Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors

Wow, this was very poorly done right from the opening. The presenter is clearly a lightweight, saying that until "the latest research" everyone thought the Neanderthal was a brutish protoype for modern humans.

Seriously that view was gone 25 years ago, it is not news. in fact for more than a decade we have known the more Neanderthal or Denisovan genetic material a population has the higher the average intelligence.

Really in the two hours, there is a total of five minutes of discussion with the actual experts in the field that is worthwhile, and the hour and 55 minutes is idiotic.

What a shame. Interest in Neanderthal is generally a very good thing since it tells us a lot about ourselves and hominid and human evolution, and where backflow of isolates may have given significant evolutionary advantages to a given branch.

Save your time. This two part documentary obviously had writing problems and degrades into an exegesis on its own production, with virtually noting of interest on is subject: the Neanderthal.

Yes we know the BBC has been eclipsed by other makers in its once unparalleled production of science and documentary content. But this is a new low, and presumes its audience is utterly illiterate.

I am a geoscientist not specialized anywhere around the topic of Neanderthals, but interested enough to follow publications and progress in this field of science for over three decades. Concerning TV-documentaries, this is among the best I have seen to date on Neanderthals, because it covers in two hours the broad range of life, demise, and continued genetic presence in modern humans with clear examples and convincing conlusions. The facts are well presented and commented by world-wide acknowledged experts in this field.

A must-see for those who wish to better understand the past of our planet, the nature of this fascinating hominid, and his traces in our genome.

...although that is a great name for a pirate ship.

This swanky 2018 2-part doc will perhaps always stay in my mind as the show that first introduced me the idiosyncratic host Ella Al-Shamahi, part explorer, part adventurer, part anthropologist, part Stacey Dooley, mostly Alan Partridge. She adds a strange awkward edge to proceedings but it sort of works. It's nice to see scientists put center stage, it's groovy to see a bit on the process of motion capture animation - the results still look pretty good even and Andy Serkis is a lovely man. Beyond that it feels deeply padded, a little too melodramatic and full of strange assertions that will, knowing the science of prehistorical research, likely have already been disproven in the three years since this was made. Not exceptional, not as wholly authoritative as it might have been aiming for but it is relatively diverting.

A self-proclaimed scientist teams up with Hollywood special effects guys to create a pretend Neanderthal couple. Then she has them parade around naked. As entertainment, rather than education, it should have been no more than 30 minutes long, instead of stretching it out to 120 minutes.

Yeah, we know how blue screen works and how Hollywood can create pretend people by pasting tracking markers on actors, but what does that have to do with Neanderthals?

Too bad the "scientist" didn't pay as much attention to conveying useful information as she paid to her wardrobe.

Don't get misled: just because it came from PBS doesn't mean it's good.