Earth Day is this Sunday, April 22nd. In celebration, the BBC is releasing its new series, Frozen Planet, on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as re-releasing some of its best-loved nature documentaries. To help you commemorate Earth Day, BBC Home Entertainment is giving one lucky Contest Corner reader a fantastic DVD prize package worth over $115, so read on!
Jai and I are big fans of nature documentaries, and there’s no question that the BBC has produced some of the most exceptional and ground-breaking of this type of programming. We recently had the pleasure of receiving a complimentary copy of The BBC Natural History Collection 
The Life of Birds is a delightful glimpse into the life and behaviors of birds around the world. I’ve always loved birds so I really enjoyed this program, which features rare birds like the Kakapo and truly unique birds like the Hoatzin, an incredible bird whose chicks have claws on their wings. The Life of Mammals has a wealth of interesting footage, including the first platypus den ever caught on film.
The Blue Planet is an amazing look at the incredible world of underwater life. So much has yet to be learned about life in the deep oceans, and the DVD artwork has a quote from the series’ assistant producer, Hugh Pearson, saying that at the end of most of their shoots, scientists would ask them for copies of their footage. That’s another thing that makes these shows important – not only are they sharing this information in an entertaining format that anyone can watch, but they are also helping to document things that provide insights for the scientific community. What better way to use a TV budget than that?
We also watched the first episode of Planet Earth, “From Pole to Pole”, which chronicles the changing of the seasons around the world and how they affect natural habitats and the animals that live in them. At the end of the episode, they have a “Diaries” segment where they give you a behind-the-scenes look at how the camera crew got their incredible and groundbreaking aerial shots of African hunting dogs chasing Impala. Watching the hard work and careful methodology that goes into filming these types of documentaries is always fascinating to me – I often wonder when I watch nature shows, “How did they get this shot?”
This set is so extensive, with hours upon hours of footage, that we have barely scratched the surface of what’s on these disks. This collection is highly entertaining as well as being educational, and is a wonderful collection for families to watch together. (Bearing in mind age-appropriateness of course – being a collection of nature documentaries, it of course shows the food chain in action, so is probably best viewed by older children.) I can’t think of a better set to commemorate Earth day than this one, which shows the magnificence of our precious natural resources.
BBC Polar Bear sweepstakes
The BBC is offering a fantastic “Ultimate Polar Bear Adventure” sweepstakes for US & Canadian residents. Winners will get the chance to travel to Winnipeg, Manitoba and experience a one-in-a-lifetime chance to observe polar bears up close. You can enter this sweepstakes by clicking here. Sweepstakes runs until July 31st, 2012. Note: You must click the link to enter on the Frozen Planet website – comments on this post will only enter you into Contest Corner’s DVD giveaway, NOT the Polar Bear Sweepstakes.
Giveaway Time!
One lucky Contest Corner reader will win the following DVDs:
1 Planet Earth Limited Edition Globe DVD
This prize is worth $115.47! Here’s how to enter:
1. For your first entry, leave a comment on this post and tell me: How do you plan to observe Earth Day? Perhaps by watching a nature documentary with your family, finding items to recycle, or just spending a few moments outside? This step is required to qualify for the drawing.
Want extra entries? Do any of the following, and leave a separate comment for each one:
2. Click here to view the full catalog of DVDs available from BBC Home Entertainment. Then come back here and leave a comment on this post mentioning a DVD you’d like to watch!
3. Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway. Then come back here and leave a comment with the link to your post!
4. Write about this on Twitter, then come back and leave a comment on this post with the link to your tweet! One Twitter entry per person. You can use the button at the bottom of this post to tweet with one click!
5. Subscribe to my blog updates by clicking here. Then come back and leave a comment on this post with the email you subscribed with!
6. Post my button on your website – just copy and paste the following code, and let me know where you put it:
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