(courtesy First Showing (c) AppleTV+)
SNAPSHOT
Explore hidden corners of the Earth with a trio of experts as they try to save six endangered species from extinction. With crafty camerawork & survival skills, the team race to find, record, protect these elusive creatures before it’s too late. Battling the North Atlantic, the team squeezes into the belly of a boat to find endangered whales with the help of emerging tech. In Armenia’s rugged mountains, the team pursues one of the most mysterious & majestic predators: Caucasian leopards. The team ships out to Gabon’s dense jungles to track down an entirely wild troop of gorillas — with a surprising plan to save them from extinction. On the island of Java, the crew dodges crocodiles to try and find the world’s rarest rhinos in a bid to help them breed again. Deep in the desert of Mongolia, the team plays the ultimate game of hide-and-seek, searching for Gobi bears before they disappear forever. And in Malaysia’s remote rainforests, Declan, Vianet, & Aldo look for the world’s rarest tigers to try and defend them from ruthless poachers.The Wild Ones is a nature doc series created and produced by Offspring Films, the team behind Apple TV+’s BAFTA Award-nominated Earth At Night In Color and Earthsounds series as well. No final director credits have been provided yet. The series is executive produced by Alex Williamson and Isla Robertson. (courtesy First Showing)
I love nature documentaries.
I especially love nature documentaries which have as their driving focus the need to preserve the beautiful natural world around us, and if that means doing something different to capture peoples’ attention, then I’m all there for it.
But what I hate it, and it’s seemingly everywhere in modern documentary making is making those who make the docos the story rather than the animals and the natural world they inhabit.
The Wild Ones looks like its going to be less concerned with the fate of the animals than the people looking to “save” them, and while I don’t watch to impugn the good intentions of Declan, Vianet and Aldo, who do appear to have their hearts very much in the right place, it all looks a little too sensationalistically tabloidy and Boys Own on acid for my tastes/
I’m hoping I am wrong and will stream at least the first episode in the hope that the trailer does not fully represent the style and feel of the six-part series.
The Wild Ones streams on AppleTV+ starting 11 July.