12 episodes on 4 discs. The collection showcases sunrises in various parts of the United States, from the Everglades wetlands in Florida to a sampling of estuaries and national park forests. Though one may tend to think that the content is little more than a static, continuous shot of the sun rising, Sunrise Earth mixes it up a bit. The playback offers a variety of long shots broken up with close-ups and zooms of wildlife, flowing water, and other details.

For as simple a premise as the series is, it works surprisingly well. Described concisely by TV critic Tom Shales as "crazily uneventful and thoroughly wonderful," Sunrise Earth is incredibly peaceful to witness. Still airing at timely hours in the early morning on HD Theatre, it seems to have struck an ancestral chord with viewers, no matter how city-based and busy they may be. Perhaps it reminds them of the inherent simplicity of our existence, despite the artificially hectic pace at which most humans live their lives. Some things remain just as they have been for time immemorial. The ancient star on which we depend leads the way.

Sunrise Earth: American Sunrises, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As a high definition venture, Sunrise Earth can be frustratingly inconsistent. The nature of the subject matter gives much of the sequences shown in the series a low level of light. We are waiting around for the light of the sun to arrive, after all! As such, black crush is an issue on several episodes, as is macroblocking. Offering a 1080 interlaced picture encoded in VC-1, most episodes average around 15 Mbps, only occasionally jumping into the 20s. This leads to the inevitable question - what could this picture have looked like with a higher bitrate and progressive scan?

As they are, some episodes look better than others. "Gator Hole," "Bison Before Breakfast," and "Swallow Sea Cave" are particular highlights. Colors are vibrant and alive, presented as only the sun's golden morning light could show them. Episodes with action, such as fast flowing water in "Alewives Eternal Return" and "Tropical Palms," are mostly free of macroblocking, thankfully. The worst of the batch undoubtedly was the fourth disc, which contained very low bitrate episodes of "Yosemite Dawn," "Cribworks Kayak," and "Sequoia Light." The picture on "Yosemite Dawn" even hovered around 10 Mbps much of the time, which isn't exactly much of an improvement over the maximum bitrate of 9 Mbps on a standard DVD. In all, the Blu-ray treatment of Sunrise Earth is spotty at best, but it does show a marked improvement over the HD broadcast of the program.

Sunrise Earth: American Sunrises, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As is typical for "non-major" BDs, this release boasts no lossless sound options, and comes with Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0. It really is a shame for titles like this, which are most likely written off as a low seller anyway, and not worth the effort. But "experiential" programs like Sunrise Earth would benefit immensely from a full soundscape as only a lossless format could provide. Hearing the ambient sound effects of the filmed landscape would have been far more impressive had they been not so compressed and restricted to a lossy bandwidth. Color me disappointed.

For what is present, the audio suffices well enough. There are a sampling of episodes in which the ambient noise can just get annoying, however. The white noise of rushing waves and waterfalls sounds off, probably due to compression of the audio. In "Sea of Terns," the shrill, endless calls of the nesting seabirds are downright obnoxious after a very short period. Perhaps animal mating seasons should be avoided as a focus in future episodes!

Sunrise Earth: American Sunrises, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The sole sol supplement (har, har!) provided on this release is a featurette titled Sunrise Earth: Secrets of the Sun. At about an hour long, it provides a scientific and cultural perspective of the sun's impact on humanity throughout the ages. Architectural wonders such as the carefully aligned slabs of rock at Stonehenge, and the extravagant temples at Machu Picchu, are touched upon - as are the educated guesses on how and why these ancient civilizations constructed such intricate monuments. Secrets also shows modern study of the star using technology developed by the European Space Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Aspects of the sun, such as its internal and external temperatures, origin and effects of solar flares, and the science of solar eclipses are discussed. Overall, it's your run-of-the-mill educational overview, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Sunrise Earth: American Sunrises, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In Secrets of the Sun, one of my favorite solar quotes is referenced. It is credited to none other that Galileo Galilei. "The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the Universe to do." It succinctly captures the power and grace of this most important celestial body, as well as our tendency to take it for granted in our daily existence. Sunrise Earth seizes upon a novel and rather beneficial concept; that of utilizing television programming to not only expose the masses to natural and beautiful sights, but to give them a chance to slow down, quiet the mind, and appreciate life for its universal, essential simplicity.