National Geographic - Strange Days on Planet Earth (2005)

Strange Days on Planet Earth (2005)

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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448132/

http://www.pbs.org/strangedays/index_flash.html




Directed by Mark Shelley





Tagline:

It's like something out of science fiction. Unsettling transformations are sweeping across the planet, and clue by clue, investigators are assembling a new picture of earth. They suspect we have entered a time of faster global change than any human being has ever witnessed. Where are we headed? What can we do to alter the course? In this confusing era, only one thing is certain: These are Strange Days on Planet Earth.





Plot Summary:

Around the globe, scientists are racing to solve a series of mysteries. Unsettling transformations are sweeping across the planet, and clue by clue, investigators around the world are assembling a new picture of Earth, discovering ways that seemingly disparate events are connected. Crumbling houses in New Orleans are linked to voracious creatures from southern China. Vanishing forests in Yellowstone are linked to the disappearance of wolves. An asthma epidemic in the Caribbean is linked to dust storms in Africa. Scientists suspect we have entered a time of global change swifter than any human being has ever witnessed. Where are we headed? What can we do to alter this course of events? National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth, premiering in Spring 2005 on PBS, explores these questions. Drawing upon research being generated by a new discipline, Earth System Science (ESS), the series aims to create an innovative type of environmental awareness. By revealing a cause and effect relationship between what we as humans do to the Earth and what that in turn does to our environment and ecosystems, the series creates a new sense of environmental urgency. Award-winning actor, writer and director Edward Norton (Primal Fear, American History X, Italian Job) hosts the series. A dedicated environmental activist, Norton has a special interest in providing solar energy to low income families. Each of the four one-hour episodes is constructed as a high-tech detective story, with the fate of the planet at stake.





IMDB User Rating: 8.2/10 (77 votes)





National Geographic's "Strange Days on Planet Earth", a four part mini series:



1. Invaders

2. The One Degree Factor

3. Predators

4. Troubled Waters



Runtime: USA: 240 min, 4 parts

Video: Xvid 640 x 368, Qf=0.25

Audio: AC3 48000Hz 384 kb/s tot , stereo (2/0)



IMDB comment:

Thought-provoking documentary to scare your pants off, 5 July 2006

Author: Scuba-guy from Vancouver, BC Canada



This series connects seemingly remote events in a way I never thought possible.



The connection between the wolves of Yellowstone, the elk that graze there and the willows that grew along the stream-banks struck a cord with me, since it is a problem for many streams and rivers.



The connection between asthma in the Caribbean and the Saharan dust and the Indian Ocean is about as wild as you can get, but it is proved.



The only question I have is that many of the connections are made without being challenged, and that leaves the viewer wondering about contrary opinions.



Otherwise, the whole series is pure gold and should be repeated weekly. Congratulations to the National Geographic for funding this project.