There is no doubt that the BBC is the best in the business when it comes to television production. Some of the greatest shows of our young lives (or old) has started on the BBC side of things. You’ve got Life on Mars, Monty Python and a slew of police dramas that have defined how good production can truly get.
Last Chance to See is the perfect example of how great the BBC can be.
Hosted by Stephen Fry (yep, the comedian/actor) and zoologist Mark Carwardine, the pair travel the route of their late friend Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author) in attempt to find animals that are heading towards extinction.
From the get-go understand that this is not Planet Earth. This is more like a very high-end Jeff Corwin Experience without the obnoxious dialogue. This is the type of thing that would end up on the Discovery Channel and not on Animal Planet (not that anything is wrong with that).
What’s remarkably fun about Last Chance to See is that Fry and Carwardine make a wonderful pair of commentators. Fry asks all the questions that we (the audience) are wondering while Carwardine answers them in an ‘easy-to-understand’ way. It’s a great combination of man and scientist. What’s even better about the pair is that they both carry a very pleasant charm during the entire series.
Fry, who is known for his comedy, finds himself as the everyman in this adventure. Regretfully, he also finds himself as the guy with a nasty sunburn and the guy with the broken arm (in three places). For a man who isn’t a zoologist or someone that is regularly featured in animal shows, he opens his mind and heart for this adventure with Mark Carwardine.
As for Carwardine, he plays a great sidekick (sorry Mark) with Stephen Fry. Carwardine explains everything without hesitation. His desire to go through some of the world’s harshest conditions to find some of these animals is nothing short of inspiring. Even though it’s been 20 years removed, he still shows his expertise and hardened memory when he recalls some of the moments he and Douglas Adams went through. He genuinely cares about the quest to rediscover fading species and shows it from beginning to end.
The documentary as a whole, like I mentioned above, isn’t Planet Earth. You do have a voice over, but it’s detailing the trail that the pair is laying down. One thing I didn’t like about Planet Earth was how disconnected the footage felt from the narrator. I prefer the narrator be there and not just voice over random footage. The one thing that made David Attenborough’s Trials of Life series so good is that he actually was at the locations he was talking about. We saw the man on camera and he provided some actual insight.
It’s better than an actor with a good voice talking about animals/subjects they know nothing about.
What I also like about this documentary is how the trail that Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine took runs into a very good variety of animals. You get jungles, deserts, tundra and sea animals. It really feels like they hit all the popular, important areas and give a good example of each. I came away thinking that they really didn’t miss a beat. Planet Earth made me want more, while Last Chance to See made me intellectually full.
Moving on, the Blu-ray quality in this BBC documentary is nothing short of perfect. The interns and I were stunned on how gorgeous and high-quality this production (especially the visuals) turned out. When you see the first shot of the helicopter flying over the green, lush jungles of Brazil you will instantly fall in love with what the BBC has done. This is one of the most gorgeous documentary Blu-rays that I’ve seen. When you get to the seals and whales you’ll be even more at awe. Of course, if I had to pick my favorite visuals it would have to be the jungles of Brazil. When Fry is sleeping in a hammock while rain is coming down all around, while he is riding in a giant boat it’s something that will relax you.
Simply one of the best looking Blu-rays out there.