Something Bit Me

I'm a big fan of survival stories so this series really grabbed me. The format is very methodical and works well. There are two stories per episode featuring the actual survivors being interviewed along with a dramatized version of the events played by actors, accompanied by numerous interviews with the scientists who study animal behavior. I always feel grateful after hearing about others' challenges, so every episode lifted my spirits quite a bit. It's surprising that the production staff were able to find so many survivors of animal attacks, and I'm not sure there could be a second season with quite the same impact. It would be a bummer if they had to go with "Something Bit Me And I Died" which is the actual outcome of less positive situations. As I noted, survival stories rock my world.

Not only is this series interesting and well-produced, but it's one of the first I've seen to truly incorporate conservation science. I really appreciate the ways that the scientists explain how these encounters can be avoided and all of the impacts that humans have on wildlife. I definitely recommend this to anyone outdoorsy or people who enjoy search and rescue shows.

Something Bit Me offers a cool experience with a good narrator and good videos of animals and the environment. But you quickly realize the execution is abysmal. The show tries to create tense stories to make you really think "will this person survive the attack?" But they have one massive problem: they have the survivors telling the story from the start, so knowing they and everyone survived removes all tension before the attack is even talked about. It wouldn't be so bad if the re-enactments were good. They weren't, they were goofy at best. The show tries so hard to be dramatic and tense but fails incredibly miserably. It's a shame because I love animal documentaries and especially learning about these fascinating creatures. But it's so boring. I'm frankly flabbergast at how poor the execution was. Only watch if you want something in the background about animals, or maybe to laugh at some of the goofy re-enactments. The shaky camera parts makes me chuckle with an eye-roll every time.

I don't know exactly what it is but the episodes are really drawn out and if you watch them back to back a lot of the people are attacked by the same animal and you have the same researchers and animal experts in different episodes saying the exact same thing you already heard them say in the other one. The stories could literally be over in five minutes each but they have to drag them out to make an episode and that gets a little repetitive and boring. Maybe just don't binge watch the season. I would have liked to see more video or photos of the real peoples actual injuries.

This series is similar to 'I Shouldn't be Alive' series and is just as interesting. Deals with real life stories of peoples near death experiences, but as the title suggests, this time it's solely dealing with interractions with other species on our wildly diverse planet. The reconstructions are well made and the interviews with the unfortunate victims and others involved are informative and often very moving. Many of the stories are also very uplifting and show sides to human nature that are very positive, as well as showing respect for nature and giving great tips on what to do when those interractions don't exactly go to plan.