What I find annoying about nature documentaries these days...

[Scotty]

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of nature documentaries, especially those by the BBC. I really liked Planet Earth and Life but at the same time I find these programs quite annoying.

One reason for this is, that since they started filming these programs in HD, they film almost everything at super high speeds and then slow it down to a crawl. This can look stunning, beautiful even. But when they start to slow down pretty much every animal in every scene, it is getting annoying and irritating. I was watching Life the other day, and they even slowed down the movements of a Komodo Dragon. Correct me if i'm wrong, but these animals aren't very fast to begin with

Another thing that I find hugely annoying is the fact these wonderful British documentaries are "Americanized" (if that's even a word) for the American market. Attenborough's narration is out, replaced by Sigourney Weaver and Oprah Winfrey of all people. Even the names of the programs are changed to make them more spectacular for US audiences. Look at these name changes:

South Pacific - Wild Pacific
Nature's Great Events - Nature's Most Amazing Events
Earth - Disneynature's Earth (as if the folks at Disney lifted one finger in making that movie)
How The Earth Made Us - How The Earth Changed History

That last one if especially mistifying. How can the Earth change history? It makes no sense at all. And it's totally unnecessary. Anyone else getting fed up with this?

 

[Shazam!]

Attenborough's narration is out, replaced by Sigourney Weaver and Oprah Wintfrey

WTF Seriously?

 

[Scotty]

Attenborough's narration is out, replaced by Sigourney Weaver and Oprah Wintfrey

WTF Seriously?

Seriously, you can't make stuff like that up.

 

[Warped9]

How can the Earth change history? It makes no sense at all.

Actually I think this can happen and has happened although it can be difficult to quantify. If a natural event displaces (and/or kills) large numbers of people than that can have an effect on how a people are progressing.

 

[McCoy]

What bothers me is that everything has to have a "how man is destroying nature" angle. My wife can't watch animals suffer, even natural situations like predator/prey, so these beautiful docs with all this stunning photography won't be shown in our house. As much as I'd like to watch Planet Earth or Life, I can't. Annoying.

 

[Tharsis]

That's funny. I've seen "How the Earth is Made" here in the states and that's exactly what it was called....I think you are getting some mis-information on that one. I even have the DVD set with the same name, bought in the states. I completely agree though that I would rather listen to the BBC narrators.

 

[Scotty]

That's funny. I've seen "How the Earth is Made" here in the states and that's exactly what it was called....I think you are getting some mis-information on that one. I even have the DVD set with the same name, bought in the states. I completely agree though that I would rather listen to the BBC narrators.

How Earth Changed History

How the earth is made is another documentary altogether, I think. Iain Stewart also made the excellent doc Earth: The Power Of The Planet, renamed in the US of course as Earth: The Biography.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

If you're in Holland, why are you watching shows meant for the American market? I preferred Sigourney Weaver to Attenborough, who sounds like a stuffy old fart to me. However, I agree that Oprah sounds like she's lecturing a classroom of fidgety five year olds. Anyway, the kick-ass ratings have vindicated whatever the Discovery Channel wants to do with future narrations so get used to it.

How can the Earth change history?

If this is the series I think you're talking about, geology and weather certainly have a massive impact on history. But honestly I get those types of series all mixed up. I might be thinking of something else on the Weather Channel.

That's funny. I've seen "How the Earth is Made" here in the states and that's exactly what it was called...

How the Earth Was Made, right? Yeah, there have been a jumble of those, I can't keep them all straight...there was something called Atlas: 4D that looked interesting but they showed one episode and them boom, it was gone. Is Discovery not going to show the rest of it?

What bothers me is that everything has to have a "how man is destroying nature" angle. My wife can't watch animals suffer, even natural situations like predator/prey,

Well those are two different things. You get some docs that take the "oh the poor polar bears" stance and others that don't seem to care and are more about "watch the lions rip apart that gazelle!" If your wife can't stand either, then don't watch nature docs!

PS, I always root for the big cats (unless they're hyenas, ugh). Hey, predators gotta eat too!

