Mammals

Once again David Attenborough has come up with a novel and innovative way to show just how diverse and interesting our planet is. Every episode or series he does piques my curiosity. But the sad truth is that the advent of humanity presents an existential threat to every single aspect of life, including our own. Unless we change the Anthropocene will destroy us and much of our contemporaries, most whom have been here since life began some 2 billion years ago. David shows us what beauty and dignity there is on Earth. He resists the urge to scold. He holds up a mirror to ourselves. Enjoy and take the challenge to advocate for the wonder that David, at 97 still shows us.

You know what you're getting with these Attenborough-tinged BBC series, this one emerging right around his 98th birthday and entirely dedicated to Mammals. It's a pretty broad brief and the episodes too are lumbered with such esoteric titles such as "Dark" and "Heat" that we get a fairly unfocussed smorgasbord of the typically breath-taking footage. Highlights include the gorgeous thievery of the Pika and some really top notch star-nosed mole business. Beyond that it's fairly boilerplate and there's not much more to say about it beyond a continual amazement that we get so many of these a year. I feel a lucky mammal.

Let's face it Sir David, we have seen it all before. 5 years in the making? How so.... It more uplifting than some previous ones, they kind of failed did they not? Depressing rather than uplifting.

Blue Planet, Planet Earth v1 were amazing, the narration and love for our little world fascinating and informative. But now, it is all redundant.

Anyone interested in ecology should go back to your earlier work. Firing GPS trackers? We have seen that before, are we going to have racer snakes soon - well, that is Reptiles, not Mammals?

We quote Planet Earth, but it is too late. There are more pressing issues in 2024, Attenborough should turn his attention to more pressing issues. And the BBC should re-run the OG rather than rebranding - it is a classic.

We have so many animal species, The Blue Planet was the sea. How long until we get Reptiles, or Insects, or Birds? And Sir David does not have long left, so they had better get a move on.

It's fascinating, but all animal life is. The BBC, now in crisis due to funding could use the millions paid out over 5 years to the crew and Sir David better.

It's a bit like Brian Cox's stuff, we rehash the same basic idea. There's a lot of stuff out there, the Sun will kill us, infinity. Now infinity is scarier than any tiger!

I don't know if these nonsensical reviews are written by ChatGPT or something, but they are clear and utter lies.

I'm watching this series currently and I can DEFINITELY say that the footage seen is brand new. I have watched almost EVERY SINGLE Attenborough show available (even the rare ones and I even have them on Blu-ray), so I know this for sure. A few scenes might be similar to what was already done before (the star-nosed mole for example), but even those are shot in a beautiful new way. Besides, some scenes feature animal behaviour never seen before. Have you ever seen false killer whales sharing food? Or a close-up of a baby sperm whale suckling? Or a pod of orcas tricking and literally kidnapping a baby humpback? And this is just one episode. These scenes are unique even by BBC standards. And no, the narration is not reused. (C'mon... What's with this reviewer who said that??)

My only slight problem is that the series features too much well-known species and very few rare ones. If I stay in the 'Water' episode, I would have loved to see beaked whales, or pygmy sperm whales, or similar, less-known species. Yes, they are hard to film, but not harder than some behaviours seen in the series. So a few rarities would have been nice too.

I give Mammals a 10/10, even though I would have given a 9/10 if the previous reviews wouldn't have triggered my sense of justice. :)

BBC Earth + David Attenborough = Perfection.

When BBC Natural History Unit couples with the legendary broadcaster and naturalists, Sir. David Attenborough, a nature gem is created. No need to watch all the episodes not even the first episode to confidently rate it a 10 star.

The first episode deals with the nocturnal animals showing amazing behavior and never seen before behavior. The amazing cinematography amazingly captures captivating scenes and behavior of different animals prowling in the dark, seeking food and shelter.

It is amazing that the more we delve into the natural world through the lenses of the cameras, the more we discover that the nature holds many secrets to flaunt.

I thank all the crew involved and appreciate the amazing voice of the legend.