Last Chance to See

Twenty years ago, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams (1952-2001) took a year off to travel the globe with zoologist Mark Carwardine to look for some of earth's most endangered species, a voyage that led to their 1990 nonfiction book, Last Chance to See. This six-episode BBC documentary series follows author and British comedy legend Stephen Fry, a close friend of the late Adams, as he joins Carwardine to see what has become of the various creatures in the ensuing decades. What they discover is that the animals (among them the Amazonian manatee, the northern white rhino, and the Komodo dragon) are becoming increasingly rare in the wild, rescued from extinction in some cases only by aggressive intervention. “The greatest mass extinction the world has ever seen is happening right now,” Fry warns viewers. “Human activity is causing it and human activity alone can put it right.” But for all the bad news, the handsomely-produced Last Chance to See emphasizes myriad efforts being made to save threatened species. Fry is an engaging, witty, and articulate host and narrator, while Carwardine scores some laughs himself as the tour guide in this entertaining but sobering mix of nature documentary and adventure travel series that makes a solid plea for ecological conservation. A fine companion to Planet Earth (VL-5/07) and Life (VL-7/10), this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Axmaker)