If you like nature documentaries, you are likely to at least appreciate 'Spy in the Wild'. Am a fan of nature documentaries, whether David Attenborough or not, and to me while not quite a landmark this was a great, very well made and interesting series. Also did appreciate its different approach and while some may not like that it revolves around a gimmick, it was a gimmick that was generally done very well throughout the series even if the animatronics for my tastes varied.
Despite being one of the lowest rated episodes of 'Spy in the Wild', second lowest, to me (and am not sure how popular an opinion this will be) Season 2's penultimate installment "The Islands" is one of the best of the series. The series was consistently great and actually all the episodes are equally good, but some of the most entertaining character interactions of the whole series and some of the most unique animal behaviours can be seen in "The Islands".
When it comes to talking about what stood out as particularly unlike anything seen before (from personal opinion this is), what immediately comes to mind is the quokkas sequence. It is always great in documentaries to see and hear something not known to you before and get illuminated, and "The Islands" did that with the quokkas. As said, the character interactions between the spy animals and their real life counterparts are among the series' most entertaining. Perhaps even more so than those in "The North".
The sequence with the komodo dragons and their tensions with Spy Pig was something never seen before by me in any documentaries, while the quokkas were very charming and the tortoise part is a shocker. Have never seen komodo dragons on film in this way before, don't really see them a lot in general and certainly not this intimately. It was great too to see crabs so up close.
Scenery is lovely. The Galapagos is a familiar place for nature documentaries, but that is not a bad thing at all because one cannot get enough of it and especially because when it is ever featured it is so easy to revel in the environment and there is something new every time. This scenery is beautifully filmed, nothing over-saturated or uncomfortable-feeling even in scenes heavier in action.
Really once again liked the use of the spy animals and how the real life animals interacted with them in ways rarely seen before. Especially with the komodo dragons. They are also not as creepy or as robotic as some other episodes of 'Spy in the Wild', even if you would never mistake Spy Crab in particular for the real thing. Spy Seal Pup comes off best here.
Overall, great penultimate episode. 9/10
Despite being one of the lowest rated episodes of 'Spy in the Wild', second lowest, to me (and am not sure how popular an opinion this will be) Season 2's penultimate installment "The Islands" is one of the best of the series. The series was consistently great and actually all the episodes are equally good, but some of the most entertaining character interactions of the whole series and some of the most unique animal behaviours can be seen in "The Islands".
When it comes to talking about what stood out as particularly unlike anything seen before (from personal opinion this is), what immediately comes to mind is the quokkas sequence. It is always great in documentaries to see and hear something not known to you before and get illuminated, and "The Islands" did that with the quokkas. As said, the character interactions between the spy animals and their real life counterparts are among the series' most entertaining. Perhaps even more so than those in "The North".
The sequence with the komodo dragons and their tensions with Spy Pig was something never seen before by me in any documentaries, while the quokkas were very charming and the tortoise part is a shocker. Have never seen komodo dragons on film in this way before, don't really see them a lot in general and certainly not this intimately. It was great too to see crabs so up close.
Scenery is lovely. The Galapagos is a familiar place for nature documentaries, but that is not a bad thing at all because one cannot get enough of it and especially because when it is ever featured it is so easy to revel in the environment and there is something new every time. This scenery is beautifully filmed, nothing over-saturated or uncomfortable-feeling even in scenes heavier in action.
Really once again liked the use of the spy animals and how the real life animals interacted with them in ways rarely seen before. Especially with the komodo dragons. They are also not as creepy or as robotic as some other episodes of 'Spy in the Wild', even if you would never mistake Spy Crab in particular for the real thing. Spy Seal Pup comes off best here.
Overall, great penultimate episode. 9/10
