Africa series, BBC, Discussion thread :)

The one image that stood out for me was at the water hole in the Kalahari. It was a "layering" of animals from back to front, almost like a team photo. Small animals at the front, through boks, through zebra to an elephant at the back with blue sky above............. magical
 
Darn, I missed it. And its never the same on iPlayer with the white circle of death interrupting the flow every 30 seconds.
 
Sony_SoFar said:
Wayyyy too much computer graphics, and not enough of Sir David infront of the camera, Very poor. 3/10!
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Yup, must agree. That was just bought in footage with a voice-over. Attenborough is/was at his best out there in front of the camera explaining what is happening. This sucks of being made for the American networks.

Super photography, but it was just a coffee table book type programme.

And all that scmaltzy muszak? UGGHH!

Trouble is Sir D is now too old to go out there making programmes. They probably won't be able to insure him, so like the guys in Summer Wine, he is now restricted to indoor sitting down jobs.
 
oops, I forgot about this, I'm hoping I set it to Sky+, otherwise It'll be iplayer time! :thumbs:


kelack said:
I treasure my signed book from Sir David and the day I met him. He is a legend and a true gentleman
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Me too, in a world where "Legend" is to readily used, this man certainly deserves the title.
 
mikeplow1961 said:
When did nature documentaries start having daft background music like a spaghetti western theme because 'there's a new rhino in town'?
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That stupid music and gratuitous sound effects has pervaded almost all documentaries. It is like having "interference on sound" - very distracting.

I do wish wildlife docus would omit revolting insects. Giraffe scenes were amazing. Never seen them do that before.
 
mickledore said:
Yup, must agree. That was just bought in footage with a voice-over. Attenborough is/was at his best out there in front of the camera explaining what is happening. This sucks of being made for the American networks.

Super photography, but it was just a coffee table book type programme.

And all that scmaltzy muszak? UGGHH!

Trouble is Sir D is now too old to go out there making programmes. They probably won't be able to insure him, so like the guys in Summer Wine, he is now restricted to indoor sitting down jobs.
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:plusone:

Disappointing really. Fantastic photography but it just adds up to hi-def moving wallpaper. Music overbearing, Sir Dave sounding ever more soporific and I don't recall him being quite as dumbed down with his anthropomorphisms before e.g. with the leopard: "Like any teenager he thinks nothing of raiding her larder" or the rhino: "A girl can only put up with so much."

And after the misleading polar bear footage from Frozen Planet I find myself watching scenes thinking is this a set up. Time for some fresh blood and fresh ideas I think.
 
RacingSnake said:
I know :lol:
Couldn't agree more!
Shame that show has finished now :|
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ITV3 are repeating all the series, right from the start, from the 14th(?) January:)

arclight said:
Giraffe scenes were amazing. Never seen them do that before.
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I was lucky enough to go to South Africa for the first (and hopefully not the last) time in March last year. We saw two giraffes fighting like they showed last night - not quite as bloody or as violent, but still a real "thud" each time they hit each other!
 
Spuff said:
:plusone:

Disappointing really. Fantastic photography but it just adds up to hi-def moving wallpaper. Music overbearing, Sir Dave sounding ever more soporific and I don't recall him being quite as dumbed down with his anthropomorphisms before e.g. with the leopard: "Like any teenager he thinks nothing of raiding her larder" or the rhino: "A girl can only put up with so much."

And after the misleading polar bear footage from Frozen Planet I find myself watching scenes thinking is this a set up. Time for some fresh blood and fresh ideas I think.
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+1 exactly. Apart from the bit in bold. I'm not bothered about that.

The man's a legend - time to move on.
 
That giraffe fight was fierce!.. have to say I think I preferred Galapagos to this one, but will watch anyway :)
 
Definitely great eye candy.

I can't help feeling wildlife documentaries are overdue a revolution of some sort.

You know, the way punk rock blew away prog. sort of thing.
 
I just watched it again and picked up on a few things I missed first time round....but that giraffe fight really was something else. I felt so sorry for the old fella and then...BOOM!!! Outstanding.
 
Those horns are vicious even though they have no points on them.
 
Missed tonight due to work, will be watching on iplayer when I get home in the morn :)
 
Well I thought last nights programme was a little bit of a let down. The sequence of the Lizards catching Flies around the Lions was fun to watch, but the majority of the rest was similar to things I have already watched over the years.
 
u8myufo said:
Well I thought last nights programme was a little bit of a let down. The sequence of the Lizards catching Flies around the Lions was fun to watch, but the majority of the rest was similar to things I have already watched over the years.
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I tend to agree, possibly because last week's programme was rather special - I guess there's only so much 'new' that's possible, but the photography is brilliant.
 
I remembered to watch it in HD last night and thought the quality of the photography - especially the lizards and close ups of the lions - was exceptional.

My wife doesn't want to watch it next week though with all the trauma of the shoebill only feeding one of its children and the elephant having to watch its baby die - all far too distressing for an evenings entertainment for her.
 
I thought the wildebeeste plummeting off that sheer cliff to get to the river was impressive. and the close up shot of them climbing out the other side, dont know where the cameraman was positioned but rather him than me!

