
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 12, 1994                   TAG: 9403120221
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: 10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: N.F. Mendoza  Los Angeles Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ATTENBOROUGH TURNS TO COLDER CLIMATES

Sir David Attenborough says he once considered himself "a chap who feels that the tropical rain forest is where I would enjoy myself." But years of making documentaries in the warmer climates of the world made him realize that "the time has come to cover other places."

He chose the other end of the spectrum, Antarctica. Surrounded by 90 percent of the world's ice, temperatures can drop there as low as 90 degrees below zero-Farenheit. This week, Attenborough hosts "Antarctica: Life in the Freezer."

Attenborough says: "When people ask me why I chose to go there, I say to them, `Why not?' "

Antarctica, Attenborough says, is "the last great unfilmed land. The plains of East Africa are very exciting, but we've seen a lot of them. Hardly anyone has seen undersea where penguins zoom around at 20 to 30 mph, watch them hunted and captured by leopard seals."

Some of the show's other unusual sights include 4-ton bull elephant seals fighting for control over a 100-female harem and miles of male empire penguins caring for their young.

Documenting all sides of the continent - which had never been done before - was a massive project, 2 1/2 years in the making.

The first step was research. "You go to extraordinary lengths," he says. "It must be well planned and organized. There are so many things you need, including excellent communication devices, cameras, self-contained kits for each person with food, radios and medical packs."

Some research had to be done on location. "This couldn't have been done without detailed consultation with the British, American, New Zealand, Australian and Argentine scientists," the filmmaker says. "You need to have their cooperation, because you need to stay on their bases." The international research scientists make up most of Antarctica's 800-person population.

Six crews, using both film and video, worked in different areas of the continent, where almost everything is covered with ice.

Extraordinary underwater footage highlights the program, which is part of TBS' "National Geographic Explorer" series. Divers, wearing special suits, were actually treated to warmer temperatures when they dipped into the icy seas. "If the waters were as cold as on land," Attenborough says, "well, of course, they would be frozen."

"You couldn't even touch your naked finger to the camera without it sticking and damaging it," Attenborough points out. "Even putting your eye to the eyepiece was a difficult problem."

by CNB