Wildlife Specials: The Spy Collection (2007)

Using a system of spy cameras inside remote-controlled robots, get an up close and personal look at the many magnificent creatures of our world, making new observations about their lives. From penguins to polar bears, and tigers t...

Wildlife Specials: The Spy Collection

Spying on the wildlife

Saw the Spy Collection for the Wildlife Specials featuring narration by national treasure David Attenborough and David Tennant (was really interested in how he would fare as a nature documentary narrator) as a big fan of nature documentaries and have lately been on a binge watching and reviewing series and their individual episodes.

Of the five specials/documentaries forming the Spy Collection, two (&apos;Tiger: Spy in the Jungle&apos; and &apos;Trek: Spy in the Wildebeest&apos;) are narrated/presented by Attenborough, the others (&apos;Polar Bear: Spy on the Ice&apos;, &apos;Penguins: Spy in the Huddle&apos; and &apos;Swarm: Nature&apos;s Incredible Invasion&apos;) by Tennant. All are must sees, with my least favourite being the still very good &apos;Swarm: Nature&apos;s Incredible Invasion&apos; due to not having as many memorable scenes or dealing with animal species and ideas that completely connected with me. My personal favourite is &apos;Penguins: Spy in the Huddle&apos;, mainly because of my love for penguins.

As has been indicated, all the documentaries forming the Spy Collection are highly recommended for nature lovers, documentary lovers and a good way of being introduced to Tennant&apos;s narrative work, as well as a treat for Attenborough in his instalments. The collection is very diverse/varied, looks great and shows a great deal of technological advancement in the camera work.

First and foremost, all of the documentaries look amazing They are gorgeously filmed, done in a completely fluid and natural, often intimate (a great way of connecting even more with the animals), way and never looking static. In fact much of it is remarkably cinematic with some of the shots and techniques being unique for a documentary series, making one forget that they are television documentaries. The editing is always succinct and smooth and the scenery of all the continents is pure magic. All do so well at making the viewer feel like spies and unseen observers of the action very up close.

The music scores fit very well, never overly grandiose while never being inappropriate. The Tennant documentaries do better in this regard, one of the few complaints of &apos;Tiger: Spy in the Jungle&apos; was the music intrusiveness.

All the documentaries fascinate, teach, move, entertain and transfix. In terms of the facts there was a very good mix of the known ones and the unknown, some facts being familiar to us, &apos;Penguins: Spy in the Huddle&apos; being especially good due to having never seen before footage, while also dealing with very complex and very much relevant issues with tact. So many memorable scenes that take the breath away and shock, like the harrowing second episode of &apos;Trek: Spy on the Wildebeest&apos; or all the episodes of &apos;Tiger Spy in the Jungle&apos; and &apos;Penguins: Spy in the Huddle&apos;.

Narration in all the episodes helps significantly. Attenborough clearly knows his stuff and knows what to say and how to say it. He delivers it with his usual richness, soft-spoken enthusiasm and sincerity, never talking down to the viewer and keeping them riveted and wanting to know more. Tennant narrates with enthusiasm and sincerity and sounds just as at awe of the material and that he cared for it, again no talking down.

It&apos;s not just visually beautiful and informative. The animals are wide in personality, prey and predator alike, are remarkably diverse. Particularly the tigers and the penguins in &apos;Tiger: Spy in the Jungle&apos; and &apos;Penguins: Spy in the Huddle&apos;. It also displays a wide range of emotions and found myself really caring for everything that was shown to us on screen, a notable example being the second episode of &apos;Trek: Spy of the Wildebeest&apos;. The conflict has genuine tension and suspense, there is some fun and a lot of emotionally powerful moments done with a lot of tear-jerking pathos. Found myself really caring for what we&apos;re told, again particularly with the tigers and the penguins.

Each episode doesn&apos;t feel like an episodic stringing of scenes, but instead like the best nature documentaries each feels like their own story and journey, with real, complex emotions and conflicts. Yet it never feels overly-subjective and the information is never compromised in favour of taking too much of a storytelling approach and over-humanising the animals.

