Our Planet

Every frame a desktop wallpaper.

The nonagenarian's dulcet tones are yet again put to use over the top of some remarkable footage of animal life, sprinkled with a few insights and music that strains a little too hard to add various emotions to particular scenes. The theme of the loss of biodiversity and habitat is nothing new, but each episode draws attention to the way such losses produce a cascade of consequences, including for the climate, as a reminder of the parlous if not hopeless state of the biosphere at this juncture.

is a very, very, very fine planet

Essentially a sequel to Planet Earth and Life, and equally good except for the fact that it's no longer quite as groundbreaking. There's also a greater focus on humanity's effect on our planet, but provides some nice optimism for how we might yet be able to save the environment.

S1: 80 S2: 80

rip earth

What a beautiful, beautiful world we have.

The footage is absolutely stunning and the pacing is high enough to make it consistently entertaining.

As usual, another reliably beautiful series that highlights many interesting animals and ecosystems; this excels when it goes microscopic (the Oceans episode was a definite highlight), but oddly the production overall seems more listless and defeatist than usual – of course the climate crisis is nowadays an unavoidable talking point in this context, but the references dotting every episode seem overdone, as well as the over anthromorphising of some of its “stars”. Still worthwhile for the peaks.

I don't think there is anything better you can choose if all you want is to turn off your brain and watch something beautiful and relaxing. A much recommended choice for calm and quiet nights.