Narrating Life
April 5, 2010 12 Comments
I’m enjoying Discovery Channel’s “Life,” when I get the chance to see it. I figured it was another appropriation of a BBC show with redubbed narration, but I didn’t realize I’d seen any of the original show before. In fact, the time-lapse video of undersea scavengers is one of the coolest biology videos I’ve seen in a long time, and I watched that months ago.
Seeing the original in comparison with the Americanized version makes me realize just how much more I like David Attenborough as a narrator than Oprah Winfrey. Maybe it’s the soothing British accent, maybe it’s the fact that Attenborough doesn’t spend the rest of his time promoting all manner of dangerous pseudoscience, all I know is that I hope it’s Attenborough when the DVDs come out.
Dubito Ergo Sum 
They aren't out yet, but the Attenborough-narrated DVDs are up for preorder on Amazon.
Attenborough is just a better narrator in general. Oprah has no connection to the material; she's just recognizable on this side of the Atlantic. She's also just not that good, at least not in the episodes I've seen.And if Discovery is going to get someone American, why not Mike Rowe? He's right there, he's a great narrator, and he's Mike Fucking Rowe.
My fianceé liked Sigourney Weaver's turn on "Planet Earth," just because she sounded so different from the normal Discovery Channel fare. I don't know that I ever heard her version, so I can't really say.The one thing I think might be good about Oprah narration is that some of her legions of loyal worshippers might listen and learn a little actual science. Unfortunately, while I'm all for the "isn't it pretty/weird/cool" format of these shows, there isn't a whole lot of science content beyond observational facts. At least they take evolutionary development as a given, so that's a plus.
Yeah, Ripley didn't do a bad job. David Attenborough was better, though.
AtheistsGET OUT OF MY UNIVERSE…you little liars do nothing but antagonize…and you try to eliminate all the dreams and hopes of humanity…but you LOST…THE DEATH OF ATH*ISM – SCIENTIFIC PROOF OF GODhttp://engforum.pravda.ru/showthread.php?t=280780Einstein puts the final nail in the coffin of atheism…*************************************http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7vpw4AH8QQ*************************************atheists deny their own life element…LIGHT OR DEATH, ATHEISTS?***********************************************************LIGHT*********************************************
GET OUT OF MY UNIVERSE…I don't see your name on it, Dennis. The rest of your post is the same drivel you've been posting for weeks. Aren't you overdue for making some new insane copypasta?
If we left the universe, where would we go?Dennis found me too.
dennis? Isnt that david mabus? did his name change?
Someone did some digging (might have been PZ) and found out that his real name is Dennis Markuze, he's from Canada, and he's dangerously unhinged.
Dennis just gave me a little visit too. I feel like part of the cool kids now.
Come on, Tech, you've always been one of the cool kids.
For the first time after watching that, I find myself somewhat afraid of Starro the Conqueror.