Walking with Cavemen

Walking with Cavemen

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DVD Reviews of Walking with Cavemen

DVD Review: The BBC has done better
Summary: 2 Stars

And now we come to Walking with Cavemen. For some reason, the creators of the film still feel obligated to stick to prehistoric drama (and by now the novelty has more than worn off), while the quite educational 'making of' disc has been dropped entirely.

Looking back on the whole series, one must accept that it's a sort of magic trick, all smoke and mirrors--but innitially, it works. The problem is, by 'Cavemen' we can cleary see the man behind the curtain and the thing falls flat on its face. The stories are, to be blunt, stupid. The best acting in the world can't keep the costumes from looking rediculous, nor make the story convincing. Ultimately, it's a bunch of people paid to run around in furry suits or naked (as in the later episodes) pretending to be pre-humans. It worked in Kubrick's 2001, I don't know why it doesn't work here.

With all that said, I would have enjoyed a good BBC special on human evolution. The efforts of the team that made this series, the actors, etc. are very much appreciated, but I feel that while this may hook some of the kids, it does so at a great sacrifice. Teaching science is ultimately about getting students to open their mind and question the world around them--that means that when we make assertions in a science program like Homo erectus not having a spiritual life, we actually provide some evidence. Demonstrating the process of inquiry and deduction is more important than the costumes, more important than flashy cgi or creative cut-scenes. It is the core of what a good education program should be about. Instead, we have the creative presentation of content. Just content. Not science.

If you follow that line of reasoning you might come to see why I've given this 2 stars. This is a talented team working for the leaders in quality science programs. I think they can do a lot better.

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