Summarising, a must see for nature documentary lovers. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Saw the Spy Collection for the Wildlife Specials featuring narration by national treasure David Attenborough and David Tennant (was really interested in how he would fare as a nature documentary narrator) as a big fan of nature documentaries and have lately been on a binge watching and reviewing series and their individual episodes.

Of the five specials/documentaries forming the Spy Collection, two ('Tiger: Spy in the Jungle' and 'Trek: Spy in the Wildebeest') are narrated/presented by Attenborough, the others ('Polar Bear: Spy on the Ice', 'Penguins: Spy in the Huddle' and 'Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasion') by Tennant. All are must sees, with my least favourite being the still very good 'Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasion' due to not having as many memorable scenes or dealing with animal species and ideas that completely connected with me. My personal favourite is 'Penguins: Spy in the Huddle', mainly because of my love for penguins.

As has been indicated, all the documentaries forming the Spy Collection are highly recommended for nature lovers, documentary lovers and a good way of being introduced to Tennant's narrative work, as well as a treat for Attenborough in his instalments. The collection is very diverse/varied, looks great and shows a great deal of technological advancement in the camera work.

First and foremost, all of the documentaries look amazing They are gorgeously filmed, done in a completely fluid and natural, often intimate (a great way of connecting even more with the animals), way and never looking static. In fact much of it is remarkably cinematic with some of the shots and techniques being unique for a documentary series, making one forget that they are television documentaries. The editing is always succinct and smooth and the scenery of all the continents is pure magic. All do so well at making the viewer feel like spies and unseen observers of the action very up close.

The music scores fit very well, never overly grandiose while never being inappropriate. The Tennant documentaries do better in this regard, one of the few complaints of 'Tiger: Spy in the Jungle' was the music intrusiveness.

All the documentaries fascinate, teach, move, entertain and transfix. In terms of the facts there was a very good mix of the known ones and the unknown, some facts being familiar to us, 'Penguins: Spy in the Huddle' being especially good due to having never seen before footage, while also dealing with very complex and very much relevant issues with tact. So many memorable scenes that take the breath away and shock, like the harrowing second episode of 'Trek: Spy on the Wildebeest' or all the episodes of 'Tiger Spy in the Jungle' and 'Penguins: Spy in the Huddle'.

Narration in all the episodes helps significantly. Attenborough clearly knows his stuff and knows what to say and how to say it. He delivers it with his usual richness, soft-spoken enthusiasm and sincerity, never talking down to the viewer and keeping them riveted and wanting to know more. Tennant narrates with enthusiasm and sincerity and sounds just as at awe of the material and that he cared for it, again no talking down.

It's not just visually beautiful and informative. The animals are wide in personality, prey and predator alike, are remarkably diverse. Particularly the tigers and the penguins in 'Tiger: Spy in the Jungle' and 'Penguins: Spy in the Huddle'. It also displays a wide range of emotions and found myself really caring for everything that was shown to us on screen, a notable example being the second episode of 'Trek: Spy of the Wildebeest'. The conflict has genuine tension and suspense, there is some fun and a lot of emotionally powerful moments done with a lot of tear-jerking pathos. Found myself really caring for what we're told, again particularly with the tigers and the penguins.

Each episode doesn't feel like an episodic stringing of scenes, but instead like the best nature documentaries each feels like their own story and journey, with real, complex emotions and conflicts. Yet it never feels overly-subjective and the information is never compromised in favour of taking too much of a storytelling approach and over-humanising the animals.

Summarising, a must see for nature documentary lovers. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Using a system of spy cameras inside remote-controlled robots, get an up close and personal look at the many magnificent creatures of our world, making new observations about their lives. From penguins to polar bears, and tigers to elephants, these amazing creatures are shown from a whole new angle.

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Wildlife Specials: The Spy Collection

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