Planet Earth (TV Mini Series) Ocean Deep (2006) User Reviews

The Strangest Sights Of All: In The Oceans

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 5 January 2009]

Well, I'm sorry to see this fantastic 11-part series come to an end. At least it was ended as it began, in spectacular fashion. There are some sights in here that are so unlike anything else in the previous 10 segments, it will have you dropping your jaw in amazement.

The oceans cover more than half of our planet, states narrator David Attenborough, at the beginning of this amazing episode. "Much of it is virtually empty and beyond our reach: a watery desert." Yet, later in the show we get some idea of the depth and vastness of oceans when we go 500-plus feet down where there is NO light but plenty of strange creatures. We are told that there are 300 volcanoes beneath the ocean surfaces, that some are higher than Mt. Everest! Man, this is hard to fathom, pun intended.

All live in the ocean is one long search for food and to conserve energy.

Among the incredible sights we see is a whale shark. I didn't know there was a fish that was half-whale, half-shark, but here it is: 30 tons of it, and pretty darned ugly and scary. Throughout the 50-minute show, we see different kinds of big predators, from sharks to giant rays to the biggest of them all: the Blue Whale, bigger than the biggest dinosaur which ever roamed the planet. Blue Whales can go up to 200 tons in weight and they eat four million krill a day!

Much of the underwater creatures we see are so odd, so different, that they "defy classification," according to Attenborough. You have to see them to believe them.

Overall, this was an extraordinary episode because many of the creatures in the oceans are almost beyond belief. That, and the incredible vastness of an ocean, are about too much to comprehend. It is truly amazing.

Best BBC Earth episode I've ever seen

[lucasmkim_96 · 10/10 · 17 April 2022]

This Ocean Deep episode is even better than the one in Planet Earth 2, the one in Blue Planet, and the one in Our Planet. It has the weirdest deep ocean animals and some of the most beautiful sequences.

Many wonderful sights under and above the sea

[bellino-angelo2014 · 9/10 · 8 September 2019]

This is the last installment of PLANET EARTH and just like the other episodes in the show is great. In this episode we'll travel across the world in the deep waters, where many bizarre (even more than the ones above) creatures dwell in total darkness.

Our voyage begins in the Venezuelan coast, where a huge whale shark appears. He is surrounded by many tiny fish that at first seems like protected by the shark, but after an attack by a group of tunas, the shark eats a huge mouthful of the tiny fish. Soon we have shoots of stingrays and white-finned sharks (that are discussed in the behind-the-scenes feature) that wander around in search of food. Then we have one of the best scenes in the documentary, where a huge pack of dolphins also followed by various sea birds, hunts fish.

Then our voyage in the deep oceanic waters begins: the first creatures we see are mantarays, a baby sailfish, various types of jellyfish, a huge vampire squid (that has his own illumination system for not getting lost) a dumbo squid. We focus more on tiny transparent fish, a monkfish that waits for food with poor results, various crabs, large crostaceans and eels that are the abyss' scavengers (feeding on dead fish) and huge crabs that feed on a dead whale's corpse.

After this we get close shots to underwater volcanic chimneys inhabitated by white crabs. There are also various underwater mountains, where sea anemones and sponges thrive, and a nautilus (I have to admit it, but I found it very cute) that swims backwards returning at his home. And we get to know that he uses his tiny tentacles on his mouth for digging in the sand, eat and pick up any dangers (including his relative the octopus).

We then rise above the deep. At first we are more focused on oceanic fish, especially on a sun fish that has on his side tiny fish that eat waste on his skin. In the volcanic island of Ascension we see the various birds that nest on Bowatsainbird in their mating period. The visitors are frigate birds and booby birds, and we have a chance to see the baby turtles that run against time for reaching the sea. After the upteenth hunting scene (this time with frigate birds and sailfish) we have a close encounter with the blue whale, the largest animal that has ever lived!

This is among my favourite episodes of the show, and this because of its great narration by sir David Attenborough, soaring soundtrack, great cinematography as always. And this episode made me like the abyss-dwelling creatures even more!

Lots of beauty and depth under the sea

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 17 November 2017]

Absolutely adore 'Planet Earth', one of the best documentaries ever made and actually is more than that. Have remarked a few times that it and its recent follow up (every bit as good) did for nature and out planet as 'Walking with Dinosaurs' did with the dinosaurs. David Attenborough is widely considered a national treasure for very good reason, no matter how much he himself dislikes the term.

The final 'Planet Earth' episode "Ocean Deep" perfectly lives up to the never less than great quality of the rest of the series, is a great representation of what Attenborough is all about and what a good documentary should be like. "Ocean Deep" throughout, as with the previous ten episodes and with Attenborough at his best, is an awe-inspiring, utterly transfixing experience where one forgets they're watching a documentary and instead feeling like they're watching art. This may sound like extreme hyperbole, but to me and many others 'Planet Earth' is completely deserving of its praise and even deserving of more. To me as well, it is easily one of the best the BBC has done in years.

"Ocean Deep" has so much to praise it, and nothing to fault, that it is difficult knowing where to start with the appraisal. It for starters looks amazing, one of the best-looking of the series in fact. It is gorgeously filmed, those aerial shots are awe-inspiring, done in a completely fluid and natural, sometimes intimate (a great way of connecting more with the inhabitants) way and never looking static. In fact much of it is remarkably cinematic. The scenery is some of the most breath-taking personally seen anywhere, whether in visual media and real life and the rich colours positively leap out. The music is epic but has just as many quieter moments that speak just as much. The main theme is unforgettable.

Regarding the narrative aspects, "Ocean Deep" can't be faulted there either. The narration has a great well-balanced mix of facts that will be familiar to the viewer and others that will induce the right amount of surprise. In short, it's just fascinating, informative and thoughtful, and no other documentary in existence has taught me this much about trees. Everything is intriguing and illuminating, with as much for children to be inspired by as well as adults, and there is just enough freshness to avoid it from becoming stale. Attenborough delivers it beautifully, there's a soft-spoken enthusiasm and precision about his delivery and he never preaches.

'Planet Earth' always succeeded in the emotional impact. "Ocean Deep" once again does that.

The undersea creatures are a great mix of the adorable and dangerous and there is a wonderful strangeness about some of them. The underwater world has a huge amount of beauty and mysteriousness, one that one really immerses in.

Nothing episodic or repetitive here either. Despite covering a lot, there is a real sense of the episode having its own individual story with real, complex emotions and conflicts and the inhabitants developed in a way a human character would in a film but does it better than several.

To conclude, more 'Planet Earth' magic. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I wanted to sleep but I can't!

[dakuchonekobing · 4/10 · 9 October 2020]

Don't misunderstand me! This is a masterpiece nature TV show, but I can't put 10 out of 10 with this episode. If you've watched 10 previous episodes, you can feel the same as me. The music in this episode is nothing special. It's still a good-making documentary episode, but it's the last one so I want more intense scenes. The whale shark and the baitfish scene is awesome but it's not enough. And I really like the sound editing in this ep, so realistic and interesting. For all 11 episodes, the final scene make a good message, but for only this episode, it's not an interesting one.