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Ocean Wilds

Ocean Wilds on DVD

If this DVD is any indication of how good HDTV can be, we're all for it.

And that's despite the fact that this DVD isn't HDTV.

Ocean Wilds, which documents the oceanic meanderings of Feodor Pitcairn, is a five part PBS series and two of the episodes are featured on this DVD. Both are fascinating and are gloriously shot in HD and with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (and released in anamorphic widescreen with all audio channels intact) - so if you're interested in getting a tantalizing glimpse of the future of TV (or just want to see a couple of very good ocean documentaries), this might be your disc.

Episode One is Realm of the Killer Whales and though the picture quality isn't as good as the other episode's, it's still magnificent. Shot around the coast of Canada's British Columbia, it offers some rare and welcome glimpses at Orcas and how they live.

Well, it does a lot more than that, too. We guess the Orcas may have been a tad camera shy, because not only did it take the filmmakers (videomakers?) two years to get the climactic "rubbing beach" section but they also cover a lot of other stuff that's going on in these waters, from the salmon and herring runs to looks at octopi and many other of the watery critters that inhabit this part of the world.

In the second episode, Pitcairn and his merry band hang out in the Azores archipelago, in the Atlantic ocean, to get some footage of the rarely photographed sperm whale. And boy do they get footage!

This episode is an audio/video tour de force, as well as an extremely interesting look at these gigantic predators. We're treated to beautiful footage of the Azores themselves, an island chain that's really the peaks of some volcanic mountains on the ocean floor, and the colors and images are truly spectacular.

Then there's the footage of the whales themselves, which includes HD-derived footage shot in extreme closeup as these gigantic mammals stick their huge noses into Pitcairn's business as he sticks his cameras in theirs. It's excellent stuff.

Warners/PBS has done a spectacular job with this DVD, despite some confusing (and downright wrong) labeling on the box. The anamorphic widescreen picture (16x9 TV compatible) is superb, and the surround sound immerses you in the water with the cameras and their subjects.

As for the box, well, it trumpets its anamorphic aspect ratio on the back, just a little bit above a box announcing that it's a "standard" version preserving the original aspect ratio of the original television presentation. Well, that may or may not be true, depending upon what you mean by "standard." To us, it means old fashioned 4x3 TV, the squarish screen we've known for over fifty year now. Here, however, we were delighted to find out that it ain't so with this disc - it's gloriously wide.

Ocean Wilds, from Warner Home Video
120 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround.
Produced by Mose Richards, Directed by Feodor Pitcairn

 

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Updated May 13, 2006