From Snow Leopards to Turtle Hatchlings, 'Planet Earth II' Is About Revelation

By
BBC America

Ten years after Planet
Earth
premiered on TV (on BBC in the U.K. and on Discovery Channel in the
U.S.), transforming the way audiences saw their planet, the Emmy-winning
docuseries is back -- this time taking a much closer look at the habitats of
the natural world. In a simulcast premiere, Planet
Earth II
will make its debut on AMC, BBC America and Sundance TV Saturday,
Feb. 18, with the remaining episodes airing every Saturday on BBC America.

Thanks to new advances in technology (mostly in remotely operated
cameras) and an interest in providing audiences with a new perspective on
Earth, Planet Earth II will put
audiences inside the journeys seen on-screen. “They [will be able to] empathize
with the challenges that the individual animals are dealing with,” says Michael
Gunton, executive producer of the new series, adding that unlike its predecessor,
the show will not have a God’s-eye view of the planet. Rather, the view is from
the ground up. “It gives you a sense of ‘that moment.’”

MORE: One Leonardo DiCaprio, Two Documentaries

It also creates unexpected excitement and tension, as seen
in a popular sequence from the premiere episode, “Islands,” where marine iguana
hatchlings sprint across the beaches of Fernandina, in the Galapagos Islands, to escape a cluster of
hungry snakes that look like Medusa’s head emerging from the coastal rocks. “If
I had a [British] pound for every single person who said they shouted at the
television during that scene, I would not be here. I would be in my helicopter,
flying off,” Gunton says of the surprise reaction to the premiere. “To get
millions of people cheering for a reptile is quite an achievement. It's not a
cute, furry little bunny. It's an iguana.” 

The unexpected empathy created for the iguana extends to other
animals as well, such as bats fighting scorpions in “Deserts” and the hyenas of
Harar, Ethopia, in “Cities.” But there are also tongue-in-cheek moments that
come from most of the birds seen on the series -- there's even a Sex and the City joke about one bower
bird’s attempt at mating.

Of course, the true sense of wonder comes from never-before-seen
footage of snow leopards in the Himalayas in “Mountains,” a favorite of
returning narrator David Attenborough; the discovery of a new species, Araguaia
dolphins of the Amazon river, captured in detail for the first time during
“Jungles”; the unexpected aerial art of a starling murmuration seen in “Cities”;
and the millions of chinstrap penguins on Antarctica’s remote Zavodosvski
Island. “I think we gave the sense of the extraordinariness of that place,”
Gunton says of capturing the aquatic birds as they pile into the roaring ocean
during the premiere. 

But for all the awe-inspiring moments, the one that may
impact audiences the most comes near the end of “Cities,” the docuseries’ final
episode, exploring the manmade habitat. On the beaches of Barbados, hundreds of
sea turtle hatchlings are born to a confusing world of natural light -- the
moon, which is supposed to lead them to the ocean -- and the bright lights of
the city, which draws the hatchlings inward to oncoming traffic and other
perils. While many animals have adapted in astounding ways to the impact of
humanity and manmade infrastructures, the series reminds audiences that there
are wonders at stake.

Following documentaries like Leonardo DiCaprio’s Before the Flood, which confronted
audiences with the reality of a world affected by climate change, Planet Earth II also has to acknowledge humanity
-- or, as Gunton puts it, “the challenges beyond Mother Nature.”

“There was a groundswell about what’s happening,” he says,
which spurred the creation of the second series, while adding that this is not
a conservation documentary. “This series was not the place to do that.”

While the docuseries did get some criticism for not overtly
addressing issues of climate change or the impending extinction of certain
specifies when it aired in the U.K., Gunton believes they got the tone and
balance right. “The trick is doing it so it doesn’t feel at odds with the
general theme of the show, which is about wonder.”

Collectively, all of these moments of wonder -- the happy,
the scary, the violent and the upsetting -- will lead, Gunton hopes, to a
moment of revelation. “This is an opportunity for people to look up and open
their eyes to a world that we’re only a small part of,” he says, adding that many,
he thinks, will “feel liberated by that.”