Crabs were the stars! You don’t read those words very often.
There were some great scenes on and just off beaches – turtles in warm waters and King Penguins in cold ones – and then there were all those sharks too.
This episode felt more of treat than most – the time flew by and I was left wanting more.
Next week is the last episode and it is concentrating on human impacts on the ocean. This is the BBC addressing the criticism of such visual feasts that they look so good but the world is going to hell in a handcart. Will they pull it off? I’m looking forward to finding out.
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I love the photography – you can’t get better – and the often new information (at least to me) on behaviour, but… (this is going to be overly critical) I feel it becomes a little ‘Johnny Morris’ in constructing its story-lines. I realise what happens: lots and lots of beautiful shots, stitched together to support a ‘narrative’, given away by poor continuity. Puffin with sand eel hanging from the left of its bill, then its right, then left, then two sand eels, then one sand eel again, Puffin flying fast over a heavy swell – chased by a Skewer, then gliding over a mill pond, flat sea, and then landing above monstrous crashing waves.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love it – it is breathtakingly beautiful – but recognise that a narrative is being constructed to illustrate valid points. (Remember Frozen Planet’s Polar Bear cubs’ footage shot in the Netherlands?)
Nature is a diamond with many facets, and – in total contrast – catch Expedition Volcano (especially episode 2). Not only is geology an incredibly fascinating (and important) part of nature, but this programme dealt with the realities of warfare and Mountain Gorillas in a down-to-earth manner that packed a punch. No glossy footage here: unvarnished truth. And episode 1 is worth a watch, too…
A compelling Blue Planet 2. Having had the privilege of snorkelling with Galapagos sea-lions (not the big bulls!) and penguins and watching the hundreds of Sally Lightfoot Crabs scuttling along he beaches, we thoroughly enjoyed this episode.
Closer to home, and perhaps pertinent to next week’s programme, today’s article in the Guardian may offer some reassurance. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/03/britain-coral-reefs-marine-wildlife-blue-planet-2-protection,
I agree, it was a really good programme and the standard of filming was outstanding. However, we had one small quibble here. Why didn’t they film the seabird sequences in this country? All the species showed nest here, they could have made a point about wildlife in Britain and Ireland. The BBC has a duty to educate the population about the world around them, yet many people watching the series will never have seen a puffin or a skua and be unaware they could do so within a few hours drive of home. It is so difficult to get people interested in the protection of threatened coastal environments, like the Coul dune systems in Sutherland under threat from golf developments, if they believe all such environments are far away in other countries.
The filming is superb, and I’m enthralled and amazed…. but the music – terrible! (All those ‘angel choirs’ going ‘aahhhhh’ along with the music! No doubt synthesised violins, but dreadful!) I’m grating my teeth half the time!