The Discovery Channel docu-drama Walking with Cavemen debuted last night. I have been waiting for a long while to see it. I had no idea Alec Baldwin was going to be the narrator, I guess he studied up before taking on that task.
Did anyone see it? What did you think? How accurate did you think it was…or could have been?
I really enjoyed it, it gave a good peek into the probable past of our animal species. It made me do some much needed reflecting as to who I am as an animal, and how I am adapting to my own environment. It also made me wonder where we are evolving to, and what it is we are to expect in our own future as human beings. I think it gave a good intrinsic look at why we as human animals do things like love one another, hate one another, why we war, why we nurture that which is sacred.
I wonder how Christians feel about this? Do Christians believe Eve was a monkey like woman, or do they believe she was just like us. I wonder how diehard fundies feel about watching that kind of documentary. I usually do not start debates revolving around this sort of thing, and in fact I may start one in GD soon, but I was philosophizing with my wife about how fundy families deal with this sort of topic. I mean it was advertised for a few months before it came out.
So what say ye? Anyone see the show last night and really like it? thoughts?
When it stuck to the science it was great. The special effects and sets were very good. The descriptions of why certain specias were different and how that effected them were interesting and thought provoking.
But, way too much “crazy monkey dancing” which always caused me to laugh. Uh oh, something went wrong-- time for crany monkey dancing-- and sure enough that’s what would happen. The crap about Lucy’s baby was, um, best edited out for absurdity.
I didn’t dislike it, but like elf6c, I was somewhat frustrated by the “storylines” that were inserted into each group. But it caught my attention, and as a teaching tool, it’s interesting. As long as the areas like Lucy & the baby are presented as stories and examples, rather than something we know.
Of course, I was also irritated by the line about “In a century we’ve moved from steam engines to airplanes (? - I’m not positive about this word), from libraries to the internet” as if libraries have no use any longer.
Would have been nice to see some more proto-human emotion. Maybe some crying when the tribe’s leader was killed, e.g.?
Also, there was a heavy focus on stone tools, because that’s what survives in the fossil record. I can imagine proto-humans having wood tools as well, and maybe rope. No mention of that possibility that I heard.
While I liked it, my wife loved it. She’s very visual and not as finicky and cerebral as I am, so she enjoyed it quite a bit more.
I though the “stories” were all right. Good for keeping the attention of someone with a short attention span, but overall they took away some of the hard data I was looking for.
I could have used more info on the specifics of how and why each homonid specied died out, more of the fact-finding details and what clues were used to discover what we have, etc.
A little less drama and more fact would have made me happy, but since my wife thought it was the coolest shit in the fridge, I reckon it’ll do.
I completely agree with this. Walking With Dinosaurs did a great job of showing exactly that, offering more insight into how scientists reconstruct the past through fossils and geological phenomena. However, I liked the presentation of the skulls and thought Alec Baldwin did a pretty good job as the host and narrator, although something about his physical appearance looked a little off to me.
Overall, it was decent enough. I would have preferred more answers to the “why’s” that kept flitting through my brain. The show, IMHO, skimmed the surface, and did not provide nearly enough detail for me. But then, it would have been a 24/7 week long show.
The screaming baby was pretty bad, but what I thought was even more disturbing was when the amorous suitor ran off holding the baby by the leg. Surely this would have crippled the baby, if not killed it, and wouldn’t make this make the baby a liability and therefore and outcast?
Chimpanzees have been known to kill babies, if they suspect the female was impregnated by a member of another tribe. Sorry, I don’t have a cite right at my fingertips.
I thought it was somewhat speculative and not nearly meaty enough. Walking with Dinosaurs was what, four hours? Don’t we lowly humans deserve at least that much?
The Home erectus segment showed them using bamboo tools. I wonder how that determination was made.
Some of the “facts” presented are still a matter of controversy. Last I heard, there are still some arguing that neanderthalensis should be a subspecies of H. sapiens. The ergaster/erectus split has also not been completely agreed upon.
I was half asleep so I’m not sure how accurate my memory is…
What was up with the tribal leader up in the tree getting his face stung while pillaging the bee’s nest for honey. He falls/jumps out of the tree (seemed like a 25 ft fall). He survives this only to be eaten by a lion while talking trash to another hominid tribe.
Still, I enjoyed what I saw, Alec Baldwin (homo knownothingus) not withstanding.
I thought it was pretty ok. We watched the first part, cause I couldn’t take another hour or two of it. I thought they were interjecting way too many “modern” thoughts and storylines. It was pretty interesting overall. I did like the crazy monkey dancing.
The show also seemed to imply that most, if not all, of the early hominids had a sort of spoken language. I don’t believe that’s even been conclusively established that Neandertal, let alone the pre-homo species, had any communication more complex than a current-day chimpanzee has.
I thought it was interesting enough, and IMO the plot and storyline of each generation was used as a way to show how the human “ID” evolved as our brains and bodies did as well. Showing the first seeds of jealousy, or grief, and how those helped in our species adapting and surviving longer than the competitors at the time.
Alec did a good job, but I have always thought he had a good voice over potential. He should narrate more for DC. I think his raspy voice lends some interest and some intensity to the subject.
I agree with most about wanting to know more on the causality side. They were kind of vague as to how each group died off. Also, not all of the shots were original to this production. There were some scenes from the neanderthal segment that was taken from DC’s 2-hour neanderthal documentary shown earlier this year, or late last.
This confused me as well. I thought that while Neandertal had a type of language, it was restricted to grunts and alot of pointing. I also did not think the Neadertal possesed the brain power it would have taken in order to plan the rock fall onto the mammoths. That would take an elevated bit of reasoning, something I did not think was in abundant supply to the Neadertal.
What further confused me on the speech issue was that I swear Baldwin said something like “Yeah, these guys we’re about to look at didn’t have the capacity for language,” then when they show them they’re all chatting it up.