On Documentaries
I wonder why, when a series is named purposely to give a sense of the sublime, that name has to be diminished and made ordinary and 'accessible' when it comes to America.
I wonder why, when a series is narrated by a professional naturalist who's been at this for years, one has to change it to an action film star or a populist television show host. In America. Is it just not American enough? Is it criminal to watch documentaries with a British accent?
It's even worse when the naturalist's awed and respectful treatment of his subject matter gets changed into what sounds like narration for an action flick, emphasizing the excitement and the 'thrill' of hunting and making everything sounds like a climax, 'Suddenly! The frog jumps over the tree! Omigod!' style, possibly encouraged by an idiotic voice director. (I'm exaggerating, but you get my drift.)
See, Discovery, this is why I won't buy your DVDs, and since the only DVDs licensed to my country are from YOU, I'm either having it shipped from the UK or downloading a torrent.
I don't want Pierce Brosnan or Oprah Winfrey or Sigourney Weaver (who, to be fair, did a better job with hers than the other two). I don't want 'household Hollywood/American TV names'.
I want Sir David. I want the man who's in love with the wonder of nature and tries his best to show us how to love it the same way, the sheer wonder of this planet.
This is what I want when I watch a documentary. I don't want the culture's production values. I want the wonder of nature.
I wonder why that is so hard to understand. And this, my friend, is why I've completely stopped watching nature documentaries on TV. That, and the fact that all the non-BBC documentaries have all turned crappy and insubstantial lately. I've seen that hunt a thousand times, gentlemen, show me something else. I've seen 'experts' trying to sound awesome while explaining some 'incredibly powerful, incredible creature/elements of physics/star' a thousand times. (Oh, they're probably real experts, but the voice direction makes them sounds like they're not. And there are some dubious people in History Channel, though I mind that less.)
I want real wonder. For some reason, you've stopped giving it to me.
P.S: tldr; Frozen Planet and Earthflight are so gorgeous, I'm almost moved to tears. (So Earthflight isn't narrated by Sir David, but hey, David Tennant's not bad. He's freaking Doctor Who, he can narrate documentaries. Ditto Cumberbatch on a few of those.) My word, but this planet is still so very lovely. Take that, Avatar! You've got nothing on Antarctica's crystal stalactites! Take that, all those idiots who wanted to die after watching Avatar because they don't watch documentaries and thought Earth has nothing beautiful left anymore!
I hope we keep our planet that way, whatever remains of that beauty. Fat chance, though, with how apathetic people are with anything these days.
This entry was originally posted at http://equalequation.dreamwidth.org/2955.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
I wonder why, when a series is narrated by a professional naturalist who's been at this for years, one has to change it to an action film star or a populist television show host. In America. Is it just not American enough? Is it criminal to watch documentaries with a British accent?
It's even worse when the naturalist's awed and respectful treatment of his subject matter gets changed into what sounds like narration for an action flick, emphasizing the excitement and the 'thrill' of hunting and making everything sounds like a climax, 'Suddenly! The frog jumps over the tree! Omigod!' style, possibly encouraged by an idiotic voice director. (I'm exaggerating, but you get my drift.)
See, Discovery, this is why I won't buy your DVDs, and since the only DVDs licensed to my country are from YOU, I'm either having it shipped from the UK or downloading a torrent.
I don't want Pierce Brosnan or Oprah Winfrey or Sigourney Weaver (who, to be fair, did a better job with hers than the other two). I don't want 'household Hollywood/American TV names'.
I want Sir David. I want the man who's in love with the wonder of nature and tries his best to show us how to love it the same way, the sheer wonder of this planet.
This is what I want when I watch a documentary. I don't want the culture's production values. I want the wonder of nature.
I wonder why that is so hard to understand. And this, my friend, is why I've completely stopped watching nature documentaries on TV. That, and the fact that all the non-BBC documentaries have all turned crappy and insubstantial lately. I've seen that hunt a thousand times, gentlemen, show me something else. I've seen 'experts' trying to sound awesome while explaining some 'incredibly powerful, incredible creature/elements of physics/star' a thousand times. (Oh, they're probably real experts, but the voice direction makes them sounds like they're not. And there are some dubious people in History Channel, though I mind that less.)
I want real wonder. For some reason, you've stopped giving it to me.
P.S: tldr; Frozen Planet and Earthflight are so gorgeous, I'm almost moved to tears. (So Earthflight isn't narrated by Sir David, but hey, David Tennant's not bad. He's freaking Doctor Who, he can narrate documentaries. Ditto Cumberbatch on a few of those.) My word, but this planet is still so very lovely. Take that, Avatar! You've got nothing on Antarctica's crystal stalactites! Take that, all those idiots who wanted to die after watching Avatar because they don't watch documentaries and thought Earth has nothing beautiful left anymore!
I hope we keep our planet that way, whatever remains of that beauty. Fat chance, though, with how apathetic people are with anything these days.
This entry was originally posted at http://equalequation.dreamwidth.org/2955.html. Please comment there using OpenID.