You might remember the book by Douglas Adams Last Chance to See, which was a funny and fantastic book about seeing some endangered species on the brink at the time, in 1989 and a little after. Well, apparently Douglas had wanted to go back and see how they were doing, but, he died in 2001.
Well get ready to see some endangered species, because there's a TV documentary made in 2009 starring Douglas Adams close friend, Stephen Fry, with the zoologist Mark Carwardine! This is Last Chance to See, the TV series.
The series is 6 episodes long, and yes, those who read my review will note there's more then 6 animals Douglas visited, but, some were left out for reasons I am unsure of, and one was left out for the reason it's extinct, the Chinese blind river dolphin.
The episodes themselves focus on the Amazonian manatee, the Northern White rhino, the Aye Aye, the Komodo Dragon, the Kakapo, and the Blue Whale. All but the Blue whale were part of the orginal Radio broadcast series, and the Manatee was left out of the book Douglas wrote.
While I won't spoil the episode, each episode not only focuses on the animal, but also other animals and the people who live there near that animal, as well as issues facing that animals survival.
While Stephen fry is not as funny as Douglas Adams, he's a charming and clever person himself, so this series is still entertaining. While it's a little more 'shame on you Westerners' then the book was, it doesn't lean into that heavily, just enough to get the message across.
Despite at times being dark and gloomy, some times rays of hope show through. for example, the Kakapo at the time of Douglas Adams visit, were down to double digit numbers, and not big ones. Now, when Stephen Fry arrives, they're up to triple digits.
There's other examples of this, but the series was extremely fun to watch, even for my father, who is not a major animal lover like my mother and I. It was fun, charming, funny, and informative all in only a six hour package.
The best thing about the series, for me at least, is that Stephen Fry, even if he was lured on for money or other reasons, I got the feeling he started to really enjoy the animals and travel, genuinely. Mark Carwardine, of course, loved it as well.
Anyway, I give this a 4.5 stars out of five. Very well done, extremely good nature documentary. Would watch again.
Anyway, see you all later!
