While there is no question that this "Europe" episode is utterly brilliant in every way, there remains a right to step back and ask what is being achieved here. In a sense, and at first glance, the programme harks back to tradition, with an Attenborough voiceover accompanying a format that basically says: "this is an interesting animal, and this is another interesting animal", and so on... Frankly, this episode is less ecological than some other parts of the series, while the environmental/conservation part is present but by no means overwhelming. Beyond that, it is a far stretch to say that the series of vignettes we see here either tells the story of Europe, or even paints a full or representative picture of Europe.
Useless, then, really?
No - a million miles from that; because what this episode does is treat its viewers as mature, intelligent and discerning, serving them intricate, exquisite, dramatic, intimate, prolonged and evocative scenes from the lives of animals, notably brown bears and musk oxen in the far north, wolves and red deer in Abruzzo (filmed STUPENDOUSLY with OUTSTANDING and REMARKABLE thermal imaging), hamsters in a Vienna Cemetery, emerging mayflies, white pelicans in the Danube Delta, olms in the cave systems of Slovenia, Iberian lynxes in Spain, and barbary macaques in Gibraltar.
Given that this says almost nothing about the sea, and precious little about at least some of the habitats that exist in Europe, the choice is as ever eclectic (for example being reptile-free), and a touch overloaded with cute animals. But cute they indeed are - especially the splendid lynxes. But in various of these cases we see that life goes on even in the vicinity of human beings, not least as the wolf pack twice use a road to facilitate their hunting (only to lose prey to local sheepdogs). Somehow there is a story both glorious and optimistic being told here - perhaps a touch falsely even, but much needed.
And not for one second do the stories cease to be spellbinding visually and in terms of content, and the messages to be picked up by the viewer are all there, even as they tend to be played down by both the camerawork and the narration.
As someone biologically trained who is also a veteran of DECADES of wildlife programmes (still absolutely well-disposed, if regularly inclined to be jaded), I can honestly say that this episode of an amazing series left me impressed, refreshed, inspired and fascinated in equal measure.
Useless, then, really?
No - a million miles from that; because what this episode does is treat its viewers as mature, intelligent and discerning, serving them intricate, exquisite, dramatic, intimate, prolonged and evocative scenes from the lives of animals, notably brown bears and musk oxen in the far north, wolves and red deer in Abruzzo (filmed STUPENDOUSLY with OUTSTANDING and REMARKABLE thermal imaging), hamsters in a Vienna Cemetery, emerging mayflies, white pelicans in the Danube Delta, olms in the cave systems of Slovenia, Iberian lynxes in Spain, and barbary macaques in Gibraltar.
Given that this says almost nothing about the sea, and precious little about at least some of the habitats that exist in Europe, the choice is as ever eclectic (for example being reptile-free), and a touch overloaded with cute animals. But cute they indeed are - especially the splendid lynxes. But in various of these cases we see that life goes on even in the vicinity of human beings, not least as the wolf pack twice use a road to facilitate their hunting (only to lose prey to local sheepdogs). Somehow there is a story both glorious and optimistic being told here - perhaps a touch falsely even, but much needed.
And not for one second do the stories cease to be spellbinding visually and in terms of content, and the messages to be picked up by the viewer are all there, even as they tend to be played down by both the camerawork and the narration.
As someone biologically trained who is also a veteran of DECADES of wildlife programmes (still absolutely well-disposed, if regularly inclined to be jaded), I can honestly say that this episode of an amazing series left me impressed, refreshed, inspired and fascinated in equal measure.
