Plot Synopsis

FROZEN PLANET documents life at the polar regions of Earth -- the Arctic and Antarctic -- showing the scale and beauty of the scenery while revealing a world filled with more creatures, color and spectacle than ever imagined. This series captures video of the birth of an iceberg bigger than the tallest building on Earth, a caterpillar with antifreeze in its veins, and baby polar bears, who at birth are 25% smaller than human babies. Plus, never-before-filmed sequences include: the growth of a nine-foot-long saltwater icicle (brinicle) that freezes everything it touches; orca whales working as a team to create killer waves that wash seals off ice floes; a pack of 25 wolves bringing down a bison, the largest prey in the world, while being simultaneously filmed from ground and air; aerials of a base at the South Pole; and time-lapse video of the seasons changing with the use of polar-adapted motion controlled time-lapse cameras. To capture the majestic power of these frozen regions, the crew filmed in every nation inside the Arctic and Antarctic circles during 2,356 days in the field while spending 18 months at sea, more than six months on the sea ice, and 135 hours beneath the ice. Discovery Channel aired the U.S. premiere of this series on Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 8pm ET.