Agree with the comment about a revolution in wildlife filming being needed. One thing that always jars a bit is the false sounds they invariably use of the animals, because they were shot from so far away in real life you wouldnt hear anything. the bull elephant fight for instance and the the thuds as the wildebeeste fell off the cliff. All done in post prod I'm willing to bet.
Cant fault the camera work though, outstanding.
 
DorsetDude said:
I thought the wildebeeste plummeting off that sheer cliff to get to the river was impressive. and the close up shot of them climbing out the other side, dont know where the cameraman was positioned but rather him than me!

Agree with the comment about a revolution in wildlife filming being needed. One thing that always jars a bit is the false sounds they invariably use of the animals, because they were shot from so far away in real life you wouldnt hear anything. the bull elephant fight for instance and the the thuds as the wildebeeste fell off the cliff. All done in post prod I'm willing to bet.
Cant fault the camera work though, outstanding.
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although last week with the rhino they did have remote mic/recorders. maybe they did the same.. or they used directional mics maybe.
 
A couple of things surprised me with last night's episode:

The "making of" bit at the end highlighted surely what must be an excess, even in wildlife documentary terms, over 70 locals needed to transport (a ton?) of equipment up the mountains to get some fairly average shots over a period of days! OK, the weather wasn't in their favour but I wonder who decided this was a good use of resource/budget. It looked like they were trying to replicated an old colonial expedition through Africa.

And secondly, the cameraman trying to justify not rescuing the squeaking, dying baby elephant and its obviously upset mother. Now I know it's the wild and I know things die, get eaten, it's nature etc etc but I just felt that some of his (well prepared) excuses for not feeding/watering/rescuing the creature and lingering on its dying breaths were a little too convenient.

Maybe I'm getting sentimental in my old age but perhaps that's a direction some of these programmes need to take to inject a bit of freshness. Sod the impartiality - we know the brutality of nature - lets see the team laying on a bit of water and hay or buns or whatever revives elephants.

That goes for the "insurance policy" weedy shoebill too. Once it was apparent that the first born was OK they could have whisked the runty one away. It wouldn't make a lot of difference. But it would be nice.
 
Spuff said:
...excuses for not feeding/watering/rescuing the creature and lingering on its dying breaths were a little too convenient.

Maybe I'm getting sentimental in my old age but perhaps that's a direction some of these programmes need to take to inject a bit of freshness. Sod the impartiality
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and sod the ways of nature ... we need fresh entertainment? :thinking:
 
neil_g said:
if theyd have gone out there the mother would surely pound them into the dust..

where do you draw the line? shooting all crocs so that baby zebra dont get eaten etc?
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They're clever people these documentary makers - they can draw the lines and work out how to feed the elephants :) But is there not some philosophical or moral argument that just because these creatures die when you're not filming them doesn't mean that they have to die when you do film them? Because, as humans we have the ability (and obligation?) to intervene.
 
new2me said:
and sod the ways of nature ... we need fresh entertainment? :thinking:
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But that's all this programme is - entertainment. I don't think it's pretending to be educational.
 
Spuff said:
They're clever people these documentary makers - they can draw the lines and work out how to feed the elephants :) But is there not some philosophical or moral argument that just because these creatures die when you're not filming them doesn't mean that they have to die when you do film them? Because, as humans we have the ability (and obligation?) to intervene.
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Spot on....


I saw a clip a couple of months ago, where a baby elephant had fallen into a steep sided well, the mother was frantic, but the crew 'drove' the mother away with their jeep, then pulled the baby out on a huge tow line... then hurded the baby elephant back across the sands to meet it's mother again... proper 'dust in my eye' type viewing.
ETA - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/baby-elephant-rescue-video_n_1979314.html
 
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neil_g said:
if theyd have gone out there the mother would surely pound them into the dust..

where do you draw the line? shooting all crocs so that baby zebra dont get eaten etc?
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Exactly :plusone:

Also, where would the camera crew magic up all this water and food out in the middle of a desert, and do they then need to follow said herd of elephants feeding them along the way until they finally find food

Giving the baby elephant some at that stage would only have prolong the agony for both baby and mother

Yes it is harsh, but so is the reality of living in such an arid place, but also as said right at the end, the drought has given rise the largest elephant baby boom in recorded history (or something to that effect anyway ;))
 
rpsmith79 said:
Exactly :plusone:

Also, where would the camera crew magic up all this water and food out in the middle of a desert, and do they then need to follow said herd of elephants feeding them along the way until they finally find food

Giving the baby elephant some at that stage would only have prolong the agony for both baby and mother

Yes it is harsh, but so is the reality of living in such an arid place, but also as said right at the end, the drought has given rise the largest elephant baby boom in recorded history (or something to that effect anyway ;))
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Agree with all that. I thought the cameramans words were spot on on why they didnt intervene in this case. Especially when he said even if they had, the effects on the mother might then have led to her death as well.

If you can intervene safely, as in the case with the calf down a pit above, then fair enough, but in this case he was right not to IMO.
 
Missed it last night :(
 
So, currently watching this.

I think I may weep.
 
Alright there's no "maybe" about it.

It's the natural world....but so damn sad :'(
 
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