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Planet Earth Live....new series May 2012 (1 Viewer)

AlfArbuthnot said:
I am being cynical of the narrative they have applied to the film (and science is a cynic). I still think mobbing is a more straightforward answer, and therefore invoke Occam's Razor. I don't think altrustic intervention has ever been recorded for anything, so mobbing would be the correct interpretation at this point, unless you have interview testimony from the Humpbacks regarding their intent? (seeing as we're wagging fingers!).

As you have a disdain for the mentality of woodies, how about this: a Carrion Crow approaches danger to intervene in a Raven attacking a Magpie and its fledgling, with the intention of intervening for the Magpie's sake, not the Crow's (so it is selfless in trying to help the Magpie, rather than selfish in trying to drive away the dangerous Raven from the vicinity of the Crows themselves).

All of those species are arguably more intelligent than the whales, and it still sounds far-fetched.

When a group of birds surround a Sparrowhawk as it tucks into a screaming Starling making a commotion, they're not there for the Starling's sake. I saw nothing in the film that suggests the Humpbacks were doing anything different.
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That's the point though isn't it? We do have testimony to support the admittedly sparse film footage. If cameramen and researchers of BBC quality insist the Humpbacks were putting themselves between the Orcas and their victim (as opposed to just motoring around squealing and perhaps bopping the odd Orca with their tails) it is more than cynical to put a different narrative on the incident (which they would argue they are reporting, not spinning). It is challenging their integrity. You might choose to do that, but scientific it ain't.

John
 
Why does everyone hate Richard Hammond? I have never watched him on TV before. I know he is a Top Gear presenter and also writes now and then.

The show is OK but nothing that has not been done before. Hammond is like a schoolboy approaching a subject with curiosity, which is not always a bad thing.

Its like a dumbed-down Springwatch set in an exotic location and whoever thought Springwatch could be dumbed down?

I hae no idea why the BBC have spent money on this. I suppose its better it was spent on this than some reality tv programme.
 
AlfArbuthnot said:
Surely this is the beginning of the end for regular Springwatch/Autumnwatch?

Schedules aren't big enough for the both of them. Humble has already moved on, Packham getting on as many panel/interview/quiz shows as he can by way of an audition...
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Packham seemed so out of his depth on Have I Got News For You. Put him amongst non-wildlife people and he comes across very eccentric and quirky.
 
Farnboro John said:
That's the point though isn't it? We do have testimony to support the admittedly sparse film footage.
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But that is still an interpretation. There are other interpretations, such as mobbing.

Farnboro John said:
If cameramen and researchers of BBC quality insist the Humpbacks were putting themselves between the Orcas and their victim (as opposed to just motoring around squealing and perhaps bopping the odd Orca with their tails) it is more than cynical to put a different narrative on the incident (which they would argue they are reporting, not spinning). It is challenging their integrity. You might choose to do that, but scientific it ain't.

John
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I don't see how a cameraman is any more skilled at behavioural interpetation than a car mechanic. It's not their job. The BBC/cameramen will collaborate with researchers to get access to the animals, but they are not a scientific institution in themselves, so they're not exactly qualified to interpret things on the fly. I suspect that any bona fide researchers involved as advisors suggested that it 'looked like it might be' intervention, but I very much doubt that the observation will make it into the scientific literature, for the very reason that cynics like me who review it will say "how do you know it wasn't just mobbing - the evidence in that film isn't totally convincing".

I think the use of the word 'intervention' was probably judicious, as it implies it was to 'help' the gray whale calf, but it doesn't actually say that explicity. The Humpbacks may have 'intervened' as a by-product of of mobbing, without the intervention being deliberate. I think that's about as far as anyone could push it on a casual observation. You'd need a lot more observations and some experimenting to prove it was deliberate. As I say, inter-species altruism is a very big call, so you can't just say it on the telly and it becomes true.
 
JTweedie said:
Bradbury going over the top about the bears is the main thing that annoyed me, compare her presentation of the bear encounter with Buchanan's in his series.

And another thing that annoyed me was when Hammond was showing the map of the area and he said something like "don't worry it's not a geography lesson, it's interesting" - come on, just show us the flipping map and tell us the facts, don't act all embarrassed about passing on facts and knowledge!

