What's your favourite underwater documentaries?

Hi Divers

Sadly we can't dive in Thailand these days and I miss it badly. But it's given me time to do something I've wanted to do for a long time, to rewatch and rank my favourite underwater documentaries. So I made a video about my top 10 favourites.

What's your favourite? Check out my video:

Good video.

Perfect time to sit on the couch and see or favorite documentaries.

As I wrote on an old thread, I find US and EU storytelling completely different.

View archived post in: On American and European documentary storytelling and our poor sharks

Anyway I agree on your chart except you missed the Laurent Ballesta work. 

i.e. 

Thanks Davide

Yeah, I agree with you on US vs EU storytelling. Seems to me that US docus have to tiptoe more and be more appropriate for lower age groups, although there are plenty of exceptions to the rule. 

And thanks for the tip, I will check out Ballesta

Well done! You exposed me to more than a couple films I have not heard of, much less seen.

Sharkwater and Blue Planet I & II are in my collection but the rest are now on my list to find and view. Some of them are available on Netflix, Youtube, Amazon and Amazon Prime. I can't find your favorite for us US viewers , unfortunately. It is on Youtube but was blocked for me for some copyright reason. It's also available for purchase on Amazon but it requires a zone 2 DVD player (Europe) and is on the pricey side. The Disney version is readily available.

Thanks for putting this together and posting it here. You did a fantastic and very professional job. I liked it so much I watched it twice in a row!

Thank ylu, I'm very glad you enjoyed it! 

Sadly yes, finding the original version of Oceans is hard. I bought it on DVD when I was still living in Europe.

Also if you look in the description of the video there's all the links I could find to the various docus, like where to watch them or buy them

Great idea -

I'll add a few others to the list:

Pelagic Life's Mexico Pelagico,  that you can watch in full on Vimeo here:
 

and another one that's quite dear to me

Guardians of Raja Ampat, that you'll find in full here on YouTube:
 

This one's on the recent Tham Luang Thai cave rescue, seen through the eyes of rescuers Ben Reymanents and Maksym Polyjeka

13 LOST - here in full on YouTube:

And on a darker note, a documentary on Dave Shaw's final dive:

To Boldly Go, here in full on YouTube:
 

And on a similar note we also have

Diving into the Unknown (trailer only)

Otherwise yes, all that wild Laurent Ballesta stuff (Gombessa, sharks, groupers, saturation etc) is definitely missing from your list....

700 Sharks can be watched here in full on Viemo, in French with subtitles

Otherwise here's an interesting documentary on Han Hass

Han Hass - Man Who Discovered the Sea - here in full on Vimeo:
 

And a really nice memorial documentary on legendary dive guide Larry Smith:

Diving Adventures With Larry Smith, here in full on Vimeo:

Also Adrienne Gittus's documentary on shark fishing in Indonesia

A FISH FULL OF DOLLARS, in full here on Vimeo:

And more local, we have Nick Hope's epic

Reef Life of the Andaman, here in full on YouTube
 

Cheers!

Ben

26 minutes ago, ben gazzal said:

Great idea -

I'll add a few others to the list:

Pelagic Life's Mexico Pelagico,  that you can watch in full on Vimeo here:
 

and another one that's quite dear to me

Guardians of Raja Ampat, that you'll find in full here on YouTube:
 

This one's on the recent Tham Luang Thai cave rescue, seen through the eyes of rescuers Ben Reymanents and Maksym Polyjeka

13 LOST - here in full on YouTube:

And on a darker note, a documentary on Dave Shaw's final dive:

To Boldly Go, here in full on YouTube:
 

And on a similar note we also have

Diving into the Unknown (trailer only)

Otherwise yes, all that wild Laurent Ballesta stuff (Gombessa, sharks, groupers, saturation etc) is definitely missing from your list....

700 Sharks can be watched here in full on Viemo, but in French only I think:

Otherwise here's an interesting documentary on Han Hass

Han Hass - Man Who Discovered the Sea - here in full on Vimeo:
 

And a really nice memorial documentary on legendary dive guide Larry Smith:

Diving Adventures With Larry Smith, here in full on Vimeo:

Also Adrienne Gittus's documentary on shark fishing in Indonesia

A FISH FULL OF DOLLARS, in full here on Vimeo:

And more local, we have Nick Hope's epic

Reef Life of the Andaman, here in full on YouTube
 

Cheers!

Ben

Thanks Ben, I'll check these out 

One of my favorites is: Life Cycle of Fish  by Ned DeLoach

If you're already a member of REEF, just log in and watch. If not, it's easy and free to become a member.

Ned gives a very fine overview of the reproductive strategies of many different species.

8 hours ago, wydeangle said:

One of my favorites is: Life Cycle of Fish  by Ned DeLoach

If you're already a member of REEF, just log in and watch. If not, it's easy and free to become a member.

Ned gives a very fine overview of the reproductive strategies of many different species.

 

Nice, thanks for sharing - Ned & Anna DeLoach were interviewed on Underwater Tribe's liveshow last week
 

I was lucky enough to spend 12 days @Cocos Island with Stan Waterman a  number of years ago..

He (with help from various folks) had just digitized all his documentaries and commercial videos. We spent every night watching his life's work with him providing behind the scenes commentary.

First - his work on American Sportsman (TV show here in the US) is legendary, as are a number of his stories from the series (a lot of "firsts" shooting video of fish never shot before). 

Stan Waterman's favorite shark story (along with the trailer to Blue Water, White Death):

On Tuesday, April 12, the first two episodes of a new documentary series on the Mediterranean were aired on France 2. On April 19th the other 2 episodes will be aired.
The series consists of 6 episodes. Two extra episodes are dedicated to the making of and the scientific research behind the making of the series.
From what I've seen, we're at Blue Planet levels. 

If you speak French or, like me, are simply amazed by the spectacular images, the entire series can also be viewed online at the France 2 website. The geographic protections are easily bypassed.
The series is co-produced by RAI, Radio Televisione Italiana, and I hope that it will soon be visible in Italy and that at least an English subtitled version will be published.
What can I say, the French together with the English prove to be the only ones able to support such expensive productions.

And they still have to release two films with Laurent Ballesta...

Totally agree with @Davide DBon this France2/RAI production.

My only criticism is focused on the narration of that documentary. I feel that it tries to dumb down too much rather than properly educate (BBC & Ballesta are better at this) - likely to cater to the masses rather than an audience such as wetpixel!

• The suave French voice gets on my nerve (I have nothing against the actress Camelia Jordana but it feels odd in a documentary)
• It anthropomorphizes too much (calling a turtle by its "first name", comparing baby octopi to "mini adventurers", etc.), trying to bring drama to already beautiful scenes/moments captured by the camera

Overall the images are spectacular and some of the scenes are mindblowing!

"Blue water, white death" It was shown on TV when I was in high school (now > 50 years ago!). I recall chatting about it the next day with my chums. It was the first thing I bought once Apple started selling vids on-line as I had not seen it since back then. Interesting historical shots of whaling that would not be PC today. One diving incident bothers me (as a former diving officer) and that is that no one was there to help to take Waterman's 35mm movie camera (prob an Arriflex) in housing (rather large) off his hands when he boarded post-dive.

An oldie but a goodie!!! I bought Blue Planet II on 4K BluRay a few years ago and have watched it over and over. The 4K HDR videography is absolutely stunning! The resolution is so sharp in my home theater it looks 3D!