The Trials of Life

Colours look natural and well balanced, never too bright and aggressively vibrant. Contrast is good and the picture is quite sharp while still showing some film grain in darker sequences. The content of the series feels a little more factual and grown up compared to more recent series from the BBC as if it's trying to educate rather than just entertain the viewer. There's a distinct lack of thundering music, cameras flying over exotic locations, short narrative and all the rest. As the series is about the different stages of life we all face it's a little more varied than Life in the Undergrowth or Life of Birds where in the former for instance we might get a whole episode just on spiders. Nor is it location bound as the BBC series Africa and Planet Earth are. The footage of the Killer Whales hunting is especially impressive. Attenborough also makes more of an onscreen presence than he would do in later series as his age advanced and personally I find it a pleasure to see him on camera getting up close to the wildlife. We also get a little behind the scenes look at things too.