Share your best nature documentaries

Compaq

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I have a love for nature documentaries. But I also have a few criteria for them to be called "great documentaries". I have watched several of National Geographic's nature documentaries, and often find the narrator cheesy and overly dramatic, as if they are trying too hard (much like a bad actor). I really do not like that. Examples of these are NG's "Secret Yosemite" and "Climbing Redwood Giants".

I want the nature and wildlife to be the main attraction, not people climbing mountains or people going on epic journeys of self-exploration IN the nature. See what I mean? Examples of (what I consider) great nature documentaries are BBC's "Planet Earth" and "Nature's Great Events". David Attenborough might be a key word, but I'm running out of shows.

I also appreciate them to be available in High Definition, but that is secondary; content is the most important. For example, DisneyNature made a program called "Wings of Life". I was not able to watch the entire thing. The narration was so far off from what I can take. The time-lapses, images, and HD video were stunning, though.

So, does anyone have any nature documentaries to recommend? Maybe more people will get something out of this thread as well :) After all, there are many landscape photographers here, and I suspect they enjoy nature :)
 
The lion king.
 
All the BBC/Discovery stuff. Mostly cause of the cinematography.
 
There was a doc the bbc done a while back about penguins. They used cameras in fake eggs and robotic penguins!!! Give it a watch if you can find it, one of the best nature programmes I have seen in a good while.


Penguins - Spy in the huddle. It was called
 
National Geographic set a very high standard with their magazine - a standard that their video productions don't even try to come close to; heck I'm actually shocked that they put the NG name onto some of their documentaries as they are often very childish or cheap.

BBC has always set a very strong standard for wildlife documentaries; not just for the quality of production and the information, but because they also very strongly use the video aspect as part of the show; they build visual talent into the work so its not just a narrator talking, its showing us something fantastic using some very innovative ideas and setups.
They also use lots of spy gear - from following elephants to polar bears to bugs with spy and attached cameras.
 
My best Nature Documentaries don't involve the Boob Tube........ it involves being there.
 
National Geographic set a very high standard with their magazine - a standard that their video productions don't even try to come close to; heck I'm actually shocked that they put the NG name onto some of their documentaries as they are often very childish or cheap.

BBC has always set a very strong standard for wildlife documentaries; not just for the quality of production and the information, but because they also very strongly use the video aspect as part of the show; they build visual talent into the work so its not just a narrator talking, its showing us something fantastic using some very innovative ideas and setups.
They also use lots of spy gear - from following elephants to polar bears to bugs with spy and attached cameras.

If it doesn't have Attenborough it's crap!
 
National Geographic set a very high standard with their magazine - a standard that their video productions don't even try to come close to; heck I'm actually shocked that they put the NG name onto some of their documentaries as they are often very childish or cheap.

BBC has always set a very strong standard for wildlife documentaries; not just for the quality of production and the information, but because they also very strongly use the video aspect as part of the show; they build visual talent into the work so its not just a narrator talking, its showing us something fantastic using some very innovative ideas and setups.
They also use lots of spy gear - from following elephants to polar bears to bugs with spy and attached cameras.

I love BBC documentaries. They did the Planet Earth video series didn't they? There are so many incredible shots in that documentary series - it's pretty awesome.
 

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