(Los Angeles) Life on Our Planet, a new Netflix documentary series produced by Steven Spielberg, aims to retrace the complete history of the presence of life on Earth, in a breathtaking and eye-catching format.
Broadcast worldwide from Wednesday on the platform, the documentary, in eight episodes, offers viewers a dive into the five previous mass extinctions, recreated using special effects.
The narration, carried by actor Morgan Freeman, reminds us that life has always found a way to overcome catastrophes for more than 4 billion years, from harsh ice ages to meteorite falls.
Each time, species that managed to escape destruction waged a fierce battle, Games of Thrones style, to ensure domination of the new era.
“What we wanted to do, our intention from the very beginning, was to adapt the life story into a serial. To make it a production that we want to watch in one sitting. Because this story is so dramatic,” says writer-producer Dan Tapster.
“I think and I hope that’s something we’ve achieved, which is probably a first in natural history. »
In Life on Our Planet, the tension and suspense reside in the surprise “victory” of one species over others, at least for a few hundred thousand years.
The influence of Spielberg’s studios, Amblin Television, added “much more emotion” and “pathos” to this historic documentary, according to Mr. Tapster.
The documentary features key species, such as the first fish with a backbone or the first vertebrate to migrate from the ocean to the land.
With 99% of the species that lived on Earth now extinct, filmmakers had the freedom of choice.
“There are about a billion species, at least, that are no longer with us, and we had to narrow it down to 65,” explains the writer-producer.
The stories presented are often those of unlikely heroes, of courageous surviving species, like that of the strange-looking Arandaspis fish.
This extinct fish “is a little rotten, it’s weird… but it’s there (in the documentary) because it plays a crucial role” in evolution, explains Jonathan Privett, head of special effects.
The series is full of special effects designed by the Industrial Light company.
Monsters of the past, ranging from dinosaurs to Cameroceras, giant molluscs whose shells could reach 8 meters, blend into real landscapes in the series.
To do this, producers had to scour the globe for contemporary natural landscapes resembling those in which these creatures lived more than 450 million years ago.
“Animals evolve in the real world. I think it’s fluid, and I think it’s a very authentic way of transporting us to this distant era,” points out producer Keith Scholey.
The directors also had to use special effects to remove any trace of modernity from the images, erasing fish, mammals and even grass.
“Weed was our nightmare,” remembers Dan Tapster. It “only took hold on earth about 30 million years ago…so that means we had to do a lot of gardening.”
But the documentary is far from being the only one on the market. Planet Earth III, a new part of documentary filmmaker David Attenborough’s series produced by the BBC, is also due out this week.
It follows the Apple TV production Prehistoric Planet, again with Mr. Attenborough, which offers a dive into the world of dinosaurs.
But Life on Our Planet aims to stand out thanks to the message conveyed by its narration.
With a sixth mass extinction due to human activities underway, the documentary offers a worrying warning.
“In the five periods we’ve had so far, there was one common denominator: that the dominant species from the pre-extinction era never return,” points out producer Alastair Fothergill.
And added: “We’re creating a sixth, and I think you probably consider us the dominant species at the moment…”.
