【Sisters Slave】

Forgive us David Attenborough,Sisters Slave for we are not worthy.

Last Sunday was the last episode of Blue Planet II, and we mourn the loss of a series so astronomically awesome. So let's take a moment to appreciate the incredible work done by the Blue Planet II team -- work which took four years -- to bring the wonder of nature closer than we would have thought possible.

1. Fish taking birds out of mid-air

Footage of giant trevally fish leaping out of the water to nom on young arctic terns was the first collective chill Blue Planet II sent down the nation's spines.

Forget everything you think you know. Fish eat birds, and it's hypnotically horrifying in slow-mo.

2. Glowy-glowy rays

Camera technology has come forwards in leaps and bounds since the original Blue Planet aired in 2001, and this allowed Blue Planet II to show us never-before-seen spectacles of nature. One such technological advance was a camera able to film in absolute darkness, which allowed the team to capture a display like no other.

Mobula rays swimming through bioluminescent plankton cause it to glow, resulting in footage that looks like a scene from Avatar. The camera technology was such that, even though the camera people themselves were in blind darkness, they captured this incredible light display.

3. Killer whale cam

A standout part of Blue Planet II's incredible camerawork was the use of cameras attached to the animals. This technique was able to give the team an insight into life under the sea. Of course, first they had to boop the cameras onto the animals.

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Possibly most impressive was the footage of killer whales pulling off underwater acrobatics, smacking their tails to produce shockwaves that stun unsuspecting herring which are then hoovered up by the orca.

4. The underwater lake of doom

The deep sea is a weird, weird place, and not just because of the strange as hell fishies that live down there.

In Blue Planet II we were taken down to see a natural feature that beggars belief -- an underwater lake. The lake itself is made of brine, which is heavier than regular water and so pools on the ocean floor.

This was actually a re-visiting of a previous Blue Planet classic, but as well as the picture being of a much higher quality this time around, the Blue Planet II team got amazing footage illustrating how deadly these deep sea brine lakes are. Eels which delve into the lake are liable to toxic shock, and millions watched the eerie sight of the fish convulsing and tying itself in literal knots after diving into the brine.

5. The Bobbit worm, a.k.a. Lovecraft's pet nightmare

The sea is a scary place, but no one was emotionally prepared for the Bobbit worm.

Lurking in the seabed, the metre-long Bobbit worm (named after a woman who severed her husband's penis) hides in wait, and if a fishy comes to close it leaps out and seizes the fish in its jaws.

Unacceptable.

6. Close-up footage of the Portuguese Man O'War

The Portuguese Man O'War is a curious thing. It looks like a jellyfish, but in fact it is a collective of organisms living together in a colony.

Blue Planet II gave us an intimate look at how this oddity survives, and when I say intimate I mean intimate. We got an amazingly close-up look at how the Man O'War catches and digests its food, which it snares in its 40-metre-long tentacles before reeling in the unfortunate animal.

This was another example of the superior technology in Blue Planet II coming to bear. Luckily there are no actual bears in the sea though. Can you imagine? In the sea? It doesn't bear thinking about.

7. The ninja octopus who disguised herself in shells

Blue Planet II is a gold-standard in science programming, and they proved that time and time again, though perhaps never more so than when they managed to capture never-before documented behaviours. Chief among these: the mollusc master of disguise.

While filming an octopus off the coast of South Africa, the team witnesses an act of absolute ninjery. An octopus was being hunted by a pyjama shark (yes, a pyjama shark) and so the octopus evaded the shark in the most ingenious way. It covered itself in shells, armouring and hiding itself in one slick move.

8. Sally lightfoot crabs running the eel/octopus gauntlet

Attenborough documentaries are a consistent source of unbelievably tense chase sequences, remember the baby iguana and the snakes from Planet Earth II? Well Blue Planet IIwas no exception.

We followed the gauntlet run by Sally lightfoot crabs at low tide, nimbly leaping from rock to rock trying to escape both moray eels and octopuses -- both of which are capable of leaving the water to pursue the heroic crustaceans.

9. Penguins tiptoeing around humungous elephant seals

Penguins are a staple for nature documentaries. You may think you've seen just about every scene involving a penguin, or even a swarm of penguins, that you could ever see.

But have you seen penguins having to tiptoe past the huge mountains of blubber that are elephant seals? Just being in the vicinity of these behemoths puts the birds in significant danger, and so they hobble past, trying desperately not to step on anything remotely crunchy or squeaky.

10. The mother whale grieving the loss of her calf

Blue Planet II had a strong environmental message and brought home the grim reality of pollution in many ways. But undoubtedly the most affecting illustration of this was the footage of a mother pilot whale cradling the corpse of her dead calf. It is explained that it is possible the young whale was poisoned by its mother's own milk, contaminated by industrial chemicals.

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Blue Planet IIwas full of absolutely stunning and significant moments. The sea may be a harsh mistress, but that didn't stop the Blue Planet II team from making something ground-breaking. They sacrificed more than a few home comforts in doing so.

Bonus video: Pelican just wants to join the BBC

Blue Planet IIteam, we salute you.