Coming to this directly after the latest sprawling "Planet" nature series on the BBC slanted my experience with it significantly - the footage is remarkable, the technology incredible but the overall vibe is quite shallow. The episodes are quite short, the nature narratives are very standard and the whole thing is essentially just a vehicle for the phenomenal technology on display. Hiddleston's unctuous commentary feels almost sarcastic and doesn't quite work either.
At its best (in the first season pursuing otherworldly tarsiers through the trees or the spectacular footage of falcons diving amidst glittering skyscrapers) it's a convincing and enticing vehicle for the technology - but I prefer my nature docs spotlighting the animals rather than the equipment. Or it should have gone all-out like "Animals With Cameras" and folded the trials and tribulations of trying out the equipment into the main focus of the show, rather than relegating it into the now-ubiquitous "behind the scenes segment" (which seems even more superfluous in a half-hour show).
So, pleasant enough for what amounts to an equipment demonstration - but I look forward to seeing this tech rolled out seamlessly in far more weighty nature docs to come.
At its best (in the first season pursuing otherworldly tarsiers through the trees or the spectacular footage of falcons diving amidst glittering skyscrapers) it's a convincing and enticing vehicle for the technology - but I prefer my nature docs spotlighting the animals rather than the equipment. Or it should have gone all-out like "Animals With Cameras" and folded the trials and tribulations of trying out the equipment into the main focus of the show, rather than relegating it into the now-ubiquitous "behind the scenes segment" (which seems even more superfluous in a half-hour show).
So, pleasant enough for what amounts to an equipment demonstration - but I look forward to seeing this tech rolled out seamlessly in far more weighty nature docs to come.