Recently, I was feeling a bit nostalgic when I found that many of the old "Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" were online--available to watch for free. After watching quite a few, I realize that the shows were every bit as wonderful as I remembered--well filmed, edited, narrated and looking very professional. As a result of my renewed appreciation, I decided to look for some of the newer Cousteau shows and found two things. First, IMDb is VERY incomplete and many of the episodes available through Netflix simply aren't listed on IMDb and information about the later episodes are often incomplete. This one is narrated by Anthony Hopkins--but you'd never get this by looking it up on IMDb. Second, these later shows are good but much flatter. I miss the old Rod Serling narration (he died--so it isn't like I blame anyone) and the look and sound of these newer shows seem a bit cheaper--and this is heightened by the print on the DVD being less than stellar.
This episode, not surprisingly, is about the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. It covers a lot of topics such as the effect of humans on sea life*, reproduction of the coral (the best part of the show to me) as well as explorations on land or in rivers near the Northeast Australian coast (such as the platypus, ancient archaeology and the Aboriginals, crocodiles). Overall, I'd say that the quality is a step down from the earlier and more innovative Cousteau shows but it is still well worth your time.
*It is odd that the show features Jacques Cousteau talking to some expert about the negative effects people and habituation have on the Great Barrier Reef. This is because they are many scenes where the Cousteau crew are touching and interacting with animals and sea life as well as touching the coral (and with their bare hands--which is not a good idea). It's a case of 'do as I say, not as I do'! I was especially amazed as the divers practically climbed onto crocodiles- -giving these potentially super-dangerous animals little space.
This episode, not surprisingly, is about the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. It covers a lot of topics such as the effect of humans on sea life*, reproduction of the coral (the best part of the show to me) as well as explorations on land or in rivers near the Northeast Australian coast (such as the platypus, ancient archaeology and the Aboriginals, crocodiles). Overall, I'd say that the quality is a step down from the earlier and more innovative Cousteau shows but it is still well worth your time.
*It is odd that the show features Jacques Cousteau talking to some expert about the negative effects people and habituation have on the Great Barrier Reef. This is because they are many scenes where the Cousteau crew are touching and interacting with animals and sea life as well as touching the coral (and with their bare hands--which is not a good idea). It's a case of 'do as I say, not as I do'! I was especially amazed as the divers practically climbed onto crocodiles- -giving these potentially super-dangerous animals little space.
