From PBS Voices.
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In 1976 David Attenborough embarked on his most ambitious project ever. No-one had ever attempted a natural history series on this scale before. His reputation was on the line. This is the story behind TV’s first wildlife blockbuster, Life on Earth.
Life on Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure
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Life on Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure
Fifty years after production began, and in celebration of Attenborough’s 100th birthday, this documentary offers rare, behind-the-scenes insight into the making of the groundbreaking series. Featuring exclusive interviews with Attenborough and his original crew, the special captures the triumphs and setbacks of filming the series during a pivotal era in television history, when jet travel and color filming were relatively new.
Life on Earth was the first series to combine cutting-edge camera technology and techniques. Time-lapse, microphotography, and filming speeds of up to 10,000 frames per second were used to capture animal movement in ways never before seen — from striking rattlesnakes to leaping lemurs and hovering hummingbirds. New Kodak film stock allowed the team to produce some of the sharpest and most colorful wildlife footage at the time, while the new Canon 300 lens enabled the camera crew to film at dawn and dusk and document new animal behavior previously thought impossible to record.
Life on Earth became the first worldwide natural history blockbuster, mesmerizing viewers with incredible photography and transforming public perception of the natural world. The documentary details how the team captured some of the series’ most astounding moments — a lioness ferociously taking down a wildebeest, the rare moment a male Darwin’s frog “gives birth” by mouth, and Attenborough’s unforgettable encounter with mountain gorillas in Rwanda, often voted one of the greatest television moments of all time.
Upon its broadcast on PBS in 1982, Life on Earth quickly became a global phenomenon, commanding the attention of over 500 million people in more than 100 territories. Its extraordinary success launched five decades of ambitious wildlife storytelling and cemented Attenborough’s legacy as the most successful and influential wildlife filmmaker of our time.
