14 Comments

I had similar thoughts. It got tiresome using that narrative throughout. We are the villans in the piece.

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Totally. It feels like we are the villains in every piece ☹️

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You get brownie points for giving me something to do with my Friday night. Good reading.

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You’re welcome! Stay tuned for more of the same! Well, not literally the same, but you know…

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You've got some great points but now I'm mostly just disappointed that Green Planet won't air in the US till July. I'll have to revisit this post then!

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Ha! Yes I mean, everything I’ve said in this post notwithstanding, the show is still a real televisual feat, and a feast for the eyes for plant lovers. Only five months to go til you can watch it - it’ll fly by!

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Yep, I’m with you on the slight discomfort with plants being good guys vs bad guys for the sake of a tv programme narrative. But it irks me equally when the same is used for a whale feeding off seal pups on a beach.

As much as I love sir D, I do long for an occasional documentary without any commentary and screenplay faux dramatics.

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I’m so glad you agree! And I’m totally with you when it comes to whales/seal pups, etc too. The filmmakers could actually have a little bit more faith in audiences - most people would feel sorry enough for the seals without the over-the-top orchestral score and the dramatic narration. But let people make their own minds up - don’t TELL them what to feel or think. It’s just nature doing/being nature

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Yes Dan, Attenborough is definitely on team Darwin! Luckily the BBC had this out recently on Kropotkin which is a nice antidote and well worth a listen: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014pfr

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I hadn't seen/heard that, thanks so much for sharing. It's gone straight to the top of my to-listen list!

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A big congratulations to you Dan for bringing this up - I was watching it puzzled thinking that I’d never thought of a vine as a baddie before and should I be doing so…..

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Thanks Jo! But yes you do need to be careful. Turn your back for one moment and your seemingly harmless clematis will violently murder its helpless enemies - not to be trusted!

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I must confess that I found the water lilly video almost repulsive...it looked like something from a science fiction movie.

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Yes it’s quite something. So much of the plant world looks like it could have emerged on an alien planet

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