Your Inner Fish on PBS

[stemturtle]

A 3-part TV series based on the book by Neil Shubin will air in April, 2014 on PBS.
He explains how evolution has shaped our anatomy.
Let's mark our calendars for 10 p.m. EDT:
April 9, Your Inner Fish
April 16, Your Inner Reptile
April 23, Your Inner Monkey.

[SBell]

That sounds like a great series--do we know who is narrating/producing, etc?

And I hope that it is more comprehensive and less Victorian-age minded than the Attenborough "Rise of Vertebrates".

[stemturtle]

That sounds like a great series--do we know who is narrating/producing, etc?

And I hope that it is more comprehensive and less Victorian-age minded than the Attenborough "Rise of Vertebrates".

Yes, SBell, this should be enjoyable.
Narrator is Neil Shubin.
Windfall Films, Tangled Bank Studios.
More info at this link: http://www.pbs.org/your-inner-fish/home/

My first reaction to "Rise of Animals," was that it needed more CGI, like the Walking-With videos. 
My expectations exceeded the budget of Atlantic Productions.
After watching it several times, I realized that it was a visit with Sir David at some great fossil locations,
like China, that we would never see otherwise.  It is a gem after all.

[SBell]

That sounds like a great series--do we know who is narrating/producing, etc?

And I hope that it is more comprehensive and less Victorian-age minded than the Attenborough "Rise of Vertebrates".

Yes, SBell, this should be enjoyable.
Narrator is Neil Shubin.
Windfall Films, Tangled Bank Studios.
More info at this link: http://www.pbs.org/your-inner-fish/home/

My first reaction to "Rise of Animals," was that it needed more CGI, like the Walking-With videos. 
My expectations exceeded the budget of Atlantic Productions.
After watching it several times, I realized that it was a visit with Sir David at some great fossil locations,
like China, that we would never see otherwise.  It is a gem after all.

Those were the good parts. My issues lay more with the number of important steps skipped or glossed over (can't remember now, but at the time they stood out to me) and 'importance' of vertebrates as some sort of pinnacle. Much like the verts vs inverts dichotomy of WwM, but I digress there. I'm guessing it's a British production company thing.

[Yutyrannus]

This could be cool, don't like how all the animals are transparent though. Let's hope most of the focus is actually on the creatures.

[tyrantqueen]

This could be cool, don't like how all the animals are transparent though. Let's hope most of the focus is actually on the creatures.

Only in relation to how it has influenced our anatomy and evolution. Don't expect any Dinosaur Revolution styled stories or anything like that.

[Yutyrannus]

This could be cool, don't like how all the animals are transparent though. Let's hope most of the focus is actually on the creatures.

Only in relation to how it has influenced our anatomy and evolution. Don't expect any Dinosaur Revolution styled stories or anything like that.

Yeah, I know. I wish we would get another WWD-type series already but that doesn't seem like it will happen any time soon . So that's why I said I hope most of the focus is on the creatures, yes we got some features from them but they are separate and interesting animals on their own, I just don't want them to be shown as only being interesting in that they evolved some features that we have today.

Edit: Actually I think I'll just watch the first episode to see if I like it, and if not (which is likely based on what I've seen of it so far) then I just won't watch the other two.

[SBell]

This could be cool, don't like how all the animals are transparent though. Let's hope most of the focus is actually on the creatures.

Only in relation to how it has influenced our anatomy and evolution. Don't expect any Dinosaur Revolution styled stories or anything like that.

Yeah, I know. I wish we would get another WWD-type series already but that doesn't seem like it will happen any time soon . So that's why I said I hope most of the focus is on the creatures, yes we got some features from them but they are separate and interesting animals on their own, I just don't want them to be shown as only being interesting in that they evolved some features that we have today.

Edit: Actually I think I'll just watch the first episode to see if I like it, and if not (which is likely based on what I've seen of it so far) then I just won't watch the other two.

Given the topic, and the source book (which is a highly recommended read) I would expect that any 'creature' focus will indeed be in the context of explaining/expanding upon origins of human physiology based on fossil evidence--so while there would likely be reconstructions there likely won't be a lot of stories or scenarios except insofar in how they are relevant to human biology.

[stemturtle]

I enjoy stories about fossil discovery.
In the first episode Neil Shubin introduced the evolution of lobe-fin fish, limb homology, embryology, and genetics. 
Much of the program showed the dig site at Ellesmere Island, Canada, and more briefly, Red Hill, PA. 
It was fun to see Ted Daeschler and Jenny Clack.  I would have liked more CGI.
The region-one DVD is available from the PBS Shop.
Next episode is reptiles on April 16.