Flying Monsters 3D

http://movies.nationalgeographic.com/movies/flying-monsters

About the Narrator: Sir David Attenborough

Sir David Attenborough is the world’s leading natural history broadcaster. His distinguished career in television spans more than 50 years. His films and series have won nearly every major award in television, including two British Academy awards and several Emmys. His programs have been seen by audiences around the world and have received some of the highest ratings for factual programming. The DVDs of his series and his accompanying books have also sold millions of copies internationally.

About Flying Monsters 3D

Soaring to the giant screen in October, 2011!

For thousands of years, humans have believed that there were once flying monsters. Such creatures became mythologized, with stories about them shared around the world. But could they have really existed? About 220 million years ago dinosaurs were on the rise to dominating the Earth. But another group of reptiles was about to make an extraordinary leap—control of the skies. They were the pterosaurs—after insects, the first animals ever to fly. The story of how and why these mysterious creatures took to the air is more fantastical than any fiction.

In Flying Monsters 3D, Sir David Attenborough, the world’s leading naturalist, sets out to uncover the truth about the enigmatic pterosaurs. State-of-the-art, 3-D CGI (by creators whose credits include Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Avatar) re-creates these spectacular creatures and takes us into their world. Attenborough works with scientists and engineers to understand the incredible story of their evolution. It’s a story told through a series of stunning environments, including Big Bend National Park in Texas, Lyme Regis in the United Kingdom, and China’s remote Liaoning Province. In many ways the story of the pterosaur is the story of every creature that has ever flown.

As Attenborough discovers, pterosaurs were some of the most extraordinary creatures that ever existed. Pioneering scientific techniques have revealed new details about these creatures, from miraculous discoveries in the pterosaur embryo showing how they might have flown from birth, to CT scans of their skeletons that resolve mysteries that have perplexed scientists for decades. But it is their ability to fly that made pterosaurs revolutionary. When a lizard the size of a giraffe could “defy gravity,” it calls into question the very physics of flight itself. How and why did pterosaurs fly? For Attenborough, these are the central questions to answer and represent two of the greatest mysteries in paleontology. Driven by the information he finds and the data he collects, Attenborough starts to piece together the evidence of a true flying enigma.

Once in the skies, the pterosaur would have surveyed a fascinating world, and for the first time, through cutting-edge technology, we can relive this experience in 3-D. With a pterosaur’s-eye view of a hyper-realistic prehistoric Earth, the audience is immersed in the awe-inspiring challenges of prehistoric survival, from courtship and hunting to flying at 30 miles per hour across turbulent prehistoric oceans and swooping down on their prey. The 3-D technology is also fundamental to Attenborough’s evidence. The true genius of pterosaur flight is revealed as the audience “walks inside” the hollow tunnels of the pterosaur skeleton in hyper-realistic 3-D.

The marvel of pterosaur flight has evolutionary echoes that resonate even today. Modern birds demonstrate skills that pterosaurs pioneered, and American engineers show us how they are using pterosaurs to redesign military aircraft. Attenborough takes to the skies himself to prove the point. He flies a glider with a 40-foot wingspan—the same size as the largest of the pterosaurs. We can appreciate the size of these giant reptiles because he’s not alone—he’s flying with the pterosaurs. It’s a 3-D aerial ballet like no other. This is a moment to appreciate the magnificence of a creature that dominated the skies for 100 million years. As Attenborough explains how the age of the pterosaurs ended, he closes the final chapter of a story that has charted the rise of flight itself, undoubtedly one of nature’s greatest gifts.

Flying Monsters 3D is a groundbreaking film that uses cutting-edge 3-D filming technology and 3-D CGI to bring the story of giant flying monsters and their prehistoric world to life for audiences around the world.

Here be monsters

Sceptics love to poke fun at cryptozoologists, but there are strange creatures out there whose existence has yet to be confirmed by science
Carole Jahme
Friday 15 July 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2011/jul/15/here-be-monsters-cryptozoology

I'm not sure who or what is more monstrous: the smug sceptics or the scant cryptids.

Let me explain. Having interviewed Debbie Martyr (research conservationist with Flora and Fauna International) 12 years ago about her apparent sighting of the primate cryptid the orang pendek in Sumatra and more recently interviewing ape expert Ian Redmond on his research into sasquatch/big foot (supported by David Attenborough and Jane Goodall), over the years I have acquired a fascination for primate cryptids. So I was eager to attend a recent lecture at the Zoological Society London (ZSL) entitled "Cryptozoology: science or pseudoscience?".

