Publisher	BBC, 1993
Region	Europe
Length	174 minutes (6 episodes of 30 minutes each)
Extras	No

Produced by Alastair Fothergill and presented by David Attenborough. This is the most important DVD on Antarctica. The disc contains the six episodes that were broadcast on TV in 1993. The episodes are woven around the changing of the seasons on the southern hemisphere:

1. The Bountiful Sea - Introduction that covers the growth of ice, which effectively doubles the surface of the continent. Humpback whales and seabirds feed on krill which is grazing underneath the sea ice.
2. The Ice Retreats - Spring on Antarctica. Elephant seals return to occupy their beaches, Macaroni and Gentoo penguins leave the sea to form new colonies. There are marvellous shots of Snow Petrels in slow motion that seem to dance in the sky against a dark background.
3. The Race to Breed - Summer; images of the large colony of Chinstrap Penguins on Deception Island. The footage of mites that have become alive again as the ice melts are also intriguing.
4. The Door Closes - The end of the breeding season has come; Adelie Penguin colonies empty. The Emperor Penguins are the only species that remains here.
5. The Big Freeze - When the ice seems deserted above the sealevel, life florishes under water: seals, sea stars and other invertebrates are at home here.
6. Footsteps in the Snow - The last episode deals with the early explorers who visited Antarctica, and with modern sciency that is being carried out.

Publisher	NATURE/PBS
Region	None
Length	168 minutes
Extras	Ne

This American production looks at Antarctica from three different angels: wind, icebergs and life under water. The content, over three hours in length, is very interesting, but presented in a different manner than Life In The Freezer. A lot of images were shot around the American base McMurdo, where a Weddell Seal is equipped with a camera that reveals unique recordings of its hunting techniques to capture fish underneath the ice. This NTSC-DVD will also play fine on most European DVD players. The main menu gives two selections:

1. The End of the Earth, which effectively contains two programs (that do have their own openings):
   • Part I is about the role and influence of the katabatic winds
   • Part II deals with the effect that icebergs have on the environment.
2. The chapter Under Antarctic Ice shows how Norbert Wu and his team dive into the water to film the abundance of life under the ice. Wu is known for his photo book on the same topic and has also contributed photographs to the site Underwater Field Guide.

Publisher	2000 Saint Thomas Productions/Canal+
Region	Europe
Length	approx. 3 hours (in total for all four documentaries)
Extras	Yes

Original title: Le Monde De Luc Jacquet. Luc Jacquet is the maker of March Of The Penguins (La Marche de l'Empereur, next title below). Before he hit the big screen with his penguins, Jacquet created four documentairies, all of which are absolutely worthwhile viewing. These four documentaries have been released on DVD and can easily compete with BBC's Life In The Freezer. The information, spoken in English, is very good. The Emperor Penguins on the cover (left upper picture) of the English version are misleading, the species does not figure in any of the four documentaries! The European version (left lower picture) is a bit more accurate, showing seals.

• Penguin Baywatch (53 min.) - Penguins are not the only animals that play a role in this episode. These recordings were probably taken on the Crozet Islands, where large King Penguins congregate. We witness how these seabirds travel between the colony and the sea to deliver food to their chicks. There is an unusual shot of King Penguins that stand guard next to a wounded penguin. The death of one animal contantly allows for survival of other animals: Killer Whales patrol the coastal waters and hunt for penguins, the after-birth of Elephant Seals means food for Skua's and Gulls, and the carcass of an Elephant Seal means a delicious meal for Giant Petrels. Finally, Fur Seal and Wandering Albatross are included in the documentary, which shows the harsh reality of life and death. Minor points: a Kelp Gull chick is being called a 'Skua', and while showing foraging Storm Petrels far out on sea one can hear the 'sky call' of the Light-Manteled Albatross. It is unlikely that this sound can be heard at sea; (it can be heard a couple of times in this episode, so it would have been nice had images of the albatross been included since it does breed on the isles!)
• The Tick And The Bird (53 min.) - The Laysan Albatros on the Hawaii archipel is host to ticks, parasites that have finetuned their breeing cycle to the one of the albatrosses. All in all, an unusual viewpoint for a documentary on albatrosses, but an interesting one. Besides macro shots of the ticks there are also microscopic moving images which show every tiny detail, incluing the organ, on the tick's legg, that it uses to smell! There are a few shots of Black-footed Albatrosses too.
• Springtime For The Weddell Seals (27 min.) - Zo onhandig als de Weddell-zeehond zich op het ijs beweegt, zo gracieus zwemt het dier onder het ijs. De reportage toont de zorg van een moeder voor haar pasgeboren jong. In de buurt nestelen Sneeuwstormvogels, waarvan ook enkele opnamen te zien zijn.
• The Leopard Seal's Share (30 min.) - Beautiful video shots of swimming, yawning, and hunting Leopard Seals, taken at the Antarctic peninsula. The Leopard Seal is once again 'gestigmatiseerd' als een pinguïnjager (omringd door Wilson's stormvogels en Kelpmeeuwen die voedselrestanten van het water oppikken), terwijl dat alleen geldt voor de individuen die nabij een pinguïnkolonie leven. Meestal eten zeeluipaarden krill, waarvan overigens ook schitterende beelden getoond worden.

