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GALAPAGOS
BBC Two, 9pm
One ought to be blasé about the BBC’s natural history films by now, but no. Galapagos is stunning. The programme makers filmed for 18 months using high-definition cameras and aerial photography techniques, and the result is a series of heart-stopping beauty and drama. There are sea lions fighting on the beach, pirouetting in the water and surfing giant waves; squadrons of blue-footed boobies diving into the water like Stuka bombers; marine iguanas sneezing the excess salt out of their bodies; and albatrosses performing a mating dance of astonishing elegance. Vilify television by all means — much of the time it is a debased medium that corrodes the spirit — only make sure you watch this.
Times reviewer: David Chater
Radio Times Preview :
Documentary of the Week
1/3 - Born of Fire
The prevailing tone in this love letter to the Galapagos is one of awe and
wonder. And there's plenty to see that is awesome and wondrous - crashing surf,
rivers of lava, blue-footed boobies diving in unison, finches grooming giant
tortoises, a hilariously unkempt albatross chick. One shot, of a shoal of fish
parting to let a sea lion through, is breathtaking. Add to all this Tilda
Swinton's exquisitely cool narration and the result is spellbinding. We don't
get the same devotion to each creature's story that an Attenborough series
brings, but there are still nice animal insights, including the strong sensation
that it's better to be one of life's sea lions than one of life's marine
iguanas. The programme manages to make geology sexy, too, climaxing with the
brilliant line "Countless Galapagos islands have come and gone - they
always have and they always will." Which would have made a great ending,
were it not for the sudden advent of actors dressed as 19th-century explorers.
Please, no!
RT reviewer: David Butcher
Telegraph Choice :
Lost in the vastness of the Pacific, 600 miles west of Ecuador, these islands offer a glimpse back to the genesis of the earth. It’s a volcanic hotspot, shuffling along a tectonic conveyor belt, where arteries of super-heated rock rise to the surface to form molten rivers. The flora and fauna are brilliantly captured in this new three-part series – brilliant in its camerawork, and brilliant, too, in its high definition format. No computer-generated trickery here; the creatures are mind-boggling enough. Albatrosses, their wings spanning seven feet, embark on 2,000-mile flights, iguanas dive deep below the waves to find food, giant tortoises survive for months without water. It’s no wonder Charles Darwin became fixated on the place – his discoveries on the islands are explored next week. JM
PICK OF THE DAY
What is it about High Definition TV, I wonder, that means the pictures must always be accompanied by an equally silken and portentous voice-over?
This lush and lavish nature-doc transports viewers to the breathtaking and unique landscapes of the Galapagos archipelago, while Tilda Swinton sounds like the voice of God as she declares that these islands are plumbed directly into the heart of the earth.
Born Of Fire - the first of three programmes - explores how the islands were created by volcanic hot-spots and how they'll move an inch or two each year, carried on a massive tectonic plate, until they disappear.
Even if you don't have HDTV you'll be swept away by the pin-sharp quality of wildlife images you won't find anywhere else on earth - including the giant tortoises after which the islands are named. There's the unforgettable sight of blue-footed boobies dive-bombing the surf. And there's even romance as albatrosses separated from their partners for weeks are reunited in a display that natural history programmes always call courtship ritual but which you and I would recognise immediately as plain old snogging. Or, as Tilda says: "The whole island comes alive with the clacking of beaks."