Discovery's got a lot of stuff lined up; it all sounds great to me (and it's nice to have something other than AMC and FX to justify my cable bills).

 

[Canadave]

PS, I always root for the big cats (unless they're hyenas, ugh). Hey, predators gotta eat too!

I feel compelled to point out that hyenas are canines.

 

[Nardpuncher]

What bothers me is that everything has to have a "how man is destroying nature" angle. My wife can't watch animals suffer, even natural situations like predator/prey, so these beautiful docs with all this stunning photography won't be shown in our house. As much as I'd like to watch Planet Earth or Life, I can't. Annoying.

Agreed. The thing where the last DVd or the last episode of a series is devoted to the environment gets old.

I always found it funny how if you're watching a segment about say, antelopes...you want them to "win" in any engagement with a predator.
Then next week it's a show about the lion and you want it to "win" in its encounter with the antelope!

 

[Scotty]

If you're in Holland, why are you watching shows meant for the American market?

I do live in Holland and over here we do get the UK versions. I have never actually watched the American version. It just annoys me that an American version exists.

I preferred Sigourney Weaver to Attenborough, who sounds like a stuffy old fart to me. .

That's SIR David Attenborough and yes, he is a stuffy old fart. He still sounds better than Lt Ripley though.

 

[Rincewiend]

PS, I always root for the big cats (unless they're hyenas, ugh). Hey, predators gotta eat too!

I feel compelled to point out that hyenas are canines.

No, she is right, they are more related to the big cats....

Although hyenas bear some physical resemblance to canids, they make up a separate biological family that is most closely related to Herpestidae (the family of mongooses and meerkats), thereby falling within the Feliformia. All species have a distinctly bear-like gait, due to their front legs being longer than their back legs. The Aardwolf, Striped Hyena, and Brown Hyena have striped pelts and manes lining the top of their necks which erect when frightened. The Spotted Hyena's fur is considerably shorter and spotted rather than striped.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyena

 

[Deckerd]

How can the Earth change history?

If this is the series I think you're talking about, geology and weather certainly have a massive impact on history. But honestly I get those types of series all mixed up.

I think the point the OP was making is that history is the story of humans, who wouldn't exist without the Earth. So it's a bit like saying Air - how it changed history: it's meaningless.

 

[Warped9]

There is a series currently running on History Television in Canada called Ancient Weather. It looks at how changing weather affected human development. In one segment it posits that global warming in ancient times melted ice sheets in North America and released a previously held large body of water covering much of Northern Canada. This caused the flooding that created the Black Sea and displaced countless farmers. The flooding took place over a period of about thirty years. It could answer the question of how farming was introduced in Europe. It was introduced because some of those displaced farmers went north and settled there.


Hmm... Global warming and flooding...long before human industrialization. Imagine that.

 

[Scotty]

How can the Earth change history?

If this is the series I think you're talking about, geology and weather certainly have a massive impact on history. But honestly I get those types of series all mixed up.

I think the point the OP was making is that history is the story of humans, who wouldn't exist without the Earth. So it's a bit like saying Air - how it changed history: it's meaningless.

That's exactly the point I was making. Furthermore, the program in question isn't about how the Earth changed our history. It's about how certain geological forces impacted our development as a human race.

 

[Scotty]

Hmm... Global warming and flooding...long before human industrialization. Imagine that.

This isn't quite a revelatory as you might think. Geologically speaking, we're currently in an ice age since there have been long stetches during our Earth's history when there wasn't any ice to be found on our planet.

 

[Warped9]

Hmm... Global warming and flooding...long before human industrialization. Imagine that.

This isn't quite a revelatory as you might think. Geologically speaking, we're currently in an ice age since there have been long stetches during our Earth's history when there wasn't any ice to be found on our planet.

My point is that climate change advocates who pin that change almost solely on the backs of human activity of the past hundred years never seem to acknowledge that drastic climate has occurred in the past long, long before human industrialization.

Have we had an effect on planetary climate? Quite likely I'd think.

Are we the main cause of climate change? I'm not so sure.

Not long ago I read that Mars is also currently undergoing some sort of climate change. Have we something to do with that as well?