Publisher	France, 2005
Region	Europe
Length	77 minutes
Extras	No

This was the Luc Jacquet's (1967) big succes, after he had made fame with Microcosmos and Travelling Birds (Peulple Migrateur). March Of The Penguins (2005) was filmed at Dumont d'Urville in Adélie Land. This movie is about the penguin of all penguins that everybody knows yet relatively only few have seen: the Emperor.

The story follows the breeding cycle of the Emperor Penguin and as such, choses a storyboard which has been told before: some many of these documentaires have already been made on these penguins. But if you like watching nice shots of this bird, then this DVD is recommended. It's not very instructive though, there are other DVD's that are better at this, reviewed here too, such as Le Monde De Luc Jacquet. The original French version (depicted here) tell the story through the penguins eyes as it were; we hear what they think. It seems the English version has, fortunately, a more traditional spoken way of commenting.)

Publisher	IMAX
Region	Europe
Length	174 minutes
Extras	No

Not very interesting shots taken from a plane flying over Antarctica. Maybe it is because I do not have the right TV system to enjoy these images?

Publisher	Natural History New Zealand Ltd.
Region	None. NTSC and PAL compatible.
Length	100 minutes
Extras	No
ISBN	1-877334-29-4

I recommend this to everyone who would like to watch an intesting introduction on penguin species.

The available spoken languages are English, German, Chinese and Japanese.

For more information, visit Natural History New Zealand.

Publisher	Natural History New Zealand Ltd.
Region	None. NTSC and PAL compatible.
Length	55 minutes
Extras	No
ISBN	1-877334-31-6

L.E. Richdale published a number of books on albatrosses and penguins, and he became the first wildlife guide on Taiaroa Head, 25 km off Dunedin (New Zealand), where he protected Royal Albatrosses agains egg taking and other visitors. Taiaroa is a unique colony, since we have witness its creation in the fifties. A visitor's centre was built in 1989.

The Royal Albatrosses (Diomedea sanfordi) that breed here are being studied extensively, weighted, ringed, fed, activities that form a major part of this documentary. Sometimes one wonders how wild these birds really are. Of course one has to realize that a breeding cycle lasts over a year, so much of the time nothing really happens at all. Despite the fact that human interactions form a substantial part of the footage, it is still worthwhile to witness how these majestic birds have established themselves on Taiaroa Head.

For more information, visit Natural History New Zealand.

Publisher	Encounter Kaikoura
Region	None
Length	25 minutes
Extras	No

This DVD shows footage of chiefly whales and dolphins from the waters off Kaikoura, New Zealand. Dennis Buurman is a great photographer, who has once again shot nice images of these animals. But that is all there is, really. There is just background music and no comment, which is a missed opportunity which makes this title nothing more than, indeed, 'impressions'. Most seabirds are also out of scope during the 25 minutes.

For more information, visit Encounter Kaikoura.

Publisher	Digital XL 2003 (Originally The Cousteau Society 1975)
Region	None
Length	96 minutes
Extras	No

Publisher	National Film Archive, 1991
Region	None
Length	70 minutes
Extras	Yes

Publisher	British Film Institute
Region	None
Length	Main movie: 80 minutes. Extra feature: 45 minutes.
Extras	Yes

Publisher	Channel Four Television Corp.
Region	Europe
Length	206 minutes (2 DVD's).
Extras	No
ISBN	908159157-8

A more or less truthful interpretation of Shackleton's expedition to the Weddell Sea. The first DVD disc contains the six episodes that were broadcast on TV. The creation of the plan, selection of the crew, begging for finances, the threat of war that menaces the enterprise... the story evolves from A-Z covering all aspects of the expedition. Occasionally it is a bit 'clean', the shooting of the dogs is not shown, and I wonder how clean Shackleton and his men still were after the long deprivations they went through. Nonetheless it is a beautiful series, filmed near Greenland. The 'making of' on disc two shows the uncertain conditions under which some film was shot. Yet more interesting is the documentary on the real Shackleton expedition (1914), with historical footage and good background information.

Reviews can be found at www.branaghcompendium.com