Big Cat Week

BIG CAT WEEK:
Lions, leopards, future cats; oh my. Wait, that's not how the saying goes but that's a fraction of what you will get to see in the upcoming Big Cat Week special that will air on Nat Geo Wild. From how a lion hunts to what the big cats might evolve into in the future is being talked about and shown in the special at the end of November. How does a lion hunt? Does it do it at night while alone or in a pack? Do the males or females do the hunting? What about the leopard? Are they a pack cat or are the cats that like to be alone? Just how do these cats see at night? If you want the answers to these questions and so many more insights into the world and life of big cats of Africa to the future of them, then you will want to watch the upcoming special.

MEOW:
I'll admit, I'm a fan of these animal week specials and have watched them since I was a kid. A lot has changed over the many years from when I was a kid to now on how these shows are filmed to what they show and talk about. In the early years there was less narrative and more of the graphic hunting & killing being done. Back then it was rough watching some of these specials, not only because of the graphic nature of nature but also because back then they didn't have the advantages of filming that there are today. Current filming being used for these kinds of specials can only get better and what they have now is astounding.

First let me express how impressed I am with the content of these episodes. Having the drones flying around, the HD cameras with infrared lenes, audio that is crisp and sharp, and so many other high tech gadgets being used have made Big Cat Week look stellar. Instead of getting to see only far off shots from a camera on the side of a truck, we are given close ups and the drones from above. There's a lot of angles being covered in this special to showcase these cats in new ways. It's impressive watching this special because I get to have new views of these awesome animals.

Content hasn't changed much, there still is a lot of information being given that I already knew but getting it coupled with the new and HD visuals almost makes getting the same information new again. Don't worry though, there is still a lot of new information being shown and given about these large felines that roam the wilds. I liked the episode, “Man v. Lion” most out of the three that I watched, maybe that was due to the fact that I was getting involved with tracker Boone Smith as he climbed in the box to let lions walk around him and jump on and attack the box. This man is insane, I don't care how sturdy that box is, when you have openings, you're put in the open, and have killing machines that way hundreds of pounds trying to kill and eat you, I'm just not going to do it.
I really did enjoy watching this special and getting to see it all in such beautiful high definition but there was still one slight problem I had with it. That's the narrator who has the big voice that sounds like the movie trailer guy. I get the nature of the show and how it's supposed to be dramatic with the action happening, but that voice just didn't sit right with me while listening to it. It's like there was a choice between extremes, a voice that would have been whiny and unimpressive or the big voice guy that makes everything sound like the world is coming to an end. There are moments, a lot, that the voice is very fitting with the content of the show, but when just describing someone using a drone to fly over the animals at night, yeah don't need to be that dramatic sounding. Otherwise, this is yet another excellent special that Nat Geo Wild has showing on it's channel that makes for some real entertaining television. Oh, as a closing thought, this is real reality TV, not a dance off or singing competition.