Wild Kingdom (3)

This is not to say that modern nature documentaries should be sanitized to the point of cloying sentimentality, only that there is a line that is too often crossed in the name of gratuitous violence for the sake of mere violence, not anything educational. The producers of Wild Kingdom, however, never crossed that line.

In looking at these old episodes I got the sense of being taken back in time to my youth, a time when the world was captured in a television screen — even the small black and white one my family owned. I miss those times, but watching these shows revived not only a past worth reviving, but a future worth embracing; and one made better, in no small part, by the people responsible for such a fine series.

The DVD has no special features to speak of, but, really, what could be added? All in all, the Wild Kingdom DVDs are small treasures that, for the meager price I paid for each, are a hardy investment. Most interesting, although in a negative way, was how many of the Arctic themed shows are vestiges of the past. As example, one of the episodes deals with polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba, scrounging for food in human garbage dumps while waiting for pack ice to form in Hudson’s Bay. Nowadays, a few decades later, that ice never forms at all. Sadly, the DVDs evince not only their show’s history, but a history of earth as extinct as the dinosaurs. Nonetheless, enjoy the moments, for they will not come again. Rest in peace, Marlin!