We watched the amazing documentary series Wild China the past couple of weeks and loved it. I knew I wanted to write up a recommend, but it also got me thinking how much our family enjoys documentaries of all sorts. After a good one I always feel smarter, more appreciative (of this beautiful world, living in this time period, whatever) and very often compelled to learn more.Our favorite nature/travel/anthropological docs:
Planet Earth (Of course. If you still haven't seen these, you must.)
Wild China (A fascinating integration of the land, animals, and cultures by region. I honestly never cared at all to visit China until now.)
Amazon: Imax (Short and sweet, 37 minutes featuring brief shots of all the most amazing animals and indiginous people. Lots of nakedness at one point. Charlie gleefully yelled "lion" at the jaguar and "bum bum" at the naked people.)
Africa: The Serengeti: Imax (So I have a little selection bias for places I've been. Sue me.)
Rick Steves' Europe (PBS series, really great if you don't mind/want to get lots of practical tourist tips along with your what-to-see footage. Our library has all of his PBS-produced DVDs. He is offering a special deal this month on his brand-new Iran DVD, but you could also try to catch it on your local PBS station.)
Space/Flight docs ('cause you know my boys):
The Magic of Flight: Imax (The history of flight interspersed with the training and airshows of the Navy's Blue Angels. All-time fave at our house. Tom Selleck narrates.)
X-treme Close-Up: Blue Angels (A bio of their 2000 season.)
Hail Columbia!: Imax (From 1982 but if you/your child is into the space program at all they will like it.)
NASA: 50 Years of Space Exploration (5 discs. From the NASA vaults, contains a lot of really dry narration over the old footage. Everything but the newest stuff bored me to tears but Isaac ate it up and came back for seconds.)
Political/Social docs:
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Scientists have an enormous and dangerous bias against intelligent design theories. Very revealing, important information. Ben Stein hosts.)
America: Freedom to Fascism (About the unconstitutional federal income tax and the privately owned Federal Reserve. Aaron Russo hosts. Can be watched online with Google Video.)
Money As Debt (Animated - as in cartoon - explanation of how our currency works. Like a really fun econ lesson. Eye opening. Can also be watched with Google Video.)
Overview of America (JBS produced, basic government definitions/explanations. What is a democracy? A republic? Things we should be taught in high school but aren't. Can be watched in 4 parts on youtube.)
Do you watch documentaries too? Please tell me your family's favorites so I can add them to my Netflix queue! And I'm joining the Hooked on Fridays blog "carnival" today, if you want to go there and see what other bloggers are into this week.
Thanks for the recommendation. Looks life an interesting documentary. Love the focus of travel :)
ReplyDeleteI also like "The Universe" series, and a new one on the History Channel "How the Earth Was Made". That one is a about plate techtonics and the physical evolution of the planet from one land mass into many. One whole show on why the Loch Ness monster could not be a dinosaur. Isaac would love it, I am sure.
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot "The Universe"! We liked those generally, but some of the b-footage was really lame (showing a scantily dressed girl tossing a frisbee over and over and over again during the Jupiter ep, for example). Thanks for the other title - hadn't heard of it.
ReplyDeleteHi there! Thanks for coming by. I would say that we have quite a lot in common. It's rare that I see another woman who is Libertarian! Very cool.
ReplyDeleteI also see that you are a Lost fan. I'm an enormous geek when it comes to Lost. It's ridiculous really. :)
Thanks for leaving a comment on my Hooked on Fridays post :-) I'd love to replace our front door with a beautiful wood door -- you're lucky to have a wood one :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't watch documentaries very often, but I enjoy watching a lot of shows on Discovery. How It's Made, Daily Planet, and Mythbusters are a few. Mythbusters is particularly good -- I think your kids would enjoy watching it. They tend to blow things up a lot :-)
Kelly @ DesignTies
I loved "Expelled," and have put "Wild China" in the queue!
ReplyDeleteI am visiting via H.O.H. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI hope you'll stop by for a visit, I am hosting a giveaway.
I've just recently watched Wild China myself and was amazed at the diversity of the country - I had no idea. Stunning photography too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog - I'm glad to hear your light couches are holding up well with three children - it can be done!
I must not watch many documentaries because I haven't seen many of these. Thanks for the suggestions!
ReplyDeleteI just found you through Hooked on Houses. We love documentaries too. We like Wordplay and Spellbound a lot. We did not like Word Wars, about playing Scrabble, as well.
ReplyDeletei loved that series too, BBC usually do a pretty great job on documentaries!
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