Antarctic Documentary: The Endurance Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition

I just finished watching The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, which I rented through Netflix. I found the documentary pretty interesting. The documentary tells the story of Shackleton's Endurance expedition using original video footage, original photos from the expedition, new footage of similar scenes related to the expedition, and on screen recollections of the crew from some of their descendants . It is all blended together quite well, but it is a sort of dry version much like every other version of the Endurance (i.e. many of the books say pretty much the same things). It is definitely great for learning about the expedition if you have not already read a lot about it. The most interesting parts, though are the special features.

The special features include an audio commentary version done by Director George Butler, which is actually extremely boring and I usually enjoy all sorts of audio commentaries. Basically he is just reiterating the story and things said in the other special features with the movie playing behind, which really is not amazing enough to want to see more than once in many years. Anyways the Beyond the Endurance section of the special features does have some good featurettes.

One of the featurettes is called The Tale of the Endurance and is a telling of the story by Caroline Alexander, who has photo book about the expedition that this movie seems to follow very closely and I have read, which makes both the movie and this special features not all that unique seeming. This, though, is at least way more brief than the movie.

The second featurette is called In the Wake of Shackleton. This is actually a pretty good one about the filming the new footage for the documentary by going to South Georgia Island and the Antarctic.

The third featurette is called Iconic Images and is my favorite part of this DVD. It is mostly the twin daughters of Frank Hurley talking about their father, who documented the trip with photos and film. It is interesting to learn that his kids did not really know about the expedition until they were much older and that they used to play with their fathers film making it into smoke bombs.

The fourth and final featurette is called Past and Present. It is not as good as the third, but it is better than the actual movie. It is mostly footage of the descendants of the crew going through an exhibit on the Endurance for the first time in New York.

Overall I do recommend checking out this movie if you want to learn about the expedition and have not yet really familiar with the expedition, as it does offer a great in depth look at the expedition. However, only the special features add much new if you very familiar with the expedition. They almost make it worthwhile, though, and definitely help make it a worthwhile DVD for those only vaguely familiar with the expedition.

DVD Review: Encounters at the End of the World

I saw Encounters at the End of the World at a theater back in September 2008. For a while the DVD has been sitting in my Netflix Queue to rent and I finally got to renting it. The documentary really is not all that special, as the second time around I really began to realize how all over the place Werner Herzog is in this documentary with him covering so many topics. He sort of connects it all, but really there is no real main point that kind of does make it hard to enjoy unless you really have an interest in Antarctica already.

Another thing I noticed is how much Werner Herzog annoys me. He makes some pretty off putting comments in the documentary and kind of rude seeming, such as when he summarizes peoples stories, but what really got me is the stuff in the audio commentary version. The audio commentary is overall interesting with them talking about the making of the documentary and honestly this is better than the actual documentary. Anyways the point is that Werner Herzog comments in the documentary make it seem like he carelessly does not care if his documentary not only does not have a point, but if there are inaccuracies. I do not think they actually admit to any inaccuracies, but the commentary comments include him saying things and then the others correcting him sort of and him just totally brushing it off as it does not matter. It just is a type of attitude that makes it seem like there could be inaccuracies, but at least it is not actually an educational documentary because I certainly would not trust any educational attempt of a documentary from him.

While I no longer feel so strongly about this being a worthwhile Antarctic documentary in terms of good quality, it does still show some interesting aspects of humans in Antarctica. At least the DVD release has some good special features, too. This includes stuff on the first disc with the movie, as well as a bonus disc (note if you rent through Netflix like me that the bonus disc has to be manually added and it does not get added as a set like some multi disc releases do).

The first disc's extras include the audio commentary discussed above, as well as some extra footage that did not make the cut into the final version of the movie. The extra footage includes "Under the Ice," "Over the Ice," and "Seals & Men" that are simply just video footage set to music. It is not that the footage is bad, but the "Under the Ice" one in particular does seem to drag on for a long time (30 minutes, I think). The other two extras are "Dive Locker Interview" and "South Pole Exorcism." These are both good extra footage of Antarctic people interviews that just did not make it into the final cut of the movie.

