The Ranger makes a point that I have made a thousand times, comparing american nature documentaries to British ones:

To The Ranger’s British eyes, this American clip seems almost patronising and childish in its presentation. And yet the content is little different; the difference is purely stylistic. It represents another interesting cultural difference across the Atlantic. And of course, The Ranger is forced to wonder, what do viewers in the US and elsewhere think of the BBC’s Attenborough style of natural history presentation? Do they find these scholarly discourses dull and dusty? Do they long for the commentator to chuckle in an avuncular manner or say “Whooa!”?

Compare for yourself.

National Geographic:

BBC:

Another difference that The Ranger does not observe is that US documentaries are usually hosted by Hollywood actors while British ones are usually hosted by scientists.

Moral? If you want to do cool science, become an actor.

Nature documentaries was my favourite genre as I was growing up but now I can barely stand to watch them. When we discovered around episode three that the magnificent Planet Earth was originally narrated by David Attenborough, we turned it off and pledged to buy the British version on DVD so we wouldn’t have to listen to any more Sigourney Weaver.