by Thinus Ferreira
Netflix has released the Steven Spielberg-produced Life on Our Planet with Morgan Freeman as narrator as a new 8-episode series - tracking the rise and fall of life in its myriad of forms on Earth across 4 billion years.
Life on Our Planet is filled with life-like special effects, recreating creatures from millions of years ago as it tracks the story of life through Earth's previous mass extinction events.
Made over nearly five years, Life on Our Planet blends groundbreaking visual effects with state-of-the-art nature photography to show the story of what happened to some photorealistic animals that once roamed this planet.
Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Alastair Fothergill, Keith Scholey, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, of Amblin TV and Silverback Films, Life on Our Planet uses the latest technology and science to bring long-extinct creatures back to life as it tracks the incredible story of life on Earth that today is home to 20 million species.
According to the producers, Life on Our Planet shows viewers "the story of life unfolding through its most pivotal moments: from the first single-celled life form, to the first animals to move out from the
sea and onto land, to the first creatures to take flight".
"Revisiting one of Earth's longest-lived dynasties, the dinosaurs, viewers bear witness to the cataclysmic downfall that led to the age of the mammals and the rise of the most dangerous animal the earth has ever seen: us."
With special effects done by Industrial Light and Magic, Life on Our Planet is similar to Prehistoric Planet on Apple TV+ - but not just showing extinct species, but also those who managed to adapt and the evolutionary adaptations they employed to survive over millions of years.
Life on Our Planet tracks the five mass extinctions that have happened over the span of Earth's history and how close the planet is to its sixth mass extinction event.
"Every single living thing alive today can trace its heritage back four billion years," says Morgan Freeman.
"Life on Our Planet explores the most important milestones in the history of life. This is the story of the great battles for survival and the dynasties that would take over the world. This is the story of life."
"We are the first species in the four billion-year story of life to understand what is happening to our
world. We are also the first species to understand what is needed to put it right."
"Our intelligence got us this far and it's the only thing that can save us. Our future and that of the planet is yet to be written. How we act now will determine the next chapter in the story of life."