Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World

I watched these episodes on Discovery+, without commercials.

Each episode centers on a unique region or feature of Patagonia; coastline, mountains, glaciers, forests, etc. We are shown the wildlife, plants and trees, weather, and people of each region. We see the beauty, and the threats posed by global warming and human encroachment. We also see the measures being taken to save the wild places and inhabitants.

The series is beautifully filmed and edited. The narrator, Pedro Pascal, is a wonderful choice. We can savor his calm voice and perfect pronunciation of the names of places and animals. In fact, one of the best aspects of this series is that every scientist, naturalist, advocate, and citizen we meet is from or of that environment. No white saviors here.

I learned a great deal watching this documentary series, and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

I've seen a lot of people complaining that there are too many humans featured in this natural documentary. You guys are not watching the show properly. Yes, you have it right. There are humans involved. Lots. Maybe even the main focus. This is because these are stories about how humans interact with raw nature in a completely wild setting. How they live, and die, side by side. Look closer. If you want pretty shots of animals for an hour each episode there is every other Nat Doc that came before this. Fill your boots. This is bold, original storytelling.

Also, it's really damn beautiful to watch. Top job to the people that spent all those painstaking hours to create it.

CNN and others have produced this nature show. Patagonia is a mostly dry area east of the Andes Mountains on the southern tip of South America. It has much of the same epic natural scenery with all the creatures as other nature shows. On top of that, it has human participants doing important research into issues threatening the natural world. In that way, it's different than the usual pretty nature documentary series. It is news adjacent which makes sense for CNN. There is some investigative journalism with these stories. It's informative and pretty looking. Pedro Pascal is the narrator. There are six episodes.

I liked the interviews with native scientists and community members. I thought they gave context to the gorgeous footage of the wildlife. Very well done imho.

As for the commercials, you can just DVR it and fast forward thru them. YouTubeTV has seemingly unlimited cloud DVR.

This is becoming a pattern with CNN films. I wrote a review of the Abraham Lincoln piece that they did last year: volume level for the soundtrack was so loud you could barely hear the narration. On Patagonia one minute the volume is too loud and the next too soft. And it's not Pedro Pascal's voice. Through an hour-long episode, I must be adjusting the volume 20 times. And I'm not counting the ones when they go to commercial - it blasts the speakers! Of course after the ad, I have to turn it up again. CNN: fire your audio engineers responsible for this incompetence! Do they even listen to the final version that's to be broadcast?