"Nature's wild beauty is everywhere, in winter's chilly scenes, as in spring's glorious warmth, when vividly painted blossoms fill the air with a heady perfume, and the individual blooms of tiny vessels of nectar from which colorful insects may sip." - Host Marlin Perkins in "Wonderful Ways of the Wild"
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom: Wild Cats DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom: The African Wild collected ten episodes (centering on elephants, game relocation, and Dian Fossey's work with gorillas) from the classic Marlin Perkins-hosed series' 1963-1988 run. Fans of this informative documentary series can enjoy ten more forays into the wild, this time in a three disc set exploring the world of savage felines, in Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom: Wild Cats. Disc one focuses on lions ("King of Beasts," "Lion Country," and "Lions Under the Net"), disc two presents jaguars ("El Tigre," "Round-Up on the Rupuani," and "Netting a Jaguar"), and a variety of cats fill out disc three ("Cheetah Country," "Lions of Gir Forest," "The Prowling Night Lions," and "Wonderful Ways of the Wild").
Disc one presents several disparate looks at the king of the jungle. "King of Beasts," an episode from early in the series' run, makes an effort to compare zoo life with life in the wild for these majestic cats, combining on-set footage of lions from the St. Louis Zoo with documentary footage of lions in Africa. The episode tries to make the case that animals are happier and safer in zoos, but the footage presented does not seem to back up these claims. Perkins and his helper, Jim Fowler, disturbingly wrestle perky young cubs into tiny incubators to protect them from their mothers, and clips of a "happy" old lion performing circus acts in St. Louis will surely upset animal lovers. Compare this to cutie pie footage of a loving mama lion caring for her cubs on the savannah and decide for yourself which is a more humane setting. "Lion Country" covers some of the same ground, but without the zoo angle. It presents an extremely entertaining look at how young lions learn survival skills in the wild. Employing unusually sophisticated storytelling techniques, this is a first-rate examination of these animal's rites of passage to adulthood. Of course, it isn't all sophisticated - be on the lookout for Perkins' chimp pal, WK, fearfully petting a baby lion cub in studio footage. In "Lions Under the Net," Perkins and Stan Brock (who, with his barrel chest and wavy hair looks like a Disney villain) head to Africa where they attempt to relocate lions and wildebeests using a newfangled net cannon. This time around, it is explained that they're simply being relocated further into Rhodesia's Wankie National Park (love that name!) because they have been escaping from the preserve and menacing local cattle ranchers.
On disc two, Perkins and Fowler venture to Mexico to help capture "El Tigre," a jaguar and her cub. This episode is somewhat exciting, but it also contains disquieting images of dogs helping to round up the dangerous animal. Still, no harm seems to come to the cat, and the episode takes great pains to show that he animals were released in an area where they will be free of hunters and other dangers. Perkins and Brock head to South America to help protect a cattle "Round-Up on the Rupanani" from menacing jaguars, but not before WK suffers the indignity of having to ride on a child's hobby horse back in the studio. The duo also head to Mexico with Brock's remote-controlled canon nets in "Netting a Jaguar." This disc is a bit too heavy on jaguar capturing, but at least they present a nice change of scenery from the show's usual African locales.
Kids of all ages should enjoy "Cheetah Country," disc three's spry installment that follows a mama cheetah and the continued development of her offspring from fluffy kittens to young adults. Especially fun is a scene in which one of the tykes decides it might be a good idea to take on a full-sized ostrich. Lions again take center stage in "Lions of Gir Forest" and "The Prowling Night Lions." "Prowling" is from late in the series run when Fowler and Peter Gros took over hosting duties from Perkins. Finally, "Wonderful Ways of the Wild" presents highlights from throughout the series' run, including frolicking sea otters, creepy trapdoor spiders, loose-tailed geckos, and more. The clips are brief, but the episode is truly a delight. Get a load of that wacky albatross attempting to hatch a Coke bottle found in its nest!
The major flaw in both of the Wild Kingdom collections is episode selection. Having the discs mainly focus on single animals leads to a sense of sameness and repetition. A better approach would have been to feature many different animals in each set. For example, some of the more unusual creatures presented in "Wonderful Ways of the Wild" may have been better represented by the original episodes in which they appeared. Still, viewers are free to view the episodes in any order they choose, thus allowing them to invoke a balance not present on the discs.
The ten episodes that make up Wild Cats are divided onto three discs. The discs are housed in a handsomely designed digipak. The discs are printed with photos of great cats - a cheetah on disc one, a lion on disc two, and a tiger on disc three. Thanks to the clear plastic trays in which the DVDs rest, these bold photos continue onto the DVD packaging itself. The reverse sides of the digipak feature a written history of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and bios of the series three hosts: Marlin Perkins, Jim Fowler, and Peter Gros. The digipak slides into a cardboard outer sleeve. The back of this outer sleeve includes episode titles and brief synopses.
The full motion DVD menus are also attractive. As music from the series plays on a continuous loop, a spinning globe features footage of various animals superimposed over the continent or body of water in which they live. Silhouettes at the bottom of the screen represent the animals featured on each disc. Viewers can choose to play all of a disc's episodes, or view the episode list. The episode list menus spotlight full motion footage from the episodes along with episode titles. Choosing an individual episode leads to brief, stylishly edited montages of footage from the episode before the episode itself begins to play. The total effect is classy and fun.
