The Life of Mammals

The Life of Mammals

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DVD Reviews of The Life of Mammals

DVD Review: David Attenborough's Latest Series
Summary: 3 Stars

As you probably know, this is the current BBC Television Series hosted by David Attenborough.

It is very interesting to me that its broadcast airing is on Discovery, rather than PBS, but that's the way the world is going these days. Cash before class.

I tried to watch a couple of the episodes on television, but the commercial breaks and the way that Discovery constantly promotes itself drive me crazy. I was reminded again why I never watch it. Not that I watch PBS much anymore either! Especially since they stopped airing "Wild America"!

So, I bought the set on DVD ... Pretty amazing changes underway in video sales also. Shopping online and 10 One-hours Specials at [price]each. Ouch. Tough competition, when the Brits pay for producing them with government money and then practically give them away in retail.

Anyway, here's the report. The Series is certainly watchable, especially compared to The Osbournes and Mr. Personality. It is worldwide in scope, obviously, and fairly equally divided between the continents. Call me a provincial snob, but Australian wildlife never has excited me much and, with a few rare exceptions from Alan Root and David Hughes, the films on African wildlife are always about Lions and Elephants. Yawn. Which is much of what they show here. And, Monkeys... My oh my, does the BBC love them Monkeys! I guess that my favorite subject matter is American wildlife... imagine that.

They went out of their way to include two-shots of David with as many animals as possible. So, he feeds Flying Squirrels, pets Manatees, lets Meerkats sit on his shoulder and Chimps hop on his lap, floats with Sea Otters, etc. etc. etc. It became so repetitious that I almost expected him to leap on the back of something and ride off into the sunset. Which is to say that he is as passionate and animated as ever. Bless his little ol' pea-pickin' heart.
I guess that people love it, but since it did not show all the weeks and months of behind-the-scenes work of production assistants and biologists which obviously went into lining up those shots to stick him in, it presented a very distorted view of a human in nature. Hey, I still love Davey boy to pieces. It was just too obviously contrived.

He also played with a lot of gizmos, especially the cool little Sony DVCAM portable monitors... over and over. And they tried to break other new ground, so they had many sequences filmed at night with InfraRed cameras, their Toy du Jour. These sequences appeared in black-and-white and didn't feel at all like night since they were so brightly lit. Like the Joubert Lions-in-the-Spotlight (literally), films, they didn't paint with the light, they blasted with it. Lions hunting and various animals eating Termites... Anteaters, Sloth Bears, Gorillas, etc. etc. My oh my, do those Brits love them Termites. One of their most hyped sequences was Possums, Skunks (they didn't even identify them as rare Hog-nosed Skunks, just called them plain ol' Skunks) and Raccoons eating baby Bats on the worm-infested floor of a Bat cave. Nasty.

Some amazing sequences of Chimps eating Monkeys, Right Whales mating, and Shrews playing Follow-the-leader. (we never did get that shot!). It concludes with an interesting comparison of Orangutans and Chimps to humans and then a very heavy-handed comparison of the collapse of the Mayan empire with our modern over-built, over-populated world. Uh huh. ... And we did it all to ourselves. So, what else is new?

It did not make me want to rush out and buy an InfraRed camera, but it did make me want to film some more American wildlife!

Description of The Life of Mammals

A thorough and entertaining overview of one of evolution's greatest success stories, the series is loosely structured to follow the development of mammals, beginning with the basics in "A Winning Design," which clarifies what makes a mammal different from reptiles and birds--no, it isn't egg-laying: both the platypus and the echidna are egg-laying mammals; it's their ability to adapt. And it's this adaptability that becomes the crux of the remainder of the series. "Insect Hunters" focuses on mammals who have specifically adapted to eating insects, from the giant anteater and the armored armadillo to bats, which have evolved into complex and effective hunters. "Plant Predators" demonstrates the particular (and often peculiar) adaptations of herbivores, while "Chisellers" is about those mammals who feed primarily on roots and seeds, ranging from tree-dwelling squirrels to opportunistic mice and rats. "Meat Eaters" talks about the evolutionary arms race that exists between predators and prey, and the unique adaptations of both individual and pack hunters. Omnivores are explored in "Opportunists"--mammals like bears and raccoons, whose varied diet allows them to occupy nearly any environment. "Return to the Water" discusses those mammals such as whales, seals, and dolphins that have left behind life on dry land and adapted completely to life in the sea, existing at the top of the food chain. The last three episodes--"Life in the Trees," "Social Climbers," and "Food for Thought"--take the viewer through the development of primates, eventually culminating in that most successful mammal: man. --Robert Burrow