I am planning on getting this for my dad for his birthday. I think he will love it. I am confused though. Some people said Sigourney Weaver is the narrator(yuck!!) while others have said not to worry BOTH Attenbourough and Weaver are included on here. I am skeptical. I REFUSE to buy this with Weaver, and will only accept the true and original David Attenborough. Are both versions available on either DVD, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray?

No Attenborough= No sale!

Discovery Channel is releasing it with Weaver narrating. BBC is releasing it with Attenborough narrating. Just make sure you get the BBC release and you'll be fine.

The Discovery DVD will have Sigourney narrating. The BBC release will be done with David Attenborough.

Is this the Attenborough release, why does it say Weaver is listed. I'm confused.

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Earth-C...?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

I'm guessing you need the R2 realese to get Richard Attenborough

Good lord, how many Attenboroughs have narrated this thing?

But no, you won't need the R2, just the BBC version. Despite what Amazon has at the top of its listing, down farther it specifically says the BBC version of the DVD is narrated by David (not Richard) Attenborough. This is confirmed in the product description at BBC America's Web store.

Discovery Channel usually finds American actors to do the narration for the BBC imported series, part of this reason I believe is due to the metric system and different terms between the US and the UK. Kinda reminds me of Walking With Dinosaurs when I heard Avery Brooks' voice from watching it on the Disc. Channel and then being surprised after buying the DVD to hear Kenneth Branagh's voice (which is much superior BTW. Pretty lame if you ask me.

I love David Attenborough's narration (see: Blue Planet), but I thought Sigourney Weaver's narration was terrific when I watched Planet Earth on Discovery. Truthfully, I will be okay either way.

The Attenbourough narrated episodes have footage that are not in the Weaver narrated ones. So even if you like both narrations, the one with Attenbourough is the way to go.

from what I've read (digitalbits) the HiDef edition (and standard DVD version I believe) will be the original unedited UK versions.

So that amazon link provided is for the one with Attenbourough? I'm so getting that. Attenbourough has been a great narrator.

Can someone explain to me why all extras on the Standard Version is not also on the bluray version?

That 150 minute documentary on the standard version sounds great.

All you hear about are the advantages of the extra storage and then they charge more for the HD version and drop the extras. Warner did the same thing with the Departed.

That's only half of the story. Sigourney had an argument with Attenborough about the final draft for Alien: Planet Earth and the similar names and ever since then his people have refused to speak to her people. The BBC solved this by speaking direct with Fox so the version in the USA has Sigourney's voiceover and Attenborough gets to voice Mother in Alien: Planet Earth.

That's what I heard.

Got shipping confirmation email from DVDPlanet for this yesterday. Isn't this about 2 weeks early?

Amazon's spec list for this release is 1.33:1 -- could that be true?!?!

I was just going to comment on this, that's pretty damn weak.

Ah well, I want it. Pre-ordered.

If you receive it, post about it. I could just go ahead and cancel my Amazon pre-order and get this one now.

Yeah really. From what I've seen on the discovery Channel, this is filmed in WS. was the BBC version full screen ??? very confusing specs!

Amazon's listing is whack!

To confirm: there will be four versions of Planet Earth: HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, regular DVD w/ Attenborough, and regular DVD w/ Weaver. All are widescreen 1.78:1. The Weaver version (only available at the Discovery.com website) is the version NOT to get, unless you're a big Ripley fan, as it's cut down from the original version. The high-def versions have no extras.

Well if they are widescreen, I'm a happy camper... especially with that applying to the Attenborough version. I still won't really believe it until I see it but this makes me feel somewhat better.

By how much is it cut? Discovery.com lists the Weaver set as 7 hours 53 minutes on 5 DVDs. (I actually like her narration.)

Well, Amazon has now corrected the aspect ratio.

i like Weaver's narration (although, Attenborough is also my preferred narrator) but the idea that it may be cut down from the original BBC series bothered me. the description says 90 minutes not shown on Discovery (not sure what that entails however).

i went ahead and ordered the Planet Earth/Blue Planet bundle from amazon UK and it should arrive any day now. the question now is... should i get the $250 Life Collection set from UK as well??? gah, my wallet is crying.

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once the HDDvd/Bluray thing settles... Planet Earth series will be the 1st HD set i will buy!

Got it yesterday! It looks great (and is widescreen and 5.1 audio).