David Attenborough's 'Zoo Quest in Colour' Brings the 1950s Nature Documentary to Life

Komodo

May 19, 2017

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Watch "Zoo Quest in Colour" on Tuesday, May 23 at 9:00 p.m. on KCET. See more airdates.

BBC's "Zoo Quest" took 1950s viewers around the world, hosted by a young David Attenborough and cementing his leading role in television nature documentaries. The program ran from 1954 to 1963 in black and white, but in 2015 a BBC archivist discovered that the programs had actually been shot on color film. "Zoo Quest in Colour" features highlights from the first three episodes, remastered and shown in color for the first time. Attenborough visits the people, fauna and flora of South America, West Africa, and Komodo.

See the images below to reveal the incredibly rich color and quality added to these 1950s images.

Boat - Grayscale

Boat - Color

Chameleon - Grayscale

Chameleon - Color

Person - Grayscale

Person - Color

Larva - Grayscale

Larva - Color

People - Grayscale

People - Color

Praying Mantis - Grayscale

Praying Mantis - Color

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