Customer Reviews

Galapagos

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got this with an idea of "well I've seen this already but...", boy was I wrong, only now do I have an understanding of these incredible islands. This is a great 3 part series, detailing every major island, the sea life, and of course the tortoises. Incredible photography and very well written. Some disturbing footage of the plunder by the early sailors, and some disturbing animal scenes too.

This Blu-Ray production was filmed mostly in HD although there are some clips that were recorded before there were HD cameras available. The sound is in stereo and the narration by Tilda Swinton was clear, although as you watch the episodes there are some overlap in the information portrayed.

What's really cool is you will experience the twin actions of creation and extinction that you will see no where else. From the great mass of fishes in the sea giving way to the seals, to the slow yet majestic Galapagos tortoises, the animals are beautifully depicted!

If someone had told me 15 years ago that one day I would be able to see Galapagos islands in all their glory without visiting them, i would not have believed them. this is definitely something that justifies 1080p HD sets and blu ray media.
Video: Like i mentioned above the video is simply jaw dropping, each episode (three in total) is more revealing that the one it follows. The textures the colours and the sharpness is even and equals to that of some of the best documentaries ever made in imax etc.
Narration: Tilda Swinton does a reasonable job with the narration, her voice is smooth but there were times when i felt it didn't really go well with the scene that she was narrating for. Not much complain here as she is mostly in line and keeps the tempo.
Audio: in my opinion that's the only weak link in this blu-ray disc. I was expecting amazing Planet Earth likes orchestras and atleast 5.1 sound but to my surprise the sound was only 2 channels which doesn't really deliver the punch. As most people who have hd sets and blu ray players also have 5.1 or above sound system.

All in all its a must have documentary and even though audio is a little disappointing the video is simply so amazing that at most of the times you will be too absorbed in it to even notice the lack of rear channel audio. Highly recommended.

Galapagos is everything you'd expect from a BBC earth documentary: beautiful imagery, spot-on narration, extremely informative in an entertaining setting. The story of the Galapagos islands, and why they are so unique, is made very clear. The explanations are thorough, if sometimes redundant, and the visuals allow an exotic escape.

Galapagos would not necessarily be the right place to start for someone who's unfamiliar with other, more complete BBC documentaries (such as Planet Earth); but for the veteran viewer, it is not to be skipped.

This is a beautiful program about the Galapagos Islands, containing information about the geology, flora and fauna, and history of the islands, and is well balanced in its approach. It presents a lot of factual information in a gorgeous way, and is highly recommended.

This is the kind of film footage that merits buying the blu-ray. It is spectacular! When watched on a large-screen plasma TV, the experience approaches that of a real theatre. The photographers deserve a lot of credit for their many thousands of hours of work that it must have taken to produce the exquisite footage. There are actually three separate episodes. The narrative in the first episode is okay - not great but it suits the photography. Unfortunately the narrative in the second and third episodes becomes a bit banal, and you have to rely solely on the visual material to entertain. Also, the soundtrack is only in stereo - the music is well chosen to suit the film footage and should be upgraded to at least home theatre 5.1 quality.

For one thing I rented this 3-parts documentary cheaply from a videoclub so I figure I didn't really lose anything even if I didn't really like it... When the first episode ended I wondered if I had learned anything interesting beside the fact that there's tortoises, birds and volcanoes on the Galapagos islands... I wasn't really interested in the islands itself since I've already seen a spectacular documentary about them, but with something coming from the respected BBC I figured I would get some quality entertainment. As it turn out as a documentary it's not worth much, for one thing the writing doesn't give much informations but plenty of things such as "a land lost in the middle of the Pacific ocean" or "each island has her particular landscape"... The picture has plenty of close-ups changing very rapidly so it's really hard to get a good general idea of anything, and considering the narrator doesn't really say anything when someone have seen a tortoise walking or a volcano eruption he'd seen all of them... The idea who caught my interest and that I don't remember having seen before is that they seem to have tried adding something by making it an entertaining work of art at the same time, by putting classical movie-style music among other things... The picture has been apparently filmed in high-definition Widescreen format, but technically the quality is really not good, it's possibly the transfer to DVD who has not been done correctly or compressed too much, since it come on 2 discs we're left wondering how it's possible... On the plus side the French version I rented has a 5.1 Surround soundtrack... Overall it's possibly a very nice try at creating something new artistically, but 2h30 is twice what would have been required to tell everything on the subject if they had done any good research... I'd say it may be rented cheaply as a curiosity, it's possible that someone less discriminating than me may have a good time watching it if he don't expect anything...

This is a lot cheaper than visiting Galapagos and you get to see many things you can't in person but... Worth the purchase!

I initially saw this on TV, but bought it for a friend for Christmas as she had been to the Galapagos and thought she would like to have it to remember her vacation. It's fascinating to see the differences in the various islands, and the changes evolution has made on the differnt species of birds, lizards and tortoises.An excellent series especially appropo in this anniversary of Darwin's birth.

As other reviewers remarked, this really justifies the Blu-Ray technology. The detail in the photography is remarkable. But the greatest value is the understanding which the movie brings, of both the unique wildlife and the fascinating geology of the Galapagos. I had a much stronger grasp after the movie of how the Galapagos islands have grown and weathered away, forming a great chain of islands at the crossroads of important Pacific currents, and how that has influenced the evolution of the unique land plants and animals, and the long distance air and water travellers which make the Galapagos part of their annual voyage in search of food and mating opportunity. A very worth-while film.