The bonus disc was a little bit of a disappointing rental. I kind of expected it to have a good amount of content, but it just has an interview with Werner Herzog. The interview is not bad, but if you have already watched the audio commentary most of what Werner Herzog says in the interview has already been heard. The interview also includes a lot of general talking about himself totally unrelated to this specific movie. Basically it just does not fit as being released with this movie and I now see why it is not (or at least why it is a good thing that it is not) automatically included when you add the movie to your Netflix Queue.

Unique Micrometeorite Found in Antarctica

Here is an article about a micrometeorite that is like no other one found on Earth before was found in Antarctica. The micrometeorite is achondritic basaltic. They are unsure of where this micrometeorite originated, as it has an unique composition.

National Geographic Expedition Antarctica Documentary to Air in June 2009

Here is an article about a new Antarctic documentary that is set to first air in June 2009. It is an hour long show (probably around 40 minutes minus commercials). It is to be called Expedition Antarctica when airing on the National Geographic Channel. It is also being aired by the Smithsonian Networks under the name Into the Frozen Abyss. The documentary is about the Tangaroa research ship conducting a scientific census in the marine life.

British Adventurers to Follow in Scott's Footsteps

Two British adventurers will attempt to reach the South Pole and trek back in the same fashion as Scott. Of course, they plan to be better prepared and avoid Scott's ill fate of dying on the way back from the South Pole. No one has successfully done it since 1912 (when Admundsen's and Scott's teams reached the pole). The trip is planned as a 100th anniversary of the event.

Sir Edmund Hillary Footage Found

Recently some rare footage of Sir Edmund Hillary's time in Antarctica has been rediscovered. He is most remembered for climbing Mount Everest, but he also helped establish the Scott Antarctic Base. 16mm black and white film of him getting a hair cut, preparing for his Antarctic expedition, and departing New Zealand on the ship to Antarctica in 1957 was found in a loft of a farm machinery company that supplied the tractors for the expedition. The footage was "donated to the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre at Aoraki/Mt Cook."

Russian Novolazarevskaya Antarctic Base Celebrates 50 Years

Russia's Novolazarevskaya (nee Lazarev) base celebrates 50 years of operation today, March 15, 2009. The base was named after Mikhail Lazarev, who was a co-lead the first Russian Antarctic expedition from 1819-1821. It sounds like the original base was quickly mothballed and the Novolazarevskaya station nearby was built. Read more about the base and its 50th anniversary here.

Movies with Penguins: Mary Poppins

Growing up Mary Poppins was my favorite movie. I used to watch it all the time until my mom took it away when I was 7 because she was annoyed by it. I may be a penguin lover now, but back then it was the whole Mary Poppins character that I liked. Nowadays it remains a favorite and partly because of the fun scene with the animated penguin waiters dancing with Bert. I recently got the new 45th anniversary DVD release version and really enjoyed watching it on DVD for the first time, especially since it is loaded with special features including an audio commentary.

This penguin scene also appears in the Sing-Along Songs: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocous video. The DVD release of this is not all that great, as it is simply the same as the VHS release with no special features.

British Team to Drill Looking for Life Under Lake Ellsworth in Antarctica

This article is about a team of British scientists drilling through the ice sheet above Lake Ellsworth in Antarctica. They are looking for signs of life under the ice sheet. If they do find life it will provide more evidence that life could exist on distant worlds without a sun's light and heat. In the article they compare the lake to Jupiter's moon, Europa. The team is expected to do the research with a special drill probe in 2012.

Scott Expedition Explorer's Daughter Dies on Way to Antarctica

Here is a sad story about the daughter of one of the support team for Scott's ill-fated 1912 expedition to the South Pole dying on her way to her father's field laboratory in Antarctica. Her father was Edward Nelson, who traveled to Antarctica with Scott, but was not one of the ones that went to the pole and thus was among one of the survivors of that expedition. Barbara Johns, 93, died on Wednesday, February 18, 2009, on a cruise ship to the Antarctic after falling and hitting her head on board the ship during a storm. Her son, Andrew Hays, 65, was on the trip with her. The ship is continuing as planned and a moment of silence will be observed in her honor when they get there.