LOS ANGELES — Watching a polar bear stalking a doe-eyed seal tends to put our warm feelings for the bear on ice. But “The Hunt,” a seven-part documentary series from the creators of the landmark “Planet Earth,” presents the case for reconsidering predators as the bad guys of the natural world.
That perspective — along with a focus on the drama of the hunt and not the grimness of the kill — makes the series distinctive. It debuted Sunday on BBC America.
“If you look at the history of predator shows, they tend to be bitey, bloody things,” said executive producer Alastair Fothergill. “The predators are usually villains, and that’s not only a little bit boring but totally inaccurate. Predators in the natural world are the hardest-working animals in nature and usually fail.”
As an example, he contrasts lions with the zebras that are among their plant-eating prey.
“If the grass grows, the zebra’s fine,” Fothergill said. “Lions quite often get their jaws smashed by the kicking zebra. It’s much harder for predators to succeed than you would think.”
With the number of kills depicted in “The Hunt” limited to one or two per episode and carefully edited, he said, the show is appropriate for family viewing.
Through its storytelling approach, “The Hunt” attempts to put each predator’s quest in context.
“When you see a cheetah hunting and you realize she has four 8-month-old cubs and they will starve if she doesn’t kill, then you’re with the predator more,” Fothergill said.
Besides the reliably impressive narration of David Attenborough, the documentary series also captures scenes that are extraordinary even in an era of stellar nature documentaries. The same type of stabilized camera and powerful lens used on “Planet Earth” was employed for “The Hunt.”
Just a sampling of the memorable images: the polar bear perched majestically atop a delicate ice outcropping to scan the horizon for prey; rare underwater shots of a blue whale’s seven-minute feast; and wild dogs in hot pursuit of a wildebeest.
