tibovl
Joined Feb 2019
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Ratings739
tibovl's rating
Reviews20
tibovl's rating
I thoroughly enjoyed last year's documentary and this is no different.
It has been a truly remarkable year for Team Jumbo Visma. What they accomplished won't be done again for years, decades, maybe ever. Usually we only see the team working from a distance, from the outside, through press and speculation. This series sets out to reveal some of those secrets to the world. And being able to see the comradery, the rivalships, the pain and the joy of cycling is truly special.
If you were on the fence about watching this, don't be. In my opinion this production surpasses similar series like Netflix's series on the Tour of 2022 and even the previous season of Jumbo Visma - All In. I can recommend this series to cycling fans hands down.
It has been a truly remarkable year for Team Jumbo Visma. What they accomplished won't be done again for years, decades, maybe ever. Usually we only see the team working from a distance, from the outside, through press and speculation. This series sets out to reveal some of those secrets to the world. And being able to see the comradery, the rivalships, the pain and the joy of cycling is truly special.
If you were on the fence about watching this, don't be. In my opinion this production surpasses similar series like Netflix's series on the Tour of 2022 and even the previous season of Jumbo Visma - All In. I can recommend this series to cycling fans hands down.
This series starts off really, really strong. A genuinely compelling first two episodes. But the more the show goes on, the weirder it gets.
Our protagonist, Akira, is driven by his desire to live his life. Now that the zombie apocalypse freed him from his abusive job. A great premise. However, it's not executed well. Is this a comedy, drama or action series? Well, in a way it's all of them, but it's more fair to say that it's none of them. The drama never hits. The action looks good, but is out of place and ridiculous (not in a good way). The humor is funny at times, but it's very hit or miss. Our side characters are incredibly one dimensional with one or two gags that remain the same for the entire season. Not too mention glaring plot holes and incredibly stupid character decisions.
I can't recommend this series.
Our protagonist, Akira, is driven by his desire to live his life. Now that the zombie apocalypse freed him from his abusive job. A great premise. However, it's not executed well. Is this a comedy, drama or action series? Well, in a way it's all of them, but it's more fair to say that it's none of them. The drama never hits. The action looks good, but is out of place and ridiculous (not in a good way). The humor is funny at times, but it's very hit or miss. Our side characters are incredibly one dimensional with one or two gags that remain the same for the entire season. Not too mention glaring plot holes and incredibly stupid character decisions.
I can't recommend this series.
While comparison to both "Walking with Dinosaurs" and "Prehistoric Planet" is unavoidable it isn't the most fair way to judge a show. Both of the aforementioned shows are the cream of the crop of prehistoric documentary series and at least one of them also holds a fair bit of nostalgia for a lot of people (me included). It is unavoidable that in at least some ways any prehistoric documentary series would fall short if held to such high expectations. Being worse than those shows doesn't automatically make a show bad.
With that out of the way, let's actually try to review this series in an as objective way as possible.
First off, visuals and sound design. They're good, great even. The CGI could have been better but is still more than adequate. The animation is a bit floaty on occasion and if you really pay attention to it it will slightly break the immersion. I find the soundtrack to be great, it doesn't bother me or pull me away from the action and on at least a couple occasions I was actively appreceating it. Animal and surrounding sounds are fine, nothing stood out to me as bad, which is really all it needs to do. I also really like Morgan Freeman as a narrator.
The storytelling choices leave me a bit puzzled though. First of all, there is the addition of modern filmed documentary bits, which to me feel really unnecessary. They could have just made 30 minute episodes instead of padding the runtime in this very strange way. Because shooting nature documentaries isn't cheap or easy. Another problem with these are that they often aren't new for frequent documentary viewers and break your immersion.
The documentary is very informative and explains a lot of interesting concepts extremely well. The way it explained the great dying (Permian extinction) was amazing for example. There are some things that could have been improved though. The time period we find ourselves in often isn't made clear, especially in the first few episodes this can be annoying. They also tend to jump from here to there a bit too much, instead of just going chronologically.
It covers a lot of different species and stories per episode, which is great. I do wish that they would have been a bit more original in their choice of creatures instead of going for the more well know ones. There are a few mistakes (conscerning science and realism) but nothing terrible in my opinion.
I've focussed a lot on the "bad". But let me make clear that this series really isn't a bad one, not even in the slightest. It does fall short when compared to the giants that "Walking with Dinosaurs" and "Prehistoric Planet" are, but has a lot of merit in its own way and definitely deserves to exist and be watched.
With that out of the way, let's actually try to review this series in an as objective way as possible.
First off, visuals and sound design. They're good, great even. The CGI could have been better but is still more than adequate. The animation is a bit floaty on occasion and if you really pay attention to it it will slightly break the immersion. I find the soundtrack to be great, it doesn't bother me or pull me away from the action and on at least a couple occasions I was actively appreceating it. Animal and surrounding sounds are fine, nothing stood out to me as bad, which is really all it needs to do. I also really like Morgan Freeman as a narrator.
The storytelling choices leave me a bit puzzled though. First of all, there is the addition of modern filmed documentary bits, which to me feel really unnecessary. They could have just made 30 minute episodes instead of padding the runtime in this very strange way. Because shooting nature documentaries isn't cheap or easy. Another problem with these are that they often aren't new for frequent documentary viewers and break your immersion.
The documentary is very informative and explains a lot of interesting concepts extremely well. The way it explained the great dying (Permian extinction) was amazing for example. There are some things that could have been improved though. The time period we find ourselves in often isn't made clear, especially in the first few episodes this can be annoying. They also tend to jump from here to there a bit too much, instead of just going chronologically.
It covers a lot of different species and stories per episode, which is great. I do wish that they would have been a bit more original in their choice of creatures instead of going for the more well know ones. There are a few mistakes (conscerning science and realism) but nothing terrible in my opinion.
I've focussed a lot on the "bad". But let me make clear that this series really isn't a bad one, not even in the slightest. It does fall short when compared to the giants that "Walking with Dinosaurs" and "Prehistoric Planet" are, but has a lot of merit in its own way and definitely deserves to exist and be watched.