With more than 70% of its area covered in water, Earth is indeed a ‘Blue Planet’. Man might have ventured out into the space to conquer the moon, but to him, the depths of the oceans still remain mysterious as ever. This exhaustive BBC TV- series was the first serious attempt to comprehensively document the natural history of earth’s oceans and it is a perfect collector’s item as a special edition DVD box-set.

This 4- disc-series takes us on a fascinating pole-to-pole journey of earth’s oceans, making us aware of the sheer scale, power and complexity of the seas where the cycle of life originally began and flourished. It is surprising to know that the sea-inhabitants comfortably outnumber the land-inhabitants by a long distance! The series examines the effect of the changing seasons and that of the high and low tides on the marine life. It shows how the coral reefs were formed and how they became the ‘rain-forests’ of sea, a thriving habitat for various marine-species. We also get to see the frozen ice-worlds of Arctic and Antarctic, where life depends on the annual freeze cycle and where the advent of spring and retreat of ice, provides the only time for the animals to eat and store food!

The most impressive and interesting portrayal is of the unimaginable depths of the ocean, the submarine-crew manages to capture some never-before-seen footage under extreme conditions of pitch-black dark; sub-zero temperatures and 400-times the atmospheric pressure. With their transparent- often bio-luminiscent lighted bodies, large eyes, enormous mouths and massive teeth, those deep sea-species look straight-out of a sci-fi alien movie!

‘The Blue Planet’ is not only about graphic portrayal of sharks and whales; squids and turtles; polar bears and walruses; reefs and bays- it is also about how Man is destroying the marine habitats with senseless tinkering with the environment.