If you're one who is into nature documentaries, you can't go wrong with the good stuff that BBC Earth dishes out, and one of their latest, Madagascar, an informative look at the titular island in the Indian Ocean, is no exception. Narrated by a gentleman named David Attenborough, who is, if anything, an authority on Madagascar, the documentary takes a cut-and-dry look at the Earth's oldest island.
As with any Blu-ray nature documentary, the visuals are the first thing you'll notice as you start the show. The super-detailed and invasive close-ups are characteristic of disciplined camera crews and their expensive equipment, as are the wide panoramic shots of the varying regions Madagascar boasts. Madagascar is broken up into three different episodes, each one more or less discussing the land mass's three most distinct regions.
Although the show is broken up into episodes sort of based on the three prominent regions in Madagascar, about 95% of the episodes' content is animal-centric. Which is not surprising given the fact that the fauna is so diverse and intrinsic to Madagascar. As David Attenborough explains, over 80% of the species found on Madagascar can be found nowhere else in the world.
A fact like that is enough to make Madagascar a prime choice to shoot a nature doc. With so many different varieties of wildlife to aim a camera at, there's bound to be some extraordinary and unique footage. And for the most part, there is. You'll get a close-up view of the pygmy chameleon, which is the world's smallest chameleon, about the size of an ant, and you'll see a long-distance shot of a family of indri lemurs making their lemur noises the trees.
The show is only three episodes long, which is probably the right amount. Madagascar is huge, but not enormous. And, even though there are lots and lots of varying animal species to film, it might be a struggle to put together more than a few hours of anything truly captivating. Madagascar demonstrates this by revisiting the same animals multiple times, almost to the point of being annoyingly redundant. You'll see a several-minute section on lemurs in the first episode as well as the second, likewise with the large chameleons.
The best part about the series is toward the end of the episodes when the focus is taken away from the animals and placed for a brief period of time on what happens behind the scenes. At the end of the first episode, we see one of the camera guys take his priceless HD camera into a rickety canoe and seemingly jury-rig it into place while being guided through a forest of floating thickets in the middle of a wetland, all to catch a glimpse of some strange habitat. It goes to show that these nature documentaries are on a different level of combining entertainment and education. Perhaps I'm overstating it, but whatever, it's pretty freaking cool.
Madagascar is worth getting and watching if you are into those tremendous nature docs that BBC Earth produces. Its production value rivals that of Discovery's Planet Earth series, and is worth every penny if you have a hi-def TV to watch it on. It's too bad there weren't more interesting animal subjects to get footage of, but the effort put into what's presented makes it more than forgivable.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The extras are not so much extras as they are just two additional episodes. "Lemurs of Madagascars" (yes that's right, more lemurs), wherein a different narrator takes us through the lives of a small troop of lemurs; and a lengthier "Attenborough and the Giant Egg" which is more David Attenborough, except this time it takes you along on his exploration of Madagascar over the past 50 years, and even includes old-timey footage of his original Madagascar documentary from decades ago.
"Madagascar" is on sale June 7, 2011 and is not rated. Documentary. Directed by Michael Gunton. Written by Mary Summerill. Starring David Attenborough.
