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Big Cats BBC1 8pm Thursday 11th January 2018 (1 Viewer)

Same old, same old BBC, when one considers the range and diversity of mammals in the world that could have their own series to highlight the diversity of mammals, once again it's big cats. Yawn.
 
To be fair, although the title is Big Cats, I know that they have tried to cover all the family; I'm particularly looking forward to the Pallas' Cat sequences.
 
But there are clearly going to be smaller cats - including several I don't recall seeing on wildlife progs before. I suspect I'd far rather watch this than Blue Planet II.

Rob
 
The fact they're bringing in lesser known cats means it'll be much more interesting. Their series on sharks in the last year or so was very good because it went beyond the usual species shown on TV.
 
I enjoyed it a lot. Some cracking footage.

The bit at the end showing the lengths the crew had to go to, to find the Snow Leopard, and the emotions when they finally connected was nice. A feeling we can all appreciate, although I don't usually have tears running down my cheeks when getting a lifer! (I'm more the clenched fist, quietly uttering "YEESS" type)
 
I enjoyed it too. I imagine they had a lot of professional pressure on them to get the footage, so it must have been relief at finding one of them. The location reminded me of Doug Allan on an earlier series - he looked across a gorge or valley too.

The cheetah footage was outstanding.
 
As dire and predictable as I expected, we're told in the early stages there are 40 species of cat in the world, yet we straightaway launch into Lions we've seen recently on Planet Earth, and from there on it's the same old, same old, Cheetahs, Leopards, Lynx and Snow Leopards that feature in nearly every natural history programme going. As to the narration, awful, slow and lumbering and the BBC drifting back into humanising animals (which is precisely what they got rid of Johnny Morris for) with passages referring to 'brothers and sisters' when siblings would be better. And to finish with the token 'how we filmed it' piece to pad out an hour when those ten minutes could have been used to focus on other cat species, as someone above alluded to, we've seen camera crews filming Snow Leopards across a valley before.
Felt like another hour I'll never get back.
Three 'hour-long' programmes, 40 species of cat, they could have all been given four minutes or so airing and we'd be a lot wiser about the family as a whole, instead it just feels like a re-hash of old material, with a few obscure/less well known species thrown in for good measure.
Roll on this week when no doubt we'll be subjected to a load of footage of Tigers.
The BBC doing what it does best - dumbing down and sanitising carnivores by not showing proper footage of killing and eating.
 
Well, I pretty much enjoyed that. If I had an issue with anything it was radio collars!

John

I hate it too John!!!!

I'm sure they could come up with a slimline version of this cumbersome and ugly device? We found Cape Dogs in Kruger with collars on, would ruin any photos if that was your only chance.


A
 
OK there's no need for lions/leopards but this is BBC1 you won't get away without them. Things like the pumas catching penguins etc. were awesome. I could watch snow leopard footage ad infinitum

Rob
 
I hate it too John!!!!

I'm sure they could come up with a slimline version of this cumbersome and ugly device? We found Cape Dogs in Kruger with collars on, would ruin any photos if that was your only chance.


A

I think there's a paradox between the size they can make and the need to produce something that will survive the sort of treatment wild carnivores can give it, while still being flexible enough to minimise the risk of hanging them up on a bush or similar fate.

Given the level of information they can gain (including from the improved opportunity to observe, but also simple stuff like movements within their environment from GPS data rather than radio location) I feel we have to live with it. Having contemplated (and once attempted) finding Lynx in the Northern forests I recognise completely the attraction to the BBC of having access to collared individuals for filming.

John
 
And to finish with the token 'how we filmed it' piece to pad out an hour when those ten minutes could have been used to focus on other cat species, as someone above alluded to, we've seen camera crews filming Snow Leopards across a valley before.
People complain about that every time and the answer is exactly the same every time. The BBC can only afford to do these programme if they sell them to other broadcasters around the world. Most broadcasters need to schedule adverts, so a true one hour program wouldn't work. As a hobbyist photographer who's happy quit to take their job, I find it interesting. That said, other segments than the snow leopard would have had more novelty.
 
Let's start a campaign to better fund these programmes by reducing the salaries of e.g Mr Gary Linekar who earns £1.7 mill for fronting Match of the Day. No host is worth that no matter how congenial, the money could be much better spent.

BBC reporters on six figure (plus!) salaries too, their worth surely has to be questioned in terms of what we get for the licence fee?

I just re-watched 'Lost land of the Volcano', a great piece of work but again, too much time is spent showing helicopters and absailing. It's also infuriating as a birder, whe they have a species in the hand and don't name it! George McGavin even got the name of Little Shrike Thrush wrong calling it 'Little Striped Thrush', surely that could have been corrected in post?


A
 
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I think i’m right in thinking that a Clouded Leopard featured in one or two short linking sequences but not further than that. I contacted the BBC to ask how they filmed it and was sent a laughably inane reply. Perhaps they thought I was 5 years old, which i’m not, but actually, their reply would have been quite insulting to even a toddler IMHO.

Does anyone know how they did get that CL footage? I couldn’t see a radio collar...

Andy
 
It currently runs in German television. Sad, that they have reedited the two films and that they are 15 min shorter than the original BBC films.
 
I hate it too John!!!!

I'm sure they could come up with a slimline version of this cumbersome and ugly device? We found Cape Dogs in Kruger with collars on, would ruin any photos if that was your only chance.


A

I think they only collar the alpha male in the Wild Dog packs found in KNP, and for good reason; to monitor them whilst they are re-establishing. I know they lost a pack due to distemper. Some lions are also collared too, for research purposes. Can't remember where I heard this, perhaps whilst in Africa, but the design of the collar is such, not because they want to 'ruin' a photo, but because of current battery technology. That said, I"m sure someone with knowledge of this can explain better.

Not sure why it would 'ruin' a photo? I was fortunate to come across a pack last year and despite having one collared dog in the pack, the others were collarless, besides, so what if it's in the photo? It's similar to when people would complain to me that wing tags 'ruined my photo'! when we were monitoring and tagging the red kites when they were being reintroduced. Just look for the majority of kites that aren't tagged then! :t:

Hoping to see Cape Vulture in the park in a few weeks, as there is a tagged one seen in the area I am staying in again. :t:
 
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