Serengeti [DVD] [2019]

Superb photography, both epic and intimate. By the end of the series I felt as though I had been living in the Serengeti for some weeks, a beautiful immersive experience. There’s magic in this, a production that almost feels tactile. We can almost feel the heat and dust, the sudden rainstorms and flash flooding. As animals such as zebra and wildebeest cross these swollen rivers we shudder as the crocodiles swim near, the animals shrieking in panic at the moment of death. Timing and luck of the draw in both chaos theory and life.There is other heartache too: ferocious fights (often between males for access to females) that leave the loser battered, humiliated and sometimes exiled from the community. It is one thing to lose, quite another to be rejected and shunned. Where does the strength to endure come from after that? We find out here in the life of a lioness rejected with her four cubs from the pride. Why? For the ‘crime’ of becoming impregnated by a lion not in the pride. Likewise, a male baboon is banished from the troop after challenging the leader for dominance and losing. Somehow these animals soldier on, endure, as the survival instinct in them will not abandon them. Their stories are moving.High praise is therefore right for the series because of its beautiful, intimate images. We live close-up with these wild animals: lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, zebras, baboons, hyena, mongoose, wild dogs and others. Through their behaviour we come to know them. And because of all this beauty — this gorgeous African splendour — I am willing to forgive the dramatic devices that mar the production. For instance, the assumption of understanding intent through mind reading, presuming to know what animals think and presenting this knowledge in voiceover. We can’t even read the minds of our fellow human beings, often surprised as we are by their motivations and actions, so what gives us special insight into the minds and hearts of wild animals? Nothing. It’s a device and conceit, and one made worse by the confident, authoritative way in which these supposed insights are made to the viewer.Another mildly irritating point: the urge and propensity of the narrator to philosophise. Many examples, so I’ll just cite a few now from the narration:• Whether we shy away from change or not, change is never easy.• The powerful hate being made to look weak.• For all of us, embracing our destiny can be the hardest challenge of all.• When all we rely on is gone, it’s hard to know where we belong.• The future can be a daunting place when it’s faced alone.These five homilies appear in the first episode alone, so be ready for more throughout the series (six episodes, one hour each). It isn’t that these observations are wrong. Maybe there’s some truth in them, vague as they may be, but their continued use in the narration feels heavy handed, overly profound and misplaced. In my view they weaken the stories by overloading the emotion and saddling the animals with it. Where was the good editor whose job should have been to run a red pen through these lines?Finally, the anthropomorphic rendering of these wild lives. Wild animals aren’t human, not even a close primate relative of ours like the baboon. To assign intentionality to them is dodgy indeed. We can’t be sure how they will behave, so (as previously stated) it’s wrong to put human thoughts into their heads. I won’t say it Disneyfies these animals but it certainly makes them something other than they are. Which makes me wonder if some of the scenes were contrived for the benefit of the stories and made to look authentic through clever editing. I could be wrong of course, but contrivance seems the case to me.For these reasons and doubts about the production I’m quite surprised the BBC gave it the green light. They are usually more careful in vetting scripts in their nature programmes. David Attenborough, for instance, never talks in such ways about animals, respecting their presence and authenticity as wild. It may appear clever to overlay the lives of wild animals with human dramas and emotions, but essentially it’s dishonest and manipulative. So that’s the big weakness of this series (real or imagined by me) and why I have given it 4 stars instead of the 5 its beautiful photography would otherwise warrant for it. Even so, the magnificence of the Serengeti is undiminished by the weaknesses of the overwritten, portentous script.We have so much to live for and much to lose in the world (now look who is philosophising!). So much beauty, variety, magnificence. We live in a rich, luxurious garden. But we are lousy stewards of this garden, inept, careless, reckless and destructive. The Extinction Rebellion and Greta Thunberg’s fellow striking students may be our last environmental hope. Educate yourself and do what you can to support them if you care at all about life on Earth.

Visually its absolutely stunning and its amazing to see the animals in their natural habitat and the challenges they all face day to day. The story-telling is amazing and it almost humanises the animals which makes them and their challenges much more relateable to us (although I'm not sure that's a positive thing really). The narrative can seem a little simplistic and repetitious at times particularly the constant reference to "his family" and "her family" when it's clear that in many cases the animals spoken about are not so much part of a family as such, but a wider clan or tribe or pride.

I previously bought the dvd version and I enjoyed it so much that I had to buy the BluRay version. Set in the Serengeti, we follow many animals in a journey through life. Really is stunning to watch and on par both Sir David Attenborough. I’ve watched this a few times now and I will deff be coming back for years to come. Deff 1 to own on Disc. 10/10

Interested

The Lioness was put out with her young after mating a lion outside the pride. She struggle to hunt while care for her young family. Just as she looks as not coping well, A another Lioness with her cubs joint her, so they stay on top of the games. Much more wildlife action. The zebra separated from her colt during a river cross over. They joint either other after a long search If Nator! was less Mono Tone, This story would be more exciting to hear. However, it an excellent Wildlife DVD. I would recommend friends.

The serngetiStories of the besutiful animals on the seringeti; especialy my Lions

as with all bbc dvs and more so wildlife these are top quality and follows a pride through lean times.recommend

Watched the series on tv and like most wildlife series I bought Serengeti so I could watch again now and then. It was a brilliant series and showed African wildlife in its true form , cute , amazing , sometimes brutal but honestly so. If you are a fan of wildlife across the world you need this in your collection.