"What Nigel is about to discover, is that no matter how bad things get on land, the one thing you should never ever do ... is get in the water." Sayeth the female narrator at the series opening.
I must be a kid at heart, because my love of dinosaurs has never abated. At one time I considered being a paleontologist, but shows like this satisfy my inner scientist. Truly, my only complaint about this three episode miniseries is that there weren't more episodes. I could watch this kind of a series for hours.
It's of course not a real documentary, nor is it a comedic "mockumentary", but a fictional documentary about famed naturalist Nigel Marvin travelling back in time in his ketch with a band of researchers and cameras crews to capture footage of creatures of past epochs, and what a terrific ride it is.
I love guys who do science and make visual media to educate us scientist "wannabes". Sagan, Burke, Cousteau, Perkins and others ... you can add Nigel Marvin to that list. Shows like this really only increase my appetite to learn more about creatures, animals, birds and reptiles that are long extinct, and what natural forces effected them.
A little anecdote, as a young man, knowing where CGI was headed, it had been my dream to make this kind of a series, and discuss dinosaurs in their natural habitat as if I and my camera crew were actually back in time. Well, it's been done to death at this point, and I'm glad people with more expertise has accomplished this, but even though there've been numerous such "fake" documentaries that explore and discuss dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals like Sagan did with science back in the late 1970s, I find these kinds of shows just compelling as anything. They really draw you into the reality of what life was like millions of years ago, and the reality of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.
Again, the only down-shot to this series is that it's a three episode miniseries of the larger Walking with Dinosaurs series, because there's so much more to discuss and show the public about Earth's oceans and other aquatic habitats that existed millions of years ago.
Wouldn't it be something to actually have an adventure like Nigel Marvin's? Well, hopefully this series can satisfy some of those fantasies, and perhaps inspire minds of all ages to crack a book, or maybe even change careers and go into marine paleontology.
Truly a great series to watch. Check it out.
Enjoy!
