![]() And the vignettes speak eloquently for themselves. We see walruses and puffins and dolphins struggling to survive against increasingly tough odds it’s seldom pointed out directly that Humans Have Done This, but it doesn’t have to be. The episodes take advantage of every available advance in technology to capture events and sights and sounds it wasn’t possible to grab even ten years ago-we see the first deep submersible dive in the Antarctic thanks to enhanced, ultra-quiet diving equipment, we’re able to watch tuskfish using rocks and corals to dash clamshells to pieces so they can get at the tasty innards (as it turns out, non-mammals can and do use tools). Are you willing to save yourselves, folks?” Attenborough at 91 is as calm, assured and staid as ever, but there is a plaintive note as he remarks, “There is cause for hope.” As in, “There is cause for hope if everyone changes their focus and their behavior right this second. And we’re directly causing it, and if we don’t put our backs into stopping it, we’re all toast. Now, though, there is no question that the time for pure celebration of the interlocking diversity of sea life (which includes us) is over. The sense of vastness and mystery and infinite diversity is still very much there and very much amazing. You’ll see some images familiar to those who enjoyed the original series-the way a whale carcass on the ocean floor feeds an entire community of deep-sea dwellers for months or years the relationship between turtles (and corals) and the moon. Still narrated by the irreplaceable Sir David Attenborough and still wall-to-wall mesmerizing, the seven episodes of Blue Planet II have stunning photography, enhanced by a lush score by Hans Zimmer and a beautiful, shimmering, crackling, scuttling, subtly ringing quality to the sound editing, so you really feel as though you’re in the water. ![]() The sequel is a more than worthy successor.Īnd if you were wondering if the “but…” was going to be addressed? Yeah. The original Blue Planet episodes were magnificent, some of the best natural history television ever made. It was rather a relief to watch something that was still focused on what did work. ![]() I know and knew then that ocean ecosystems are compromised. The original episodes of Blue Planet surprised me in how little time they spent on the “but…” factor of environmental degradation (even several years ago), but that was OK.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |