Discovery Channel's LIFE Ends With Three-Hour Finale (VIDEO)

LIFE is ending this Sunday, but not before it makes a grand exit with three back-to-back episodes. The three-hour finale will start with a close-up look at plants, moving on to primates in the second hour. And if you've ever wondered how the show captures its visual glory, the last hour will give you behind-the-scenes look at the making of LIFE.

Here's a clip from the plants episode, and before you say-- who cares about looking at plants?-- bear with us. This filming of a creeper plant's life is possibly one of the most breathtaking visuals committed to film. It zeroes in on the plants' every movement, making you see them just as they are, but as we rarely get to see them, as living, breathing things.

WATCH the creeper plants in motion:

Comments

[Das Hirschenhofer 11]

02:37 PM on 04/17/2010

True beauty belies that which we hold before our thoughts. Nature wins hands down.

[KIVPossum]

04:29 AM on 04/17/2010

This video contains content from Discovery Communications, who have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds

[Aberfeldy]

04:50 AM on 04/17/2010

I wish HuffPo would stop posting videos that I am unable to see.

[KIVPossum]

05:27 AM on 04/17/2010

Where are you?

[Miss Trust]

03:52 PM on 04/19/2010

I absolutely agree with that. I am in Germany and can't see the video either. I do have the German Discovery Channel, but I guess it will be some time until the show will be shown here.

[edejan]

11:49 PM on 04/16/2010

AWESOME AND BEAUTIFUL!!

[FatherWolf]

06:16 PM on 04/16/2010

This is stunning and beautiful, but I have to wonder - what is the time scale?

I don't see any movement of shadows from the motion of the sun.

[BowlyJones]

04:04 PM on 04/16/2010

And when human civilizations pass, nature reclaims the ground. They're still discovering ruins of cities in the forests and jungles of the Americas.

[topkatnc]

03:04 PM on 04/16/2010

Wow.. I loved that.....When we can see them move and grow...it is almost like they are some kind of insect...And the way that they anchor themselves to a stick is amazing also...The look so much like a creature of some kind....that I think of a Venus fly trap....and wonder if some day.... that there could be a plant that was big enough..... that it might try to trap a human in the same way....now wouldn't that be interesting ?....Loved the video !

[underdog]

01:12 PM on 04/16/2010

When are they going to do an episode on the strange behavior and antics of the Wild Alaskan Dingbat? They've got one right there in the studio!

[ckinsobe]

07:04 PM on 04/16/2010

:)

[TheFriendlyAtheist]

01:08 PM on 04/16/2010

Open your eyes and stand
Speechless before the tumultuious,
Multitudinous forms of life,
Bearing witness to the grandeur
And fecundity of this,
Our most beautiful world.

[topkatnc]

03:12 PM on 04/16/2010

That was beautiful.....I am friendly too....but with different beliefs...

[TheFriendlyAtheist]

07:19 PM on 04/16/2010

Thank you, glad you liked it.

[philko]

11:37 AM on 04/16/2010

And the plants accomplish this without any brains or even a nervous system...

[choot]

02:57 PM on 04/16/2010

Makes me wonder why grifter granny Palin can't accomplish anything of significance since she has no brain or nervous system either.

[topkatnc]

03:45 PM on 04/16/2010

Yeah...I have come across a poster or two like that.....

[Me282]

11:27 AM on 04/16/2010

This was a BBC production essentially and the REAL version was narrated wonderfully by the relevant naturalist Sir David Attenborough. Discovery bought the American rights and got Oprah, who does not have any expertise in biology and is just a pop name, to replace Attenborough's narration.

I suggest everyone get a hold of the real Attenborough version and skip the stupid Americanized edition.

Same goes for "Planet Earth", "Blue Planet", and "Nature's Great Events" (called "Nature's Most Amazing Events" in the stupid American edition).

At least they couldn't delete Attenborough from his own superb series ("Life On Earth", "Living Planet", "Trials of Life", "Life of Mammals" etc.) because he's actually there in the field on camera.

[bobdob]

11:30 AM on 04/16/2010

Did Oprah totally ruin it for you?

[getsit]

11:58 AM on 04/16/2010

I didn't have a problem with Oprah. She has a very nice voice. I did have a problem with the Discovery people claiming this was theirs.

I love David Attenborough and agree. Discovery should have shown the original.

Of course, they CAN claim the Sarah Palin Alaska series as theirs. It will be Discovery's claim to fame. And they are, and have been, losing their audience because of changes in their programming.

[Me282]

12:26 PM on 04/16/2010

I didn't watch Oprah's version, I've watched Attenborough's. He's great. I saw enough clips of Oprah's to see that she is far worse, very dumbed down and clearly not engaged and knowledgeable like Attenborough.

The more important thing is that we shouldn't stand for Discovery doing this dumbing down, even if it only partly and not "totally" ruins the documentary.

To be clear: Discovery was co-producer originally (which just means they helped fund the whole project), but it was created essentially by BBC people, and Discovery certainly has no business claiming it as wholly their own.

[bobdob]

11:07 AM on 04/16/2010

Reminds me of myself when I'm out rockclimbing. Except the plant is better at it.

[DAE]

09:57 AM on 04/16/2010

They live on a different time-scale than we do. Who knows whose observing us scurrying about thinking we have all the time in the world when we actually live but a fraction of a second.

[MamaontheGo]

10:58 AM on 04/16/2010

That's an interesting thought, my friend. Fanned.

[bobdob]

11:08 AM on 04/16/2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT13GuPZHMA