Street roots., January 26, 2018, Page 9, Image 9

News
Page 10
P H O T O B Y G A V IN T H U R S T O N /C O U R T E S Y O F BBC A M E R IC A
David Attenborough isaccom paniedby a leatherback turtle. Weighing over h a lf a ton, it is largest turtle on the planet, but its numbers have fallen
dramatically. Attenborough, the narrator o f BBC's “B lue Planet II,” traveled to Trinidad to meet a community that is trying to save them.
Natural Wonder
David Attenborough is using his famous voice to turn attention
to a part of the planet that urgently needs our help: the oceans
BY M EG MUNDELL
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
T t ’s the voice that’s spawned a thousand
I imitators: wise but warm, avuncular and
JL slightly husky, breathless With enthusiasm.
The voice of a born storyteller, a plummy
baritone infused with dry humor and a limitless
capacity for wonder. For every vole scurrying
through the undergrowth, there’s a David
Attenborough impersonator doing a dramatic
YouTube voiceover.
At age 91, Sir David Attenborough has
racked up 32 honorary degrees, written dozens
of books and had some 15 species named after
him, including an echidna, a carnivorous plant,
a miniature marsupial lion and a weevil. He has
been called the greatest broadcaster of our
time.
At age 11, he began his career by selling
newts from a nearby pond to zoologists at his
local university. After his first on-camera
appearance, his boss declared his teeth too big
for a TV career. From his pioneering days of
live TV broadcasts, where he wrangled a
menagerie of animals in the studio, he began -
making wildlife documentaries, then rose
through the BBC ranks to senior management
roles. In 1973, he quit management to return
to his true love: writing and presenting natural
history documentaries.'
In his newest series^ “Blue Planet II,” the
much-loved broadcaster and wildlife filmmaker
revisits Earth’s final frontier: the mysterious
oceans covering more than 70 percent of our
planet’s surface.
Ambitious in scale and gorgeously shot, the
series casts new light on the oceans: vast and
mysterious, awe-inspiring and terrifying,
teeming with life yet imperiled by human
carelessness. Most people now live in cities,
and being disconnected from nature makes it
harder to care. By revealing this hidden world,
Attenborough hopes to create an emotional
connection - so that we feel not just wonder
arid awe, but also empathy and compassion for
the creatures that inhabit this watery realm, a
world he has spent a lifetime fighting to protect
After six decades in the business, can nature
still blow Attenborough’s mind?
“Yes, from minute one,” he said. “From this
(new footage), I’m absolutely astounded, really.
There were so many new things.”
The series journeys through coral reefs,
undersea forests, coastal zones and the ocean’s
darkest depths. Some of the startling footage,
including shots of eels diving into a bizarre lake
at the bottom of fhe sea, left the seasoned
narrator momentarily speechless.
“I couldn’t believe what I saw. It takes a bit
of time to get your mind around that sort of
thing. How can there be a lake at the bottom of
the sea? And then it explodes like a volcano!”
Four years in the making, the
groundbreaking project seeks to capture the
vast and teeming diversity of our oceans.
Working closely with scientists, Attenborough’s
25-strong crew spent more than 6,000 hours
underwater, making 125 expeditions across 39
countries. They^lso took risks: producer Orla
Doherty clocked up 500 hours in a deep-sea
submersible that sprung a perilous leak deep
beneath Antarctic waters (insuring the whole
project was a total nightmare).
Technology has progressed somewhat since
the first “Blue Planet” aired in 2001, and it is
used to dazzling effect in the new eight-part
series: from re-breathers, a diving apparatus
tfyat lets divers stay down longer without
disrupting fish, to tiny probe cams that can
peek into rock pool crevices. Working with
marine scientists, the crew mounted cameras
on the backs of orca and used tow-cams to
zoom alongside dolphins and tuna.
“The amazing thing is how every film has
See ATTENBOROUGH, page 11