He's just turned 100, and now you're invited on 'Attenborough's Greatest Adventure'

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SAM BRIGER, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. May 8 marked the hundredth birthday of Sir David Attenborough. Scientists from London's Natural History Museum noted the occasion by naming a new genus and species of parasitic wasp after him. And television noted the occasion by presenting a special, celebrating Attenborough's contributions to the history of nature documentaries, focusing on his favorite series of all. That special, "Life On Earth: Attenborough's Greatest Adventure," premiered May 6 on PBS and is available at pbs.org and the PBS app. Our TV critic David Bianculli has this review.

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DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: I have been lucky enough to have had a long career making natural history programs. But there was one series that changed everything, "Life On Earth."

DAVID BIANCULLI, BYLINE: For more than 70 years, David Attenborough has been exploring the planet and its living inhabitants, filming and marveling at a world full of natural treasures. In the process, he's become a natural treasure himself. As host and as narrator, his whispery, enthusiastic voice is instantly recognizable. And his nature series over the decades have been widely popular, from "The Trials Of Life" and "The Life Of Birds" to the "Planet Earth," "The Blue Planet" and this year's "Ocean With David Attenborough." His first on-camera work was in the mid-1950s as host of the BBC nature series "Zoo Quest." That program wasn't shown in the United States, but a taste of it is available in the new documentary "Life On Earth: Attenborough's Great Adventure." Here he is on "Zoo Quest" as a very young man.

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ATTENBOROUGH: But apart from lizards and chameleons, there were many other smaller, fascinating creatures to be seen in that patch of forest.

BIANCULLI: Eventually, he gave up traveling the world with a film crew to become an administrator for the BBC. He commissioned such ambitious and pivotal projects as Kenneth Clark's 13-part "Civilisation" series. But his concept of TV eventually drove him out from behind the desk and back into the field. I interviewed him for a book in 1991, and he said then, of his BBC executive approach, quote, "it was our responsibility to say, what haven't we done, and why aren't we doing it?" unquote.

BIANCULLI: And one of the things no one in TV was doing was a global TV series that told the entire story of evolution. Attenborough continued, "the wonderful thing about making natural history documentaries is that there is something in any sequence for everybody at every conceivable level of age, education and interest." So he embarked upon "Life On Earth," which began production 50 years ago. It took more than three years to film, visiting 40 countries and capturing more than 600 species. It was the way it was filmed in part that was so groundbreaking. It used new lenses from Canon, new color film from Kodak, and experimented with new developments in film speeds, time lapse and microphotography. "Life On Earth" premiered on PBS in 1982 and was seen globally by over 500 million people in more than 100 territories.

This new special has Attenborough looking back on "Life On Earth" and literally looking at it as it's projected in a screening room. He beams with pride and joy and with good reason. One sequence, perhaps the most famous of his career, has him in Rwanda, crouching a respectful distance from a mother gorilla and her offspring. He's about to begin a prepared speech about the importance of opposable thumbs when the mother approaches and stares right into his face while her babies crawl on top of him affectionately. In "Life On Earth," Attenborough says this...

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LIFE ON EARTH")

ATTENBOROUGH: There is more meaning and mutual understanding in exchanging a glance with a gorilla than any other animal I know.

BIANCULLI: And in this new special, looking back on that very sequence, he says this, obviously touched...

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "LIFE ON EARTH: ATTENBOROUGH'S GREATEST ADVENTURE")

ATTENBOROUGH: Extraordinary, really - I mean, it was one of the most privileged moments of my life, really.

BIANCULLI: "Attenborough's Greatest Adventure" tells behind-the-scenes stories of the dangers Attenborough and his crew faced while filming "Life On Earth." Surprisingly, most of those dangers came not from wild animals, but from humans - poachers and soldiers, gunfire in Rwanda and threatened imprisonment in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It also tells the story of how some of its most amazing TV moments were filmed. That's reason enough to seek out this special, which allows Attenborough to put his amazing career into perspective. But there's also his closing message, which really got to me and which I'll close with as well. Thank you, David Attenborough, for a lifetime of priceless television.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "LIFE ON EARTH: ATTENBOROUGH'S GREATEST ADVENTURE")

ATTENBOROUGH: Natural history television has produced an understanding in the audience about the importance of the natural world.

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ATTENBOROUGH: It's an understanding of the part that humanity plays in the way the world operates and the way in which we are totally dependent upon the natural world, for every breath of air we take and every mouthful of food that we eat comes from the natural world, and that if we damage the natural world, we damage ourselves.

BRIGER: David Bianculli reviewed the PBS special "Life On Earth: Attenborough's Greatest Adventure." It's available at pbs.org and the PBS app. Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, our guest will be filmmaker and musician Boots Riley. His new film, "I Love Boosters," is a futuristic satire about fashion, capitalism and resistance, starring Keke Palmer, Demi Moore and LaKeith Stanfield. Riley also wrote and directed the film "Sorry To Bother You" and the series "I'm A Virgo." I hope you'll join us.

To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram - @nprfreshair. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our engineer today is Adam Staniszewski. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and Nico Gonzalez-Wisler. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. For Terry Gross and Tanya Mosley, I'm Sam Briger.

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