I’m a big fan of IMAX movies. They use high-resolution video and audio and huge screens to bring the audience into a sensation that what they’re seeing is “more real than real.” IMAX films on video or DVD do not translate very well and, for me anyway, always disappoint on the small screen. The BBC series Planet Earth (not an IMAX film), defies this trend, and left me gasping at the awesome beauty that I didn’t know could come across on a television screen.

In this 5-disc, 14 episode series, these film makers take you to the most remote areas of the world, untouched, and for the most part, unseen, by human beings. From the deepest darkness of the ocean floor to the highest peaks in the world, from the lushest tropical rainforests to the barest deserts, from the Arctic north to the Antarctic south, these film crews braved the harshest of the elements to gather footage. The results are truly breathtaking. Guided by David Attenborough’s warm and grandfatherly narration, and employing film techniques that in some cases were invented for this film project, Planet Earth explores life at its most desperate and its most abundant extremes, and shows film making at its most daring and creative.

Now if we can just get them to show it in IMAX . . .

1. DVD Recommendation: Civilisation
2. CD Recommendation – The Crane Wife – The Decemberists
3. We are the Earth
4. The Book that Gave Me Confidence to Cook
5. Now, A Word From Al Gore…(okay, not really)