Origins: The Journey of Humankind
Origins: The Journey of Humankind
TV-14 | 06 March 2017 (USA)

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  • Reviews
    SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.
    FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.
    Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
    Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
    Lammasuswatch Wow!How did National Geographic, a once respected scientific organisation the world over, come to this?And the answer is apparently through a takeover by Fox and Rupert Murdoch. Enough said.The first and most jarring thing that strikes you about this series is its overly dramatic host Jason Silva. Not someone I've ever heard of before, and someone I will go out of my way to avoid in future. His "narration" alone is probably enough to avoid this series, at least unless you really want to spend the whole time fast forwarding him out.And then the two episodes I forced myself to watch seemed overwhelmingly to emphasise violence. Some of it way beyond what is suitable for children or even young teens, not only for the regular sprays of blood, but also the rather callous and superficial portrayal of various acts of killing. And a bit of (implied) sex adds spice too, doesn't it (according to the storyboarding of whoever put this together). It may be typical of violent video games, and clearly this "history documentary" is aimed at the same audience - I would guess teenage boys or men who have never grown up. (In other words, the typical Murdoch audience.) But I was pretty sick of most of this within about five minutes.Did it make sense? Did it teach anything much about history? Not particularly. How it managed to leap between eras and locations and events and miss out on others was often mystifying. Unfortunately we're seeing more and more of this sort of pseudo-history series on TV. After all, history is so boring without special effects, isn't it. It just can't get an audience without livening it all up a bit. And thus Rupert continues on his quest to lower the collective IQ of humanity.
    kengrow Although an interesting show, may I ask what happened to "The Wheel"? Wasn't that a significant enough discovery after fire to be included? Aside from the historical inconsistencies, omissions, and inaccuracies, I did find it entertaining enough, but hardly informative. Much like parody movies (ie Scary Movies series), where i try to spot all of the references, I found myself paying attention to origins merely to spot the errors.Perhaps too much was packed into each episode, but really, The WHEEL! How you just ignore that?
    dlevi9 Was so psyched to see this. Such an interesting subject matter but the way this is presented with reality TV style commentary and cringe worthy dramatizaions, ruins what could have been a very interesting and educational series. Why oh why did you have to make it in this format? Such a waste. This is definitely for the "American Idol" audience. Going to have to look elsewhere to find some mentally provocative programming. Seems this is the way Nat Geo is going now.
    prog-99040 I am an Anthropologist, and when I saw this show it got my hopes up. Pros: It does touch on some things that are instrumental to human survival (fire), and briefly talks about some characteristics that make us human (large birthing canals, cooking, using fire, metallurgy, etc.) . This would be a good show to watch for people that know nothing about human history, or are in junior high to high school.Cons: #1 Humans have been using fire for 300,000-400,000+ years (maybe even longer, it's not my specialty), but the program estimates ~14,000 years. Along with other nit-picky issues I had (elaborate "nomadic" houses surrounded by bones that no group of people could transport long distances).#2 The show is a flashy and VERY dramatic depiction of early homo sapiens with an over-the-top style narration. This is fine if you forget what fire is every 5-10 seconds. I found myself skipping ahead to forego repetitive talking points.#3 I would have rather preferred more in-depth information about the various reasons why fire was beneficial, instead I got 300+ statements about how cool fire is. For Example: Fire and heat breaks down the proteins in food to aid in the digestion process, which results in a more efficient absorption of calories. Or: If you look at many indigenous cultures around the world, you can see many (if not all) have some form of rituals surrounding fires, which reflects the importance of fire to social interactions.Summary: This show is a mild attempt at education, which focuses primarily on the delivery instead of the content. It might be good as an introductory lesson in human history for those who know little about it.