4 ms·

The first planet earth wasn't just given different voiceover for American audiences, it was recut. The brass called the Attenborough cut "excruciatingly slow-p

The first planet earth wasn't just given different voiceover for American audiences, it was recut. The brass called the Attenborough cut "excruciatingly slow-paced", so once they decided to re-edit, it was probably easier to recast the narration than to try and edit down Attenborough's own speech. The Attenborough cut is my personal preference too.

Hayvok 4y ago
Agree in general that the UK/Attenborough cut is preferable, but the American intro sequence is fantastic and dramatic. Gave me chills the first time I watched it.
- yes_i_can 4y ago
  I kind of hate the dramatization in newer nature documentaries, rife with cuts of sweeping landscape views set to loud, epic music. I'm probably just getting old, but it feels like they're trying too hard to keep my attention. I don't need blaring horns and pounding timpani to keep me watching.
  - Chris2048 4y ago
    The problem is it's a race to the bottom with these kinds of things, comparable to the over-salt-&-sugar-ing of American foods: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G77ev9pks4I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G77ev9pks4I "..until eventually, they’re shipping hamburger buns with exactly three sesame seeds artfully arranged in a triangle, and nobody buys their hamburgers any more." -- https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/09/11/theres-no-place-like-127001/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/09/11/theres-no-place-li...
throwaway894345 4y ago
Honestly I’m an avid fan of all of the “Planet” series precisely because of Attenborough.
- ZoomZoomZoom 4y ago
  It's deeply lamentable that in this day and age one has to resort to throwaway accounts to express their fondness of Sir Attenborough.
  - mrep 4y ago
    ? Are you referring to throwaway894345 who has been here for 4.5 years and has 12483 karma? Don't think that is an actual throwaway at this point.
    - kergonath 4y ago
      It might have been a joke...
  - renewiltord 4y ago
    These days, if you say you're English, you'll be arrested and thrown in jail.
  - throwaway894345 4y ago
    Is "ZoomZoomZoom" your legal name? :)
gunfighthacksaw 4y ago
It blows my mind that Attenborough would ever be replaced as a narrator because he is the best of the best vis-à-vis nature documentaries. Or to provide an Americanized analogy, you wouldn’t replace Morgan Freeman in a situation where you needed the sage reflections of an old man in voiceover form.
dylan604 4y ago
I didn't even know there was a version that wasn't Attenborough. Where is this other version found (not that I'll watch this "other")?
onion2k 4y ago
If you watch them side-by-side it's like they took all the long words out of the US narration. UK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onELlblAI0U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onELlblAI0U US https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zt4wmjOpr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zt4wmjOpr0
Digit-Al 4y ago
Replacing Attenborough as the narrator on a nature documentary is a crime against humanity, and should be treated as such ;-) What we need to do is feed all of his narrations from the last 60 years into an AI and get it to process them; then we can use this corpus to have all nature documentaries narrated by him forever more. I am, of course, joking... but would it really be that bad an idea? ;-)
- hef19898 4y ago
  Once wr did this it should be part of the UN charter that the Attenborough narration AI is the acceptable use of AI from that point onwarda into eternity.

Hayvok 4y ago

Agree in general that the UK/Attenborough cut is preferable, but the American intro sequence is fantastic and dramatic. Gave me chills the first time I watched it.

yes_i_can 4y ago
I kind of hate the dramatization in newer nature documentaries, rife with cuts of sweeping landscape views set to loud, epic music. I'm probably just getting old, but it feels like they're trying too hard to keep my attention. I don't need blaring horns and pounding timpani to keep me watching.
- Chris2048 4y ago
  The problem is it's a race to the bottom with these kinds of things, comparable to the over-salt-&-sugar-ing of American foods: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G77ev9pks4I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G77ev9pks4I "..until eventually, they’re shipping hamburger buns with exactly three sesame seeds artfully arranged in a triangle, and nobody buys their hamburgers any more." -- https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/09/11/theres-no-place-like-127001/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/09/11/theres-no-place-li...

throwaway894345 4y ago

Honestly I’m an avid fan of all of the “Planet” series precisely because of Attenborough.

ZoomZoomZoom 4y ago
It's deeply lamentable that in this day and age one has to resort to throwaway accounts to express their fondness of Sir Attenborough.
- mrep 4y ago
  ? Are you referring to throwaway894345 who has been here for 4.5 years and has 12483 karma? Don't think that is an actual throwaway at this point.
  - kergonath 4y ago
    It might have been a joke...
- renewiltord 4y ago
  These days, if you say you're English, you'll be arrested and thrown in jail.
- throwaway894345 4y ago
  Is "ZoomZoomZoom" your legal name? :)

gunfighthacksaw 4y ago

It blows my mind that Attenborough would ever be replaced as a narrator because he is the best of the best vis-à-vis nature documentaries. Or to provide an Americanized analogy, you wouldn’t replace Morgan Freeman in a situation where you needed the sage reflections of an old man in voiceover form.

dylan604 4y ago

I didn't even know there was a version that wasn't Attenborough. Where is this other version found (not that I'll watch this "other")?

onion2k 4y ago

If you watch them side-by-side it's like they took all the long words out of the US narration. UK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onELlblAI0U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onELlblAI0U US https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zt4wmjOpr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zt4wmjOpr0

Digit-Al 4y ago

Replacing Attenborough as the narrator on a nature documentary is a crime against humanity, and should be treated as such ;-) What we need to do is feed all of his narrations from the last 60 years into an AI and get it to process them; then we can use this corpus to have all nature documentaries narrated by him forever more. I am, of course, joking... but would it really be that bad an idea? ;-)

hef19898 4y ago
Once wr did this it should be part of the UN charter that the Attenborough narration AI is the acceptable use of AI from that point onwarda into eternity.