Ancient Worlds is about people and places, politics and economics, art and war, trade and technology, but above all it’s the story of the painful birth and difficult growth of a radical idea first tried and tested some six thousand years ago, and which we are still struggling with today; civilisation. Civilisation has not come easily; it’s something we’ve had to fight hard to achieve, and even harder to maintain, and the greatest threats to it have come from our own talents for destruction. But when we’ve managed to get it right, the benefits have been enormous. When we talk about the ancient world we tend to think of rare and exotic artefacts or the monumental remains of epic architecture; but these are just the empty shells that got left behind when the tide of history turned! The living creatures, the civilisations, that once inhabited these shells were rarely if ever static or stately; they were dynamic, chaotic, and always threatening to spin out of control, because civilisation is based on an improbable idea; that strangers can live and work together in dense urban settings, forging new allegiances that replace the natural ties of family, clan or tribe. It’s an idea we’re still coming to terms with today, but one of the best ways to understand the challenges that are involved is to look at how our ancestors tackled them the first time around. From ancient Iraq to Imperial Rome, Ancient Worlds examines how our ancestors struggled with the levers of religion and politics, art and culture, war and diplomacy, technology and trade in order to keep the complex machinery of their civilisations turning over. Their insights and blind-spots, their breakthroughs and dead ends, their triumphs and disasters are the milestones on the long and winding road that leads directly from their ancient to our modern world.
国家地理新系列,该纪录片由瑞安·雷诺兹担任旁白,将聚焦自然世界中一些鲜为人知的动物的独特且不可预测的行为,包括它们的伪装技巧、养育技巧和求爱仪式。 “我喜欢自然系列,我喜欢制作我的孩子可以真正观看的东西,”雷诺兹在一份声明中说。“我们已经很高兴地尝试为动物纪录片带来新的声音。Wildstar拥有专业知识、经验和尖端电影技术,可以帮助我们充分利用《国家地理》的预算。我们将呈现一部既有趣又令人惊讶的节目,并且会公正地对待那些通常只能充当配角的动物。”
该片是英国传奇摇滚乐队齐柏林飞艇首次授权拍摄的纪录片,讲述他们如何在短短一年内克服重重困难,实现飞速崛起的过程。片中包括有着“史上最伟大鼓手”之称的约翰·伯纳姆独家专访,以及乐队成军前几位乐手青葱岁月的珍贵画面,当然更少不了的是震撼的摇滚乐现场。
捕鱼是一项辛苦的工作,而捕蓝鳍金枪鱼则让人精疲力尽,在马萨诸塞州的格洛斯特,有一群特殊的渔夫,他们世代用钓竿和鱼线捕捉行踪不定的蓝鳍金枪鱼。他们以此谋生,蓝鳍金枪鱼数量稀少、价格高昂,是日本寿司的最高级食材,因此这行竞争异常激烈。每年的捕鱼季持续近10周,这些最老练的渔夫将漂泊在北大西洋冰冷的海上寻找“海中钻石”蓝鳍金枪鱼。有人捕到过价值20000美金的大鱼。