The world will never be the same once you've seen it from below. 

 

Dive into Our Oceans, a thrilling five-episode series, narrated by Barack Obama, that invites you to join Emmy winning wildlife filmmaker James Honeyborne on an awe-inspiring adventure. This groundbreaking show will whisk you away on a global journey, uncovering the mesmerizing stories of our planet's five majestic oceans. Each episode delves into the unique characters of the creatures within these ecosystems, from playful and cunning to resilient and mysterious. Ride along the world's great current as we reveal nature's most spectacular aquatic personalities and breathtaking wonders.

 

(on November 20)

 

 

 

This looks very promising

Looks lovely - the bumphead parrotfish sequence reminds me of what we heard during the spawning dives in Palau, where the males would face off on the bottom (around 30m/40m depth) before the spawning began - you would here the bones clucking eerily.
I wonder if it was filmed there - landscape does look like the Ulong area in the extract.

 

And it looks like they went for super-saturation like the Blue Planet team did in some sequences... Probably the same batch of footage?




Also, maybe I've been living in a box, but could anyone explain why a former US president is narrating this? 😂😂
Is narration a new retirement side-gig for politicians or something?
I just hope Blue Planet III won't be narrated by his successor in the White-House...

 

 

Edited October 1, 20241 yr by bghazzal

Cameraman is Roger Munns:

https://www.roger-munns.com/netflix-our-oceans-underwater-cameraman/

 

He's also the one who did the AppleTV underwater screensaver.

 

I met him this year on Dharavandhoo where he was filming the Mantas at Hanifaru Bay. He's a nice guy!

I'll go for Netflix just because of this series. Hopefully it is worth the price.

 

 

Nice! Roger Munns also worked on Blue Planet II (including the Coral Reefs episode), which is why the footage looks so familiar.

 

 

Looking forward to seeing this, and reading his blog's new posts and behind-the-scenes photos relating to the individual shoots I worked on once the series airs on November 20th.

 

(but... Barack Obama? 😅)

cheers
 

Edited October 1, 20241 yr by bghazzal

They are five episodes so a lot of stock footage and specific assignment. It's composed from the work of several different cameramen.

Clips of the Australian Sea dragon are of Dean Spraakman.

 

4 hours ago, bghazzal said:

Also, maybe I've been living in a box, but could anyone explain why a former US president is narrating this? 😂😂
Is narration a new retirement side-gig for politicians or something?

 

He has to pay the bills! 😄

I am not a native speaker so I cannot judge whether he has such an attractive voice

 

I am excited about the ice shots. I joined a production team in Greeland 2022, assisting&safety for the main camera guy, scouting dive spots and uw timelapes.

On 10/1/2024 at 10:08 PM, bghazzal said:

Looking forward to seeing this, and reading his blog's new posts and behind-the-scenes photos relating to the individual shoots I worked on once the series airs on November 20th.

 

(but... Barack Obama? 😅)
s
 

Here's a review of the series:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/nov/20/our-oceans-review-barack-obama-nature-show-netflix

Here's a little snippet on wildlife documentary narration by former POTUS 😁

For the most part, Obama acquits himself well in his new role. His voice, which has always been steady and soothing, was made for this. (Can you imagine any other high-level US politician pulling it off? Would narration sustain George W Bush’s attention? Would Joe Biden’s narration sustain ours? Does Trump know what a fish is?)

This doesn’t mean that Obama is the new David Attenborough, of course. Attenborough is a career naturalist who almost single-handedly created the genre of wildlife television. Barack Obama is here to emote about dolphins. He isn’t helped by the script, which sometimes seems to underestimate the intelligence of its audience. It’s too folksy, describing the clownfish as “the world’s most famous fish”, presumably because there is a film franchise that stars the species. During a sequence about cuttlefish, Obama growls: “Don’t make him angry; you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.” At one point, he namechecks Murder on the Dancefloor. At another, he uses the word “fishnado”. Attenborough would never.

