Nature's Miracle Babies (2011)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio Featurette-Documentary - Bringing Up Baby Deleted Scenes
Rating
Year Of Production	2011
Running Time	236:04
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Martin Hughes-Games
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	?	Music	David Poore Lynn Barry Emma Gatehouse

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The natural history department at the BBC produces the best nature documentaries in the world, bar none. This is one of the most recent entries into their canon, Nature's Miracle Babies which was shown recently on the ABC here in Australia.

    The concept here is to look into different people around the world who are attempting to breed endangered species in captivity and then (hopefully) reintroduce them to the wild. Our host is Martin Hughes-Games an English zoologist, who has quite an irrepressible nature and looks like a rough and tumble Hugh Grant. He travels the world meeting up with zoologists and scientists who are trying to save particular species and he follows their methods and gets involved in their day to day activity, whether it be feeding an elephant, trying to introduce a male leopard to a female or releasing a numbat. Other species included in the show are pandas, rhinos, tamarinds, lemurs, birds, gorillas and Tasmanian Devils.

    There are lots of cute baby animals for those who enjoy that. There is also an important message about how people are fighting to save endangered animals all over the world. This is an enjoyable series with some good photography but not quite the magical scenes of your average Attenborough production. In some ways that is an unfair comparison as the animals filmed here are mostly in captivity which does not allow for the grandeur of real wildlife in wild places.

    The set includes all four episodes of the series each about an hour. They are spread across two discs, 3 on the first, and 1 plus extras on the second.

    Fans of nature documentaries will certainly enjoy this show.

Video

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio.It is 16x9 enhanced.

    The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail was quite good.

    The colour is very good highlighting the natural world included in the show.

    There was some minor aliasing and a bit of edge enhancement during the show, but nothing spectacular.

    There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired which were clear and easy to read.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This discs contain an English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. The sound is obviously quite front focused.

    Dialogue was easy to understand throughout.

    The music sounds good but does not stand out.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu featured music.

Natural World - Bringing Up Baby (58:42)

    A marvellous extra. This is a full length David Attenborough documentary about babies being brought up in the wild and the challenges involved for their parents. Included animals are gorillas, penguins, fish, wildebeest, hippos, mice and musk ox amongst many more. A high quality doco which makes it an exceptional extra.

Bonus Stories (12:45, 7:42, 4:18)

    These are extra or extended stories not included in the series. They look at the Black Footed Ferret, The Numbat & the Livingstone Fruit Bat. All are very interesting and could easily have been included in the series itself.

    This show is available in the UK in the same format.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall