The Private Life of Plants (1995)

It is well known that the plants form the basis of life as we know it. Except some archea and/or underocean geothermal power supported beings, rest all are dependent upon plants. That makes it is so utterly surprising that most of us would consider plants a boring topic and give anything to see a lion chase a gazelle even after seeing it umpteen times in Discovery.Enter David Attenborough !After seeing this series you would never see the plants the same way. David has a way of narrating natural world like no one else. I have seen many of his documentaries. But I must admit that nothing prepared me for "Private life of Plants". David has exceeded himself and it seems that it cannot be surpassed except of course when he comes with another of his tales. Watching this documentary is much more exciting than any movie, even for the documentary non-buffs ... for me who thrives on docus it is God's gift.It is impossible to write about all the wondrous plants, extraordinary flowers, brilliant adaptations, exotic geographies and many more that David chronicles. And after all you have seen, you will be far from saturated ... you will wish to watch 100 more such episodes.Cannot give it less than 20 stars out of 10 !!!

Actually a lot of episodes start in the ordinary setting of any old English woods, but they seem exotic, particularly when you see a fungus in time lapse.I saw a documentary on David Attenborough a few years ago and remember that this documentary brought a lot of apprehension amongst the producers... "But they're plants, they just sit there, and you're going to make a documentary about that?" I don't think I can name a better one. I don't think I could imagine a better one.It's captivating from cover to cover (especially if you have the DVD version)I even loved the theme music.For those who haven't seen it, Attenborough shows plants to be so much more amazing than animals. They *do* move, some faster than others, they hunt, but the fascination comes in the fact that we're used to wildlife action coming on four legs, it is an alien world when shown properly, but we live in it, it isn't a fictional fantasy creation.What a gift he has. Thank goodness for him, and for the ABC (Australian) and BBC.SS

Who could imagine documentaries could be so entertaining? I rented this one from a public library (US) and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was in five parts on VHS. There is not one scene that is not on location in some exotic site. It is a thoroughly fascinating and educational experience.

The Private Life of Plants is a TV series, which is also available as a VHS video set that is commonly played in high school, and college biology classes. (This is where I first saw it) This series is part of a two-series set. The other of which is a similar series called Trials of Live covering animal life.