Season 1 of 'Spy in the Wild' was excellent in my view, displaying everything that makes me love nature documentaries so much. With a lot of animals and animal behaviours/methods of survival unfamiliar to me beforehand and quite unique by documentary standards, even familiar animals were portrayed differently to usual. All done in a more intimate to usual way, thanks to the use of spy camera animals filming right up close. A gimmick but a very well used gimmick.
2020 saw 'Spy in the Wild' return after three years since Season 1 aired. And it was a more than welcome return, with the season being just as great as the previous one. Having all the brilliant things that Season 1 had, which was almost everything, and having just as many memorable scenes. Even if it didn't concentrate on one particular topic like the different episodes previously did. The only real downside of the season was the quality of the spy animals, which was more variable and more unsettling than ought. "The Tropics" is an excellent start to Season 2 and gives one a very good idea of what to expect from what was to follow.
"The Tropics" isn't quite perfect. Despite their amusing interactions with their real life animal counterparts and being generally well used (i.e. the capuchin monkeys), a couple of the spy camera animals are a little overboard on the unintentionally creepy side (did find this with Season 2 in general actually). Especially with one of the series' worst offenders, in the moments with the jaguars.
Having said that, there is so much to recommend still with "The Tropics". The scenery is both beautiful and unforgiving and the photography is beyond wondrous. Am still in awe at how such a feeding frenzy sequence managed to be captured on film and with the vivid impact that it has. The music is tonally varied and fits well.
Narration is fun, sincere and educational, nothing too simplistic or too complicated which makes 'Spy in the Wild' on the whole suitable not too safe family viewing. How David Tennant delivers this information, a great mix of the old and new, has lost none of the freshness and nuance that it had in the first season. Like all the episodes, all the animals are a sight to behold and one does feel their emotions and gets behind them easily. They are very interesting to watch, like seeing the jaguars looking so composed.
Furthermore, it was amazing to see the animal behaviours so up close and ones that seemed very human and unique. The silverback gorilla's dominance is a major standout as was the intelligence of the gorillas in general.
Concluding, excellent start to the second season. 9/10
2020 saw 'Spy in the Wild' return after three years since Season 1 aired. And it was a more than welcome return, with the season being just as great as the previous one. Having all the brilliant things that Season 1 had, which was almost everything, and having just as many memorable scenes. Even if it didn't concentrate on one particular topic like the different episodes previously did. The only real downside of the season was the quality of the spy animals, which was more variable and more unsettling than ought. "The Tropics" is an excellent start to Season 2 and gives one a very good idea of what to expect from what was to follow.
"The Tropics" isn't quite perfect. Despite their amusing interactions with their real life animal counterparts and being generally well used (i.e. the capuchin monkeys), a couple of the spy camera animals are a little overboard on the unintentionally creepy side (did find this with Season 2 in general actually). Especially with one of the series' worst offenders, in the moments with the jaguars.
Having said that, there is so much to recommend still with "The Tropics". The scenery is both beautiful and unforgiving and the photography is beyond wondrous. Am still in awe at how such a feeding frenzy sequence managed to be captured on film and with the vivid impact that it has. The music is tonally varied and fits well.
Narration is fun, sincere and educational, nothing too simplistic or too complicated which makes 'Spy in the Wild' on the whole suitable not too safe family viewing. How David Tennant delivers this information, a great mix of the old and new, has lost none of the freshness and nuance that it had in the first season. Like all the episodes, all the animals are a sight to behold and one does feel their emotions and gets behind them easily. They are very interesting to watch, like seeing the jaguars looking so composed.
Furthermore, it was amazing to see the animal behaviours so up close and ones that seemed very human and unique. The silverback gorilla's dominance is a major standout as was the intelligence of the gorillas in general.
Concluding, excellent start to the second season. 9/10
