Documentary TV Series like Wild China
January 16, 2014 9:47 AM   Subscribe

We (the royal we) have been watching Wild China recently. It's a 6 part nature documentary that's also a bit of a travelogue. What we like about it--they go to a place not usually covered by Public TV nature docs and mix in explorations of the human culture there as well as geographic and biological subjects. What else is like this? What should we watch next?

More things we like:

- It's a TV series, not a single film.
- It's narrated well, but there isn't a person traveling around showing you stuff.
- It's gorgeous.
- It's not the usual African animals on the tundra BBC doc. Not objecting to Africa, just the boringness of lions, elephants, Kenyan landscape, etc.
- We like learning about a place that isn't the US or Western Europe.
- Each episode gives you a sense of place: Ep 4 the Himalayas, Ep 5 Southern China, etc.
- It's streaming on Netflix

How many of these boxes can you check off with your favorite nature docs? Any or all would be mucho appreciated.
posted by Potomac Avenue to Media & Arts (5 answers total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: What about the other "wild X" programs made also by the bbc national history unit? Wild Arabia, wild Burma, wild caribbean, etc. You can a list of all their programs here.
posted by crazy with stars at 9:56 AM on January 16, 2014 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Herzog recut a tv series about trappers in Siberia that is equal parts Man and Nature. His version - Happy People: A Year in the Taiga is streaming on Netflix, though I've never seen the original documentary series. It is wonderful.
posted by Think_Long at 10:09 AM on January 16, 2014 [3 favorites]


All of Michael Palin's stuff is great. The "Journeys" list on the left of that link enumerates his various TV shows.
posted by The Deej at 10:16 AM on January 16, 2014


A Bite of China is really wonderful, although it's about food instead of wildlife.
posted by theredpen at 10:56 AM on January 16, 2014 [1 favorite]


Best answer: The "wild" series have varying amounts of people in them, some not at all. But the wild Arabia series is very much like wild China. South Pacific (also BBC) is also a bit like this.

Additionally, check out Wildes Russlands, aka wild Russia. German production but has English narration, very much in the same vein.

Yellowstone is cool but not many people.
posted by smoke at 3:13 PM on January 16, 2014


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