Wednesday Documentary Review: Changing Planet, series 1, episode 1 & 2 (2022)
This week I watched a two-part series called Changing Planet, series 1. It is two 50-minute episodes that will be part of a longer series. It is narrated by Russell Boulter, and comes from the BBC, who describe it in this way:
"One Planet. Seven Years. A story not yet written. The most visionary, ambitious, and technologically challenging undertaking that has ever been attempted. A colossal project documenting how the Earth’s most vulnerable habitats, and the animals living there, will evolve in the coming years. Returning with compelling, insightful, documentary films for the next seven years."
I grew up watching nature documentaries from the BBC narrated, and hosted by David Attenborough. You always kind of know what you will get from the BBC nature documentaries. Professionalism, well-researched stuff, and great photography—and this is no different. It is beautiful to watch. They know what they are getting themselves into, and they deliver breathtaking stuff. There is no question about that.
But there is always this catch in the modern nature documentaries. Here is this beautiful scenery, with this interesting species, but all of this is dying, and we are to blame. This is not a direct quote, but that is the feeling. So watching the BBC documentaries today feels very different from what I remember watching them as a kid. And they are not wrong. We've screwed up. Seriously badly. There is no doubt about that. It's just that I was thinking about the fascination I had with all things nature, watching these documentaries as a kid. There was a real joy to watch them. Now days, this enjoyment comes with a lot of guilt, anger, and sadness. Different times.
But let's move on. The past is the past. No need for nostalgia. In all the sites they visit in this miniseries, they talk to scientists, indigenous groups, and conservationists that are working at making things better or researching the situation so that it can be dealt with. This is the hopeful part of watching this series. There are a lot of people doing a lot to try to fight this, and despite what it seems in the news from day to day there is some progress being made.
The six locations they visit in the series are Iceland, the Amazon, California, Kenya, the Maldives and Cambodia. The fact that they visit my home country does add a certain dimension for me. The people they interview here are scientists that are researching the whale population, and how increased traffic through the Arctic will impact them. I found this very interesting, especially because there has been an ongoing debate (or argument, depending on your point of view) about whaling here. It will be interesting to see if these scientists will be able to add something to that.
All in all, quite interesting. I don't know if they manage to finish this ambitious project, but I hope they will. It is a story that is quite interesting.
"One Planet. Seven Years. A story not yet written. The most visionary, ambitious, and technologically challenging undertaking that has ever been attempted. A colossal project documenting how the Earth’s most vulnerable habitats, and the animals living there, will evolve in the coming years. Returning with compelling, insightful, documentary films for the next seven years."
I grew up watching nature documentaries from the BBC narrated, and hosted by David Attenborough. You always kind of know what you will get from the BBC nature documentaries. Professionalism, well-researched stuff, and great photography—and this is no different. It is beautiful to watch. They know what they are getting themselves into, and they deliver breathtaking stuff. There is no question about that.
But there is always this catch in the modern nature documentaries. Here is this beautiful scenery, with this interesting species, but all of this is dying, and we are to blame. This is not a direct quote, but that is the feeling. So watching the BBC documentaries today feels very different from what I remember watching them as a kid. And they are not wrong. We've screwed up. Seriously badly. There is no doubt about that. It's just that I was thinking about the fascination I had with all things nature, watching these documentaries as a kid. There was a real joy to watch them. Now days, this enjoyment comes with a lot of guilt, anger, and sadness. Different times.
But let's move on. The past is the past. No need for nostalgia. In all the sites they visit in this miniseries, they talk to scientists, indigenous groups, and conservationists that are working at making things better or researching the situation so that it can be dealt with. This is the hopeful part of watching this series. There are a lot of people doing a lot to try to fight this, and despite what it seems in the news from day to day there is some progress being made.
The six locations they visit in the series are Iceland, the Amazon, California, Kenya, the Maldives and Cambodia. The fact that they visit my home country does add a certain dimension for me. The people they interview here are scientists that are researching the whale population, and how increased traffic through the Arctic will impact them. I found this very interesting, especially because there has been an ongoing debate (or argument, depending on your point of view) about whaling here. It will be interesting to see if these scientists will be able to add something to that.
All in all, quite interesting. I don't know if they manage to finish this ambitious project, but I hope they will. It is a story that is quite interesting.
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