The individual segments were good - the macaques, tracking down the elephants to tag one, following the lions, but the surrounding bumpf just brought it down several notches.
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I was surprised at that comment. He made it seem uncool to like geography. How can he present programmes like that and have thoughts like that?
 
Himalaya said:
Packham seemed so out of his depth on Have I Got News For You. Put him amongst non-wildlife people and he comes across very eccentric and quirky.
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He got excellent reviews on Room 101, and I think he was another panel show. Being eccentric and quirky hasn't harmed Bill Bailey's panel show appearances. It's a positive advantage!
 
AlfArbuthnot said:
He got excellent reviews on Room 101, and I think he was another panel show. Being eccentric and quirky hasn't harmed Bill Bailey's panel show appearances. It's a positive advantage!
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I did not mean it in a bad way. He was quite humorous on it. He just appeared so different to the others. A true geek! He made Ian Hislop appear ungeeky but once again I do not mean that in a bad way.
 
Alot of people were complaining about it on Points Of View saying it's not really live apart from the presenters and just shows films of animals days before.
 
this might be bordering on blasphemous.....but I quite liked tonight's edition. The format is all wrong, but the story arcs were interesting. Even Hammond was watchable. (no offence Julia, but you're way, way outside your comfort zone)

In saying all this, each of tonight's story arcs seemed to belong to a different, 'normal' natural history programme. The lions- Big Cat Diary, the elephant with the abscess- the Nat Geo programme where the 2 South African guys try to rescue animals in crisis situations, gizmo the monkey wouldn't be out of place in any Natural world episode.
 
Green Sandpiper said:
this might be bordering on blasphemous.....but I quite liked tonight's edition. The format is all wrong, but the story arcs were interesting. Even Hammond was watchable. (no offence Julia, but you're way, way outside your comfort zone)

In saying all this, each of tonight's story arcs seemed to belong to a different, 'normal' natural history programme. The lions- Big Cat Diary, the elephant with the abscess- the Nat Geo programme where the 2 South African guys try to rescue animals in crisis situations, gizmo the monkey wouldn't be out of place in any Natural world episode.
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Yes, its the word "live" that chiefly offends. And I understand both presenters being jittery at the outset (not sureI want to go that close to a bear even with Lynn Rogers).

Its getting better.

John
 
Watched about 5 minutes of it .In my opinion Hammond should stick to cars.With so much talent Kate Humble,Simon King,Johnathan Scott,Bill Oddie or Chris Packham in previous bbc wildlife programmes I just don't get it.Just my opinion but not my kind of thing at all
 
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Put Planet Earth Live on by mistake on Thursday. Julia Bradbury and an old bloke were copying bear behaviour by crawling around, sniffing leaves and rubbing themselves against trees. Cutting edge stuff. I had to turn it over quick before Julia had a #### in the woods!
 
Green Sandpiper said:
this might be bordering on blasphemous.....but I quite liked tonight's edition. The format is all wrong, but the story arcs were interesting. Even Hammond was watchable. (no offence Julia, but you're way, way outside your comfort zone)
QUOTE]

Sheesh!! What was I smoking when I wrote that? Tonight's edition was execrable. Comparing a lion to a Mafioso? Thats the best way to describe life or death among prides of lions? And as for the 'reconstruction'....It reminded me of those dodgy American crime programmes, with their 'reconstructions' of crimes, arrests, and shootings. It tells us a lot about what they think of their audience that they didn't trust us to use our imginations.

My 9 year old ended up laughing at it, not least given that she was able to tell my wife more about lion territoriality and feeding habits than the programme did. She may now know far more about lion mating habits than anyone else in her class.

My wife, for her part, was in disbelief about how bad it was.

I hate being negative about any natural history programme, but after tonight I can find very little positive to say about it. My main worry is that as this has been flagged up and promoted as a flagship or big even programme, that it will make it harder to get the funding for the high class programmes the BBC NHU has been creating for years.
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The best bit for me in tonight's programme was the discovery that Gordon Buchanan will be featured in a new series shortly, following a family of Polar Bears. If it is anything like his last programme about bears, it should be worth a look.

Ron
 
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