If you think Americans are provincial and ignorant of other cultures, these Amazon.com customer reviews of Planet Earth will do little to change your mind:
David Attenbrough [sic] just doesn't measure up to Sigorney [sic].
I expected Sigourney Weaver's voice and got John Cleese.
My wife and I were entranced by the beautiful music, the soothing voice of Ms. Weaver, and the astonishing videography. What we go was rather different. Mr. Attenboroughs nasal british accent is quite annoying
If only they had gotten someone with a voice that would do the series justice. David Attenbrough's [sic] monotone is not the timbre voice that this series needed
I would have prefered Mrs. Weaver as narritor [sic] But Mr. Attenborough was o.k.
This is the British Version. I can't find the American version, which is narated by Sigourney Weaver, not some British guy, on Amazon. Otherwise I think the content is the same, but Sigourney is better.Sigh... Sigourney Weaver narrating a BBC nature documentary is about as appropriate as Sir David battling killer space aliens.
As for Americanized versions of anime, I wanted to buy "My Neighbor Totoro/Tonari No Totoro" for my niece and nephew, who turn five in three weeks time. I changed my mind when I realized that they would have to hear Dakota & Elle Fanning and Tim Daly instead of hearing the original Japanese characterizations and reading the subtitles. The American English voiceovers done by those three render an otherwise wonderful movie unwatchable, and I'd rather wait until Jack & Ellie are fully skilled at reading before introducing them to one of my favorite movies.
These days especially, its fashoinable to point out how rude americans can be. Ironically, due to our american idea of manners, we refrain from pointing out how rude our hosts in those far away lands truly are.
Now, having seen both versions I have to agree. When she wasn't sticking to the script, apparently Discovery wanted her to emphesise repeatedly how such &such was filmed in hi-definition for the first time.
Of course, it's ironic that after all of the fuss about how it's has been shot in high definition, you can only get Ms. Weaver's performance on good old fashioned low-definition DVD from the Discovery Channel.
To get it in HD, you can get it in HD DVD or BluRay from the BBC (and yes, also in regular DVD's lower resolution) which get's you the original, Attenborough's more restrained and measured commentary.
Personally, I prefer to let the pictur speak for itself without all the jabbering. And the Hd DVD looks spectacular. :)
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