Henry Gee, a senior editor at Nature looking and behaving like a jovial, off-duty roadie dressed in grubby T shirt and ruby crocs, chaired the event in which Drs Michael Woodley, Charles Paxton and Darren Naish presented their crypto data.

Paxton reminded us that atmospheric electrical disturbances such as sprites, blue jets and elves were only identified in the 1980s and 1990s when they were photographed. Until then, anecdotal reports of flashes of light above the clouds were frequently ignored. Scientists used to dismiss accounts of meteorites as paranormal fantasy and poured scorn on eyewitness descriptions from lucky survivors of rogue waves – until satellite images in the 1990s confirmed their existence. The mountain gorilla wasn't believed to exist by Western science until two were shot dead in 1902, and the bonobo was not credited with being a unique species until 1930. In the past 20 years, 70 species of primate have been newly described, including a Vietnamese gibbon and the Bili ape: a large, sub-species of chimp from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2009, a Papua New Guinean crater yielded up a cat-sized species of woolly rat, among other previously undiscovered creatures.

In an age of satellites and robotic submersibles, it's easy to assume, with a "been there done that" attitude, that we know all there is to know about Earth. Clearly nature is far from being fully understood by science, and yet some sceptics persist in contemptuously sneering at almost everything outside of their immediate knowledge. With their high-systemised inability to tolerate newness, they stymie open scientific debate, bully original thinkers and drive away those with fascinating new data on unknown species.

I was sad to witness this and their non-reflective guffawing at ZSL. Paxton and Naish seemed particularly conscious of this spiked criticism and made a point of distancing themselves from misleading and bad science. Nothing wrong with that, but they were so ardent in this respect that the friend I was with mistakenly thought the panel were themselves anti-cryptozoology.

The three speakers focused their statistical analysis on sea monsters, Paxton saying that he prefers the term monster to cryptid. He also wanted to assure the audience that, "taxpayers have no fear, your money is not spent on crypto research, scientists do this in their spare time." Paxton's talk underscored the fact that anomalies should be actively pursued and science should be about wonderment.

But how should science deal with low-frequency phenomena that might well be real? One approach is to break witness reports down and analyse interesting properties. To illustrate, Paxon used his data of "initial reported distance" from sea monsters given by witnesses aboard boats. Significantly, initial sighting are usually reported close to the boat. Paxton wasn't sure why this might be. I would suggest that it is because witnesses do not know what they do not know – they have to see it close-up to be confident they are witnessing something unexpected. An unknown creature seen at a distance could be dismissed as a dolphin or a piece of wood. Initial sightings of terrestrial cryptids also tend to be at close proximity, and again the same factor may well apply.

Naish addressed the "prehistoric survivor paradigm". Some 65m years ago, during the late cretaceous, the coelacanth, the plesiosaur and many other species disappeared from the fossil record during a mass extinction. But in 1938 and again in 1999 two species of coelacanth were discovered. This Lazarus-like survival of the coelacanth gives confidence to those who suggest a long-necked surviving plesiosaur swims in our lochs and oceans. As a palaeontologist Naish was able to explain how the vertebrae of plesiosaurs could not move in the flexible, swan-like motion often described in reported sightings. But he believes this is a case of wrong classification rather than an indication that sea monsters do not exist. We were reminded of the new Indonesian species of ray and shark and the two recently identified (1991/2002) species of beaked whale, inhabiting a deep-sea niche: the deep sea and its inhabitants are barely understood.

During the Q&A an elderly sceptic quipped: "Some people say they've seen aliens and have even talked to them!" The panel trod an uneasy path as they attempted to accommodate these sorts of jibes while keeping on track.

The three speakers confirmed that their modelling indicates there are between 10 and 50 large species of marine animals yet to be described. They were also in agreement that marine sampling methods for cryptids must be established and remain constant.

For those readers left wanting more, the Weird Weekend is the biggest gathering of cryptozoologists in the world, held in Devon in August. Naish will again be speaking.

Life in Cold Blood

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/life-in-cold-blood/

Watch the full documentary now.

Billed as the last in David Attenborough’s series of Life nature documentaries, Life in Cold Blood leaves you hoping that proves not to be the case. For once more, as he has done many times in his distinguished career, Attenborough gently – and unobtrusively – delivers an utterly fascinating insight into the world in which we live.

Life in Cold Blood looks at reptiles and amphibians, bringing into focus a series of creatures very much of all shapes and sizes.

Across the episodes that make up the series, the filmmakers delve into the lives and mannerisms of its subjects with some quite stunning camera work, bringing to our screens things that have quite simply never been seen before.

As much as perhaps we shouldn’t take for granted the heights that Attenborough’s work easily scales, Life in Cold Blood happily matches the standards of his earlier series.

