The Craziest Stories Behind The Scenes Of ‘Planet Earth II’s First Episode, “Islands”

The past few months have been pretty divisive. However, there’s one thing we can all agree on. Mother Nature is truly incredible. Last weekend marked the premiere of Planet Earth II, the BBC America’s sequel to the iconic nature documentary series of the same name. When it first premiered, Planet Earth redefined the entire genre of nature filmmaking, and this second season attempts to do the same.

Over three years in the making, Planet Earth II explores animals, environments, and ecosystems from over 40 different countries. The whole documentary series took place across 117 filming trips for a total of 2,089 shooting days, and during those 2,089 days some really remarkable things happen. You’ve already seen the majesty that is Planet Earth II. Now here are some of the most borderline insane tales of fearless filmmaking that went into creating this gorgeous and educational series.

The Evolution of Filmmaking From Planet Earth to Planet Earth II

There’s no question that Planet Earth II is a gorgeous series, but the film techniques used for it are as interesting and innovative as the series’ subjects. When Planet Earth came out a over a decade ago, it was the first natural history series to be filmed in high definition. Whereas the first installment focused on giving viewers a bird’s eye view of Mother Nature’s greatness, Planet Earth II gets as close to its subjects as possible, often attempting to replicate what life is like for these creatures.

Filmmakers utilized the latest gyro-stabilization techniques so they could film on the go. The series also used drones to capture aerial shots as well as the latest generation of low-light cameras, which helped the series record some of the firsts for any nature special. However, the most useful technological advancement for Planet Earth II may be the development of remote camera traps, which allowed the crew to film some of the most elusive animals alive without physically being there.

There are several firsts in Planet Earth II, from the first time certain species have ever been filmed to the first time behaviors have ever been recorded. When asked by Decider how Planet Earth II was able to capture so many firsts, executive producer Mike Gunton pointed to luck and the expertise of his team. “There’s always an element of luck. You can plan and hope and get the logistics in place as much as you like. In the end, Mother Nature won’t read a script and animals don’t turn up or turn up in the wrong place and do things you weren’t expecting,” he said. “We all work for BBC Natural History, and one of the things about that organization — I’ve worked there for 30 years, and I am not the only one — is they aggregate. The communal knowledge is phenomenal. There’s almost nowhere on the planet where someone hasn’t been somewhere a bit like it or done something a bit similar … There’s such a huge wealth of knowledge that we all share and that gives you confidence to take risks.”

Zavodovski Island, the Trip That Took A Year to Plan

There are a lot of truly incredible moments in this new season, from the footage of an iguana narrowly escaping a swarm of snakes to a tiger taking on a crocodile. However, one of the most remarkable behind-the-scenes stories has to do with a group of docile penguins. Chinstrap Penguins aren’t objectively more interesting than many other species of penguin, but they are certainly rarer to catch on film. That’s because the largest colony of Chinstrap Penguins live on Zavodovski Island, one of the most remote islands in the world. Covered by dangerous cliff faces and surrounded by intense seas, very few people have ever set foot on this remote island off the coast of Antarctica.

It took the Planet Earth II team over a year just to plan a trip to Zavodovski Island. “It took [“Islands” producer Elizabeth White] a year of meticulous planning because it’s quite a dangerous place to go,” Gunton said. “Not because the animals are dangerous but just getting on and off the island and getting there is pretty hardcore. And if anything goes wrong you are completely stranded. There’s no hope of rescue. It’s almost like going to the moon.”

According to episode producer Elizabeth White, it took a seven-day crossing just to get to the island, and once they were there, the team had to be entirely self-sufficient. The team arrived on a calm day, but within 24 hours there was a storm that made it impossible for them to leave or for the boat to resupply. It was a week before the boat was able to return.

Fending Off Komodo Dragons

The first episode of Planet Earth II devotes a fair amount of time to one of the best known island creatures around, the Komodo Dragon. The largest lizard on the planet, the Komodo Dragon can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh as much as 155 pounds. However, getting this footage was dangerous work. The Planet Earth II sequence required up to six rangers to fend off the dangerous lizards from the team. Only sticks were used as a deterrent.

The Albatrosses’ Love Story

One of the sweetest moments — and possibly one of the sweetest love stories of the year — takes place between two albatrosses in “Islands.” In order to capture these two love birds reuniting, the Planet Earth II team travelled by yacht across stormy seas for over 24 hours. And in case you were wondering, yes, the heart-pounding bird reunion Sir David Attenborough narrates is real. The team used leg bands to track this particular couple. The leg bands showed that this feathery couple has been together for several years, though this is the older female albatross’ second mate.

Marine Iguana vs. Racer Snakes: The Viral Sensation

Before there was even talk about Planet Earth II’s stateside premiere, the internet latched onto one moment from the documentary — that legendary footage of a baby iguana escaping from a herd of over 20 hungry snakes. It’s truly a remarkable sequence, and it’s also the first time the Planet Earth team had ever filmed marine iguanas frantically dashing to safety.

When asked about the now-legendary iguana and snake scene, Mike Gunton expressed his surprise about the footage. “Well we didn’t actually expect it to even happen,” he said. “Of course we knew that iguanas laid their eggs in the soft sand in the middle of island and that when they hatched there were predators. We knew that there were hawks and preyed on some of them. We even heard that there was the odd snake. We had no idea that the snakes were waiting in these enormous numbers like a medusa’s head to ambush them, and I think it was quite an unusual circumstance, what happened.”

However, once Gunton saw the footage, he know he has something special. “Having said that, once I saw material and once it was cut together I knew that we had a once in a generation sequence,” he said. “To get people to connect and empathize and root for, basically, a little reptile I think is quite remarkable because normally it’s things with big eye and fluffy ears that people connect with.”

You can watch new episodes of Planet Earth II on BBC America on Saturdays at 9/8c. 

Stream Planet Earth II on BBC Amercia

Stream the Planet Earth II episode "Islands" for free on Amazon Video