5 Stars Documentaries (009)
Journey of Life (2004)
Produced by: BBC
In a journey from sea, to land, to sky, remarkable solutions to the challenge of survival have evolved. This series, hosted by popular Animal Planet host Steve Leonard, visits the crucial moments in life’s journey to dominate the earth.
The Seas of Life episode reveals that the basic blueprint of a brain, backbone, two legs and two arms were created in the ocean. The Land Grab episode follows life as it changes from a fish to a human. In the Airborne episode, viewers will learn about the four evolutions of flight. In Living Together, predatory, competitive and co-operative relationships are revealed. And in the final episode, Human Life, the differences between humans and chimps are examined. The latest graphic techniques recreate evolution before your very eyes.
>> List of episodes:
1. SEAS OF LIFE
Steve travels back 3.8 billion years to when life began. Journeying round the oceans, he explores life’s first laboratory and discovers how the incredible variety of sea creatures arose, from the first microbes to hag fish and dolphins.
2. LAND GRAB
Steve tracks the pioneer life forms as they emerged from the seas and evolved adaptations to make them ever better able to cope with life on land, from the searing heat of the deserts to the icy polar wastes.
3. AIRBORNE
Animals crawled on to the land 500 million years ago, but it was another 100 million years before life finally became airborne. Just four kinds of animals achieved the miracle of flight. Insects led the way, but their story is still shrouded in mystery.
4. LIVING TOGETHER
The greatest evolutionary challenge faced by living things has been each other! From cunning carnivores to sex crazed elk, Steve reveals how the relationships between living things can drive evolution itself - with some truly bizarre results.
5. HUMAN LIFE
Five million years ago we separated from our chimpanzee cousins. Steve Leonard looks back to explain how landscape changes drew us down from the trees and out on to the newly formed African savanna.
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* Main review by Animal Planet. Episodes summaries by BBC.
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