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When I lived in the US in 2007, I noticed that "Planet Earth" was dubbed by Sigourney Weaver. (This made Attenborough's reference to "Alien" when talking about ants infected by cordyceps a bit ironic)

Have other documentaries by Attenborough been dubbed, whether by Weaver, Snoop Dogg, or anyone else, when run in the US? I'm especially interested in ones subsequent to "Planet Earth", as opposed to preceding it, and in ones where he doesn't appear live in the documentary.

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  • Have you checked IMDb? Should be easy to see there as it will list both people.
    – Catija
    Commented Feb 6, 2016 at 14:27
  • I know that Oprah Winfrey did one, not sure exactly when though. Commented Feb 6, 2016 at 17:20

1 Answer 1

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They were but possibly not anymore

Planet Earth was made in 2006.

Since then there have been 3 major David Attenborough productions that were also shown in the US, along with a 4th that may have been

Life - 2009 Narrated in the US by Oprah Winfrey

Life-iMdb

Frozen Planet 2011 Narrated in the US by Alec Baldwin

FrozenPlanet-iMdb

Madagascar 2011 Was produced by BBC Worldwide so may have been shown in the US, but not 100%. Narrated solely by David Attenborough

Madagascar-iMdb

Planet Earth 2 -2016 (2017 release in US)

He does not appear to be dubbed in Planet Earth 2 looking at both BBC America where this picture shows him carrying out the narration.

SirDavidNarratting

And iMdb where he is listed as sole presenter.

PlanetEarth2-iMdb

Maybe they see Sir David as famous enough to narrate on his own show in the US now.


I know you didn't care about preceding ones, but, whilst looking into this I saw that The Blue Planet - 2003 was narrated in the US by Pierce Brosnan

BluePlanet-iMdb

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    As an American, I find the idea of dubbing over David Attenborough's voice to be preposterous, but maybe I just like British narration.
    – JAB
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 19:30
  • @JAB being British I can't imagine anyone other than David Attenborough narrating nature documentaries Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 19:34
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    FWIW, I'm pretty sure I watched stuff that he narrated in the 80s or 90s on US TV. Not sure why they would dub him! Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 3:28
  • @user1118321 I did find numerous ones he wasn't dubbed on but the OP wasn't concerned about pre planet earth and I couldn't confirm if they were shown in US Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 7:51
  • @JAB I just love how soothing his voice is. Commented Apr 4, 2019 at 15:14

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