Lost Worlds: Life in the Balance

Inspired by Edmund O. Wilson's "The Diversity of Life" and taking its name from Arthur Conan Doyle's science fiction classic, this feature is a lively, thoughtful illustration of biodiversity which combines rare nature footage with well-integrated CGI effects and scientific inquiry (from biologists to schoolchildren). Actor Harrison Ford narrates in a likeably laconic manner. Lost Worlds was filmed on location in Guatemala, Quebec, New York, California, and Venezuela, and the sequence set among the last's table-top mountains--particularly the alien terrain of Mount Roraima and the breathtaking beauty of Angel Falls--is a highlight that also inspired Conan Doyle's novel. Director Bayley Silleck (known for directing "Cosmic Voyage") successfully illuminates the adage that "no man is an island." As Ford notes with characteristic understatement, "When we protect nature, we protect ourselves."