BBC Earth - Wild Patagonia [ 2016 ] Blu-Ray

Prequel - the subtitle issue:1. This Dutch import has caused some viewers a problem with removing subtitles. This cannot be done from an on-screen menu as there isn’t one. However, the player handset has a button called subtitle and this can be pressed to choose your preferred option including ‘off.’ You have to wait for all the preview adverts to finish before the button will work, which it does the moment the film starts.2. Review:This is a three part documentary – 1 - Fire and ice; 2 - Heat and Dusk; 3 - Life on the Edge – with each section lasting 50 minutes. There are no extras.The voice over is provided in English read by actor Santiago Cabrera. He was born in Venezuela but lived in Chile until training as an actor in London. Right from the start one has a strong feeling that he is completely interested in what he is narrating, perhaps because he is an actor where communication skills are crucial and his own life history, and that adds enormously to the viewer’s engagement. His idiomatic delivery of indigenous names of places and various wildlife adds a certain spice to the commentary!The films themselves seem to be HD quality throughout and can sustain close viewing distance indicative of that quality. The disc is copyrighted as 2015 vintage.Each episode provides a fairly detailed survey of its chosen topic and together the three episodes will give viewers a fairly ‘in depth’ understanding and awareness of what goes on within Patagonia as a whole. Patagonia is the southern area of South America comprising largely of Chile and Argentina with the Andes forming the north-south backbone of the area. The South Pacific borders the west coast; the south Atlantic borders the east coast and the Southern Ocean links to the Antarctic. The southern tip of Patagonia is the last landfall before the Antarctic.Episode 1 focuses on the following the Andes from north to south and illustrating and explaining the land, the wildlife and the human activity. Thus the volcanic nature of the terrain is shown plus the glaciers, the torrents of water, the narrow green belt to the west of the Andes. At the same time we are shown the wildlife that ekes out a living in this inhospitable country. At the southern end there is impressive footage showing the Gauchos rounding up the wild horses with just three being chosen for taming. This is achieved on a one to one basis with the highly skilled and kindly gaucho achieving the trust of the mare concluding with riding her in a calm state. This transformation from wild to saddled tame horse was achieved in just 3 hours!Episode 2 concentrates on the Patagonian Steppes to the east of the Andes and stretches towards the Atlantic coast. This area is both windy and cold boasting no trees but 50 species of grass. It is a demanding environment for wildlife and the area closest to the Atlantic is a completely dry desert land. The extreme edge of this land is the very challenging breeding ground of the tiny Megellanic penguins – chosen as being too challenging for hunters. Human activity in the Steppes has resulted in 8 million sheep being reared for the fine quality of their commercially valuable wool. Sheep shearing is an important occupation for travelling shearers.Episode 3 explores the Atlantic coastline where Rockhopper penguins brave the perils of sea lion attack to reach the relative safety of the rocky coast. There they use their tiny claws to scale vertiginous rock faces before reaching their nesting grounds. This coast is also the breeding area for the Southern Right Whale, so named because it was so easy to catch that it was considered the ‘right’ whaling target. At present its numbers are slowly recovering. Life is hard for the breeding Elephant Seals too where their young have to endure the attacks of Orcas as they attempt to leave or return to the nursery shores. Human activity at the extreme tip of Patagonia is limited to 5 month long fishing trips in search of crabs. These are small boats and the Cape Horn area is famed for its dangerous waters. This is a tough life for all.This series attempts to present a fair assessment of the balance between the natural world and human activity. The area is of low density population and the area, while having many photogenic attractions, is clearly extremely demanding and challenging for all forms of life, of which there are many shown but not listed in this review. The series is likely to result in viewers having an enhanced admiration for any form of life attempting to survive there.This is a compelling and informative series which will considerably enhance most viewers' understanding and respect for Patagonian life.

I have made three trips to this fascinating region and have seen some of the wildlife shown including penguins, condors, guanacos, whales and elephant seals. So these excellently filmed programmes bring back some good memories of what I have seen. But, also, they go deeper showing stunning footage that anyone would be very lucky to see and explaining the reasons for the behaviour of the wildlife in terms of their habitat. The commentary is good and clearly spoken in a manner that is engaging but the only drawback is that the subtitles when needed because the local people are speaking in Spanish, are hard to read. A definite five star series of programmes.

I like wild Patagonia.

Having read reviews saying the Dutch subtitles spoilt the video I wasn't sure what to expect. On this particular DVD it is not possible to switch the subtitles off, however I can honestly say that I have thoroughly enjoyed the DVD. The commentary is in English and I do not think the Dutch subtitles spoilt my viewing. In fact the photography is so stunning I hardly noticed them. The description on the sleeve is in Dutch but I wouldn't let that put you off watching an excellent video.

Just amazing ! A must seen for all the people that loves savage nature, even if it is located very far from us.

An other superb production from BBC Earth.really informative series with amazing photography .This is worth every penny

Considering this is a BBC video, why it dose not start with English audio is BAD . The copy I received was in French and changing it to English was not straight forward as usual. Hit audio, change language. No that did not work. the video starts with other films and changes are not allowed. When the main feature starts you have to mess about again. Add to that the video starts with dutch subtitles you cannot turn off.Then again main film you have to mess about with. I have a BR Panasonic player that works with all other films. Its a pain in the ****

I've always been fascinated by Patagonian flora and fauna but this was a dissapointing series for several reasons. The typical BBC bias towards animals, particularly mammals and some birds I am used to, but this is a pity as Patagonian botanical diversity in particular is fascinating. What was less understandable though was why a series supposedly about wild Patagonia devoted so much attention (over a third) to people herding sheep and horses, runing a railroad and fishing. This took attention away from the wildlife they missed and wasted time. The narration was also lackluster and as a whole the series just didn't educate or fascinate.What made things worse was the poorly designed Bluray 'functionality'. By default it had Dutch subtitles but the lack of a top level menu meant I couldn't change these except by going into my PS3 options menu, and this also meant I couldn't turn off the boring Dutch trailers at the start so had to sit through 5 minutes of these every time I wanted to watch the series.