'You never quite know what you're going to get:' Planet Earth II explores 'the joy of natural history'

Remember cheering on that baby iguanawho narrowly escapeda hordeof ravenous snakes in that viral online teaser videoback in November?

That little marineiguana is now getting some proper screen time inPlanet Earth II, BBC Earth's new series premieringin Canada on Saturday.

That fateful scene took place on the uninhabited Fernandinain the Galapagos Islands and was never filmed before, according to producer Elizabeth White.

"Nobody has actually seen that number of animals hunting at the same time,"White told CBC News of the racer snakes shown in that episode, the first of the six-part series.

"And that's the joy of natural history:you never quite know what you're going to get."

In that introductory instalment, called "Islands,"viewers also meet sloths, Komododragonsand chinstrap penguinson ZavodovskiIsland.

The seriessubsequently unfolds by habitats, including the episodes "Forests,""Jungles"and "Deserts."Like the 2007 original, Planet Earth II is hosted by British naturalist and broadcaster DavidAttenborough.

Canada makes several appearances in the new series, with grizzly bearsfilmed in Alberta appearing in "Mountains" and raccoons from Toronto in the final episode "Cities" a revelatory look at wild and sometimes unexpectedurban animals such as hand-fedhyenas in Harar, Ethiopia and leopards in Mumbai.

Technologicalleapforward

The biggest change since the original Planet Earth series, which was acclaimed for its high-definition footage, has been the size of the cameras, according to White.

This time around, drones,remotely operated night cameras, miniature camerasas well as new handheld ones immerse the audience right into the animal world and bring the action to where feathers are literally flying.

"Our cameras arenot such big, heavy beasts that they were 10 years ago," White said.

"And with this series, we particularly wanted to put you on the animal's eye level, so it was all about fitting into their world."

For instance, her team brought in drones tofilm from above the world's largest penguincolony on remote ZavodovskiIsland, a featthat's never been donebefore.The shoottook a year to planand encompassed a sea voyage lasting six weeks,two weeks of camping on the islandand a dangerous landing by boat ontosteep, rocky cliffs pounded by massive waves.

"I think it's an amazing island. It's a very visceral island. As you approach it, it's this big malevolent craterand yet, as you get closer, you see all of these tiny little bodies going around doing theirbusiness all amongst the colony," White recounted.

As dangerous as that trip was, it was worth it to observe the colony of 1.5 million penguins, with the adults risking their lives daily throwing themselves off those same cliffs to swim out to sea for food for the newborns, she said.

"Being around penguins is wonderful. They are such interesting little characters. The different species have got their different characters. Thechinstrapswe found were quitekind ofremoved. They eyed you from a distance. Whereas the macaroni [penguins]on the islandwere very kind of flamboyant and they'd come really close to you."

The series creators planned their shoots in the style of feature films:with plot lines, different animals as charactersandeven scoring the footage with action movie music in mind.

White, who produced "Islands,"alsoused the storytelling concept of juxtaposition heaven versushell, prison versus paradise to framethe drama taking place before her.

"On Zabadovsky Island there's this huge great stinking volcano, and yet it's penguin paradise," she noted.