I have to say I was extremely excited when I found out that this series, hosted by my favorite narrator(David Attenborough) was going to be coming to Blu Ray. However, my anticipation quickly tourned sour when I found out that the HD versions would not include the supplemntal material found on the standard defintion release. I don't understand why the SD customers get an extra disc of meaty material( One of the special features is Planet Earth: The Future which is an indepth 150 minute documentary) along with another 110 minute documentary, and the HD customers are left out in the cold? Not to mention the HD versions are around $25 dollars more. Why the hell couldn't they have done a 5 Disc Set for all of the releases? This is what pisses people off.

I agree. I have pre-ordered it from Warner but I really may just cancel it. Why should I pay more money for less content?

They want me to support these new formats but yet they give me no incentive to.

When DVD first came out a big appeal and draw was that there was many times more content than on VHS. That was a big selling point for DVD, as well as the improved audio and video.

Shouldn't it be the same with these new formats?

I'm pissed as well, but want this series bad enough to deal with it. I'll rent the extra disc from Netflix and ... ahem well I will have it available if I want to watch it.

not only should you bold that sentence, but make the font at least a size 8 - I agree with ya...

If all that's not bad enough, The HD/BD versions will have Sigourney Weaver's narration instead of Attenborough's. That's the deal killer for me.

that's confirmed?! NO SALE!

Absol-freakin'-lutely. Check all the specs for the HD/BR producty and Sigourney is listed as Narrator. I caught a bit on Discovery HD and sure as shite, it was her voice and not the master's.

so any news if a HD UK edition is in the works?

WTF?

I thought if you ordered through Discovery, you got the Weaver version?

Link?

have'nt heard but if the guys in the main forum are correct, there's some talk over at the bits that the BBC versions will be ones produced for HD & BR. I was not able to find it on their site so, I'm really hoping this info is correct.

The discovery version is the "Weaver" version. It's listed as such in the 2nd paragraph of their description.

What's the big deal? I thought Sigourney did a nice job with the narration. I have not heard Attenborough's, but the reason I'm buying the series is for the visuals not the narration. Just curious as to your thoughts.

Do you have a source for that? Amazon's very specific bullet point on their listing states this:
Note: this edition features the original narration by David Attenborough

The problem isn't the narration, the problem is that the Weaver episodes are edited down and have had scenes taken out of them to reduce their run-times. The Attenborogh ones are complete and flow a lot better.

Discovery did the same thing for the 'Walking with Dinosaurs' series, replaced Kenneth Branagh's original narration, and I believe trimmed it down for US television. They thankfully released the original UK version on domestic US video.

The source was Amazon itself. Up until recently, it had Sigourney Weaver listed as the narrator with no mention of David Attenborough. Upon checking the current listing the description has been changed to identify Attenborough as the narrator and for that I am extemely pleased.

Every nature series worth watching IMHO, has Attenborough both at the helm and narrating every nuance that unfolds onscreen. I don't know of anyone more compelling in their explanation and presentations (Jane Goodall excepted) than him so, for me, his voice and presence lends credibility and an expected attention to detail that only he seems to bring to each series.

I have the Attenborough HD versions of P.E. but have been watching the Discovery versions with Sigourney, and while I have only sampled the Attenborough ones, I think I prefer Sigourney. (content aside)

This is complete and utter blasphemy!!! How the heck can you say that about the "father of the nature film". He is a legend and simply a great human being.Attenborough puts so much passion, not to mention the fact that he was their while they were filming,which you can tell when he is doing the narration.

Again, the only thng that sucks about this production, is that they cheapened the HD versions by not including the 5th disc of bonus features. If they included that...there is no way any sane human being should pass that up.

Also, there is a new Attenborough film(his final in the "Life" series) entitled, "Life in Cold Blood" which will discuss Amphibians and Reptitles. It is slated for release in 2008.Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see a GIGANTIC boxset once that is released of "The Life Collection of David Attenborough".

This is the set....with the new film in 2008...all in HD....and I will be so happy!!!!!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Collect...5800912&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Attenborough...5800912&sr=1-2
Not to mention I would love to see this in Blu ray as well

I didn't think Sigourney's narration was that bad. There were some scripting issues ("NEVER BEFORE has anyone filmed this worm!!!" "this astounding revelation about this shrimp is brought to you in life-affirming, history-shattering detail!!!"), but the narration wasn't bad.

I think the PE episodes were cut down to 43 minutes to be shown on regular hour blocks and to be shown in classrooms.

That's terrific that PEHD is going to be uncut.

Actually it is CUT since that's what the whole premise of this discussion was about. The Special features are nonexsistent(if I knew who to complain to about this I would) and therefore it is a cut version in my mind.

Wow! Ummm...are you OK?

Yes....why wouldn't I be?

Well maybe the extras on the Discovery set are just the extra scenes that they cut out then, and put them as extras? Not sure, just speculating.

I'd love this set too, and I'm actually considering buying an HD-DVD player for it. If it's screwed up though, I'll just wait.

ok people there shouldnt even be a discusionon this as it has been shown that the episodes that are on the HD DVD and BR versions will be the ORIGINAL DA narrated versions NOT the edited SW narrated ones....THe ONLY Supplemental material missing from this set would be the 5th disc extras including Planet Earth: The Future, which may be beacuse these are NOT in HD.......