Often genuinely jaw-dropping, and never less than completely absorbing, the DVD set is rounded off with some equally intriguing bonus features that delve into the complex production of the program itself.

If Life in Cold Blood really does bring the Life series to an end, then that’s even more reason to cherish it. Regardless, this is an extraordinary series that’ll make you look at snakes, frogs, crocodiles, and turtles in very different ways. Unmissable.

Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series

http://www.buzzflash.com/store/reviews/874

Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series (2007 DVD) 5 Discs: 550 Minutes
Narrated by David Attenborough
BUZZFLASH REVIEWS
Description from the BBC:

"With an unprecedented production budget of $25 million, and from the makers of Blue Planet: Seas of Life, comes the epic story of life on Earth. Five years in production, over 2,000 days in the field, using 40 cameramen filming across 200 locations, shot entirely in high definition, this is the ultimate portrait of our planet. A stunning television experience that captures rare action, impossible locations and intimate moments with our planet's best-loved, wildest and most elusive creatures. From the highest mountains to the deepest rivers, this blockbuster series takes you on an unforgettable journey through the daily struggle for survival in Earth's most extreme habitats. Planet Earth takes you to places you have never seen before, to experience sights and sounds you may never experience anywhere else."

You’ll be filled with awe and amazement every time you watch this stunning BBC series about our planet’s best-loved, wildest and most elusive creatures, captured on breathtaking, high-definition film in the Earth’s most extreme habitats. Shot entirely in high-definition film, with revolutionary new aerial photography. From the team behind Blue Planet, including the esteemed and beloved Sir David Attenborough."

From Monsters and Critics:

This excellent documentary explores the round blue ball that we call home in this universe and delves into places that no camera has gone before. All narrated by the harmonious tones of Sir David Attenborough.

“A hundred years ago, there were one and a half billion people on Earth. Now over six billion crowd our fragile planet. But even so, there are still places barely touched by humanity. This series will take you to the last wildernesses and show you the planet and its wildlife as you have never seen them before.”

Planet Earth, Part 1: From Pole to Pole
Planet Earth, Part 2: Mountains
Planet Earth, Part 3: Fresh Water
Planet Earth, Part 4: Caves
Planet Earth, Part 5: Deserts
Planet Earth, Part 6: Ice Worlds
Planet Earth, Part 7: Great Plains
Planet Earth, Part 8: Jungles
Planet Earth, Part 9: Shallow Seas
Planet Earth, Part 10: Seasonal Forests
Planet Earth, Part 11: Ocean Deep
Planet Earth: The Future, Part 1 - Saving Species
Planet Earth: The Future, Part 2 - Into the Wilderness
Planet Earth: The Future, Part 3 - Living Together

Another online reviewer:

To their credit, the producers of Planet Earth give viewers the opportunity to get a glimpse of the stunning beauty of (what is left of) the natural world that is inaccessible to most humans. Planet Earth producers explore the different natural habitats such as the seas, caves, great plains, and forests in the first four discs. Thanks to the BBC, the producers have been able to mobilize top-notch talent and state-of-the-art equipment to accomplish this tour de force. Like other media productions made about the natural world over the last 30 years, Planet Earth helps raise awareness about nature’s beauty and diversity as well as the human footprint on nature. One of the greatest merits of the series is to market the huge economic value of the environmental services that nature renders scot-free to humanity, e.g., pollinating, cleaning water, cleansing the atmosphere, and restoring soil.

Blog Critics.org:

How does one even begin to lay down the words that would even dare to try to encompass and review the DVD boxset of the BBC’s nature documentary/mini-series Planet Earth, and not instantly feel insignificant and otherwise insufficient for the task? Bearing in mind that the overall cost of production was around $25 million and that filming occurred over the span of 62 countries, 204 individual locations, all over a period of five years, perhaps such feelings are not altogether unwarranted.

Produced by Alastair Fothergill, also responsible for the successful The Blue Planet series, each of the eleven episodes of Planet Earth focuses on one of the Earth’s natural habitats and examines its indigenous features, along with the types of fauna to be found there. More than a few of these locations and the animals living therein are spectacles that have never previously been filmed, and were only achieved through the use of some fairly innovative camera techniques and technology. Previously unseen animal behaviors include: wolves chasing caribou as they are aerially observed and filmed, snow leopards hunting markhor in the Himalayas, grizzly bear cubs leaving their den for the first time, crab-eating macaques that swim underwater, and over a hundred sailfish hunting all together.

Simply put, the filmmakers have managed to capture some of the most amazing footage of animals in their native habitat, ever. Period.