Not Enough Snakes in Your Nightmares? See ‘Planet Earth II’

An Indri lemur, one of the forest animals unique to Madagascar, in the series “Planet Earth II.” CreditTom Hugh-Jones

Nature photography has rarely been as spectacular as it is in “Planet Earth II,” yet at the same time the reverent, nonjudgmental approach embodied by David Attenborough seems too dispassionate for the cultural and environmental moment, at least to an American audience. This six-part series, which begins Saturday on BBC America, AMC and SundanceTV, invites you to be awe-struck, but also to feel as if everything is just fine in the natural world.

The program, which has already been seen in Britain, is a follow-up to the 11-part 2006 series, for which Mr. Attenborough was narrator (Sigourney Weaver did the American version) and one of the writers. Here he narrates again and introduces segments from delightfully unexpected vantage points for a man of his age. (He is now 90.) The first time we see him, he’s in a hot-air balloon.

“Looking down from two miles above the surface of the earth,” he says, “it is impossible not to be impressed by the sheer grandeur and splendor and power of the natural world.”

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That begins a fresh look at nature that takes full advantage of advances that have been made in filmmaking since the original “Planet Earth,” which itself was dazzling. The photographers here get ridiculously close to their subjects. You don’t want to learn too much about how the film was made — the use of a trained eagle for an eagle-cam shot takes the glow off a wonderful sequence, as does the news that some of the program’s tidy vignettes were made so through judicious editing.

Never mind the behind-the-scenes stuff; just enjoy the view. Though “enjoy” may not be the right word — some of what the series serves up may haunt your dreams. Part 1, “Islands,” has an amazing moment in which newly hatched marine iguanas run for their lives as racer snakes, dozens of them, slither after them. Part 6, “Cities,” shows turtle hatchlings, whose DNA tells them to head for the moonlight and the ocean, instead aiming for the lights of a nearby city, and likely death. Yes, kids, life is tough, from the moment it starts.

The series, like the original, is organized by environments: “Islands,” “Mountains,” “Jungles,” “Deserts,” “Grasslands.” The “Cities” episode that concludes it is a new wrinkle: It examines animals that have adapted to urban environments. Some of these, like the rhesus macaques of Jaipur, India, have been getting so much TV time in recent years that they may need agents. The “Planet Earth II” treatment of them isn’t very thorough. Are they a nuisance? A health hazard? A tourist draw? We’re not told.

And that somewhat facile approach infuses the series. Mr. Attenborough has never been one to hector; he has said that he hopes his many fine nature programs have helped people appreciate the variety and fragility of the natural world, but he has eschewed the soapbox in favor of subtlety. This program (the series producer is Tom Hugh-Jones) does, too, for the most part.

“Islands” has a segment about the red crabs of Christmas Island, which lived relatively carefree lives until the accidental introduction of a voracious type of ant, perhaps via a ship, left them confronting a predator against which they had no defenses. Might you extract from that the lesson that the tiniest human disruptions can be catastrophic in the natural world, and further that therefore unchaining corporations from environmental regulations is going to have calamitous consequences? You might, if you were so inclined. Or you might just admire the pretty pictures and then go back to marveling at those racer snakes.