TV and film have always demanded products with characters and stories with certain characteristics. While this used to apply only to fiction, it now (unfortunately) also applies to documentary. This has led to bringing to the screen an increasingly overt dramatization of nature and its characters, breaking in part the contract between representation and audience typical of documentary.
The use of famous people as hosts in nature documentaries is the latest in this escalation. Will Smith, Obama or characters like Steve Backshall completely turn the perspective upside down, becoming themselves the focus around which everything happens. Nature becomes the stage for their egos. Conversely, David Attemborough, with his British understatement, although he was always the main host in all his documentaries, was never cumbersome with his presence. Rather, he was always a kind gentleman who would almost take you by the hand on journeys into the natural world.
The intention behind these editorial choices is clear and perhaps even not bad in itself: to attract a wider audience to a genre considered (wrongly) niche. I, personally, do not like it but everyone has his own taste. I find that in this way the public is treated as a mass of fools incapable of getting excited about natural events. And maybe there is a kernel of truth to it: in an age when we are constantly exposed to thousands of contents, everything falls flat and it's a shouting match.
Or maybe I'm just too pessimistic.

David, I began this series just a couple weeks and I agree with your sentiment on November 20th. Obama's voice was a bit jarring for me at first as I've been used to the soothing tune of Sir David Attenborough or even Morgan Freeman. I believe I read somewhere that the Obamas produced that documentary so I suppose it made sense that he would narrate it. Still, it took me a while to get into and I did skip over a few of the episodes where the dramatization seemed abundantly gratuitous. 

As a follow-up on the subject, here's a little snippet from an interview of underwater cinematographer Roger Horrocks conducted by Peter Rowlands, published in issue 142 Jan/Feb 2025 of the UWP mag (pages 31-32)
 

Q) The advent of subscription TV has broken the traditional mode of natural history documentary productions. Has it brought better funding and opportunities or diluted the genre?
 

So Peter, that’s a great question, and it touches on where natural history programming has been and where it’s heading.

If you look at the “Bristol model”—the style of natural history filmmaking pioneered by the BBC’s Natural History Unit in Bristol and personified by Sir David Attenborough—it was created under a public service mandate. It wasn’t designed to make a profit but to serve the interests of the British public,who largely funded it.
This approach fostered a particular culture and style of storytelling, which has become a national treasure in Britain and countries with close ties to Britain, like South Africa, Australia, and parts of Europe.
 

However, in the U.S., it’s a different story. Natural history programming doesn’t hold the same cultural significance. If you mention Sir David Attenborough to most Americans, many won’t know who he is.
With the rise of streaming platforms, particularly Netflix, we’ve seen a digital disruption of the traditional broadcast model. As the editorial power shifted to the U.S., I always suspected there would be an evolution—or even a departure— from the classic “blue-chip” style of natural history filmmaking that we all love: respectful, reverent, and almost spiritual in its awe of nature.
 

We’re seeing that shift now. Take Our Oceans, for example. Instead of being narrated by Sir David Attenborough, it’s by Barack Obama. This reflects a move towards more global storytelling tailored for a broader audience. The influence of American editorial mandates is evident in how these programs are evolving.

Streaming platforms like Disney+, Nat Geo, and more recently Apple TV, have all begun exploring natural history content. Amazon hasn’t made as much of a push in this area, but it’s clear that the genre is diversifying.
 

One thing that stands out is the oversupply of natural history content during the peak of the “streaming wars.” With so much money being pumped into the industry as platforms competed, we saw a production glut.
In many ways, I think this oversaturation diluted the quality of the work.  Now, as the industry starts to contract, I see this as a healthy correction. 
Natural history programming will always have a place. People find these shows incredibly comforting. However, with fewer commissions going forward, I believe the value and appreciation for these programs will only increase. Less can be more, and the contraction will lead to higher- quality work that audiences cherish even more when it’s released.
 

Edited January 25Jan 25 by bghazzal

On a strongly related note, here is a review of Tom Hanks-narrated nature series The Americas, with similar issues brought up (anthropomorphism, climate denial, etc.)
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/mar/02/the-americas-review-tom-hanks-beautiful-new-nature-series-pretends-the-climate-crisis-doesnt-exist

15 hours ago, bghazzal said:

On a strongly related note, here is a review of Tom Hanks-narrated nature series The Americas, with similar issues brought up (anthropomorphism, climate denial, etc.)
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/mar/02/the-americas-review-tom-hanks-beautiful-new-nature-series-pretends-the-climate-crisis-doesnt-exist

 

What else can we say?
Documentaries are a cultural product and therefore they too reflect the spirit of the times. 
As you often love to say it is the Netflixication of nature documentaries or, as Cory Doctorow puts it, the Enshittification of nature documentaries.

 

P.S.

if you do a Youtube search you will find that virtually all of the video ads chosen by NBC are titled, “Tom Hank Narrates...”