Uncharted with Sam Neill

The weather has closed in here, with low and drizzly cloud and a steady 12 degrees has meant the sandals have been swapped for slippers and cardigans and sweatshirts have been dusted off and ready to wear.  I have also decided to clear out the dvr and watch some of the shows I have been hording.

This one Uncharted with Sam Neill follows the voyages of Captain Cook.  I have certainly learnt a lot, about his journeys in the South Pacific and Northern America that I knew little about.  I didn't know that he went to Alaska to search for the North West Passage, sailing through ice and frozen temperatures.  I did not know that prior to coming to New Zealand, Cook and the Endevour had been in Tahiti and he brought with him a Tahitian Priest/ Polynesian Navigator Tupaia, who when he arrived in New Zealand allowed him to communicate with the Maori due to their common Polynesian language.  The show is sensitive to the indigenous people of the countries shown on screen, seeking out their opinion about the explorer and the impact on their people of his arrival.  Such beautiful pictures of the idigenous people and so sad to read about the impact of colonization.  Amazing that people have such great history in their family, enabling stories of first contact to be told by children that has been handed down from over 220 years ago.

Sam Neill is a good host - I like listening to his gentle speech, and he is sensitive and educated in his conversations with the people he talks too. I think as I have got older I value documentaries so much more after years of self centered vain people filling other tv shows, it is nice to actually learn about the amazing world we live in.  5/5