There's a short Youtube feature on how "The World from Above" gets made. Richard Mervyn beside his Skyworks helicopter, showing off his high-tech camera equipment (in order to capture every shade and nuance of a million Vermont maple trees in the fall he needs grunty gear). TV channels that feature travel and history sometimes consign this series to the early hours of the morning, which is a pity. The World from Above caters for a niche audience: people who want to see this planet and see lots of it, but who don't have helicopters of their own. Mervyn is helping to save the planet, by encouraging you to leave the car in the garage, and leave seats on planes empty, and leave money in your bank account. On your screen he'll show you a planet that's worth saving.
What you'll see depends on where you fly. Parts of England have an abundance of stately homes, built by rich guys who had exploited someone - I mean they were enterprising, innovative entrepreneurs. Parts of Europe have castles and cathedrals, lots, and picturesque towns that are picturesque because they were rebuilt after being reduced to rubble and ashes in some war (they had lots of wars). The preservation of the natural environment and the restoration of the human environment are important themes in this series. We don't have to live in the midst of post-industrial wastelands and the detritus of fidgety commerce that came and saw and conquered and moved on! We can make the places where we live useful again, and we can restore their beauty. And so we should, because beauty, Richard Mervyn reminds us, is good.
What we notice about The World from Above is that it moves along at a brisk pace. No dawdling. The voiceover packs in a wealth of information, including (for those who didn't enjoy history in school) plenty of fascinating historical detail. Each "trip" is carefully planned (weather!), and structured around a few themes, and turned into narrative. For a whiff of the ghastliness of civil war fly over Georgia - but also for the celebration of non-violence (Martin Luther King Jr), and also for the sheer vitality and exuberance of Atlanta - an American city looking good, and epitomising America at its best. "The World from Above" can raise the spirits and nourish the soul.
What you'll see depends on where you fly. Parts of England have an abundance of stately homes, built by rich guys who had exploited someone - I mean they were enterprising, innovative entrepreneurs. Parts of Europe have castles and cathedrals, lots, and picturesque towns that are picturesque because they were rebuilt after being reduced to rubble and ashes in some war (they had lots of wars). The preservation of the natural environment and the restoration of the human environment are important themes in this series. We don't have to live in the midst of post-industrial wastelands and the detritus of fidgety commerce that came and saw and conquered and moved on! We can make the places where we live useful again, and we can restore their beauty. And so we should, because beauty, Richard Mervyn reminds us, is good.
What we notice about The World from Above is that it moves along at a brisk pace. No dawdling. The voiceover packs in a wealth of information, including (for those who didn't enjoy history in school) plenty of fascinating historical detail. Each "trip" is carefully planned (weather!), and structured around a few themes, and turned into narrative. For a whiff of the ghastliness of civil war fly over Georgia - but also for the celebration of non-violence (Martin Luther King Jr), and also for the sheer vitality and exuberance of Atlanta - an American city looking good, and epitomising America at its best. "The World from Above" can raise the spirits and nourish the soul.