The WORST episodes of National Geographic Documentaries
Every episode of National Geographic Documentaries ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of National Geographic Documentaries!
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#1 - The Last Tribes of Mindanao
Season 1972 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/12/1972
Shows members of the Tasaday tribe of Mindanao Island. Explains that they were a people unknown to the outside world until the arrival in 197l of the party of Manuel Elizalde, chief of the Philippine Presidential Arm for National Minorities.
#2 - The Living Sands of Namib
Season 1978 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/6/1978
Explore the living sands of Namib, a remote coastal desert on the southwestern edge of Africa. Learn about the amazing survival techniques of the geckos, baboons and plants born in this forbidding desert, where years pass without rainfall on the scorching sands.
#3 - Australia : The Timeless Land
Season 1969 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/18/1969
A documentary film on the people and modes of living in Australia's outback. Shows a sheep ranch, an isolated cattle ranch, and opal mines, where the workers escape the blistering heat by living and working underground.
#4 - Polynesian Adventure
Season 1969 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/15/1969
Follows diver-explorer Stan Waterman and his family to the Polynesian Islands. Shows a community fish roundup, and examines the marine life of a coral reef.
#5 - The Mystery of Animal Behavior
Season 1969 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/14/1969
Scans the world of animals and their interesting behavior.
#6 - Siberia : The Endless Horizon
Season 1969 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/2/1969
A journey across vast Siberia, where modern cities and factories contrast with Yakut horsemen and nomadic reindeer herdsmen, and where the Trans-Siberian Railroad stretches to the Pacific.
#7 - Wild River
Season 1970 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/10/1970
Follows a family as they explore the Middle Fork Salmon and the Salmon Rivers of Idaho in rafts and kayaks, and as they travel through the Florida Everglades. Emphasizes the beauty of nature and importance of conservation.
#8 - Holland Against the Sea
Season 1970 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/14/1970
Shows the struggle of the people of the Netherlands to claim land from the sea and hold back the water which constantly threatens their land. Discusses the engineering of the Delta project which came into being as a result of the 1953 flood.
#9 - Zoos of the World
Season 1970 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/13/1970
Shows animals in zoos all over the world, presents the history of man's obsession with capturing and keeping animals, and discusses how the concerns of zoos have changed.
#10 - Ethiopia : The Hidden Empire
Season 1970 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/2/1970
Surveys the history of Ethiopia through its peoples and customs. Shows remote peaks and desert lowlands, and includes commentary on the country's nomadic herdsmen, Falasha Jews, and the clifftop monastery at Debra Damo, which can be reached only by a leather rope.
#11 - The Great Mojave Desert
Season 1971 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/13/1971
A study of the wildlife abounding on the Mojave Desert and the people who frequent the area. Includes scenes of ghost mining towns and sand sailing on the El Mirage Lake.
#12 - Journey to the High Arctic
Season 1971 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/13/1971
A visit to Al Oeming's Game Farm, which includes some 2,400 animals and 1,500 acres of land outside Edmonton in the Canadian Province of Alberta.
#13 - Monkeys, Apes, and Man
Season 1971 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/21/1971
Points out that man is learning that the similarity between monkeys and himself is not superficial. Explains that man is a primate, bound in evolution to monkeys and apes.
#14 - The Legacy of L.S.B. Leakey
Season 1978 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/9/1978
A documentary on the life and career of anthropologist Louis Leakey.
#15 - Man of the Serengeti
Season 1972 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/22/1972
Presents the Masai, warriors and herdsmen who share the Serengeti Plain in northern Tanzania with African animals. Shows how civilization is impinging on their ancient way of life and threatening the animals.
#16 - The Last Vikings
Season 1972 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/27/1972
Presents a portrait of the people of Scandinavia as they live today. Shows how important the sea is to the livelihood of the people and how, generation after generation, the traditions are continued
#17 - Strange Creatures of the Night
Season 1973 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/17/1973
Uses night-vision camera devices in presenting detailed studies of bats, owls, hyenas, and sightless cave-dwelling fish during their nighttime activities.
#18 - The Violent Earth
Season 1973 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/15/1973
French volcanologist Haroun Tazieff conducts a tour of Mt. Etna in Sicily and Nyiragongo in Zaire during periods of eruption.
#19 - The Haunted West
Season 1973 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/12/1973
Features residents of the American West and some of their activities, including views of cattle-driving, deep-rock mining, rodeo competition, and Indian celebrations.
#20 - Wind Raiders of the Sahara
Season 1973 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/6/1973
Follow a wheeled, sailing yacht race across the Sahara from Tindouf, an Algerian oasis, to Mauritania's west coast.
#21 - Journey to the Outer Limits
Season 1974 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/10/1974
Shows students of the Colorado Outward Bound School as they confront themselves and some of nature's greatest challenges. Features their climb of Santa Rosa Peak in the Peruvian Andes.
#22 - The Big Cats
Season 1974 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/15/1974
Tells how lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, and other big cats are endangered by man's encroachment upon their habitats in jungles, plains, and mountains. Shows the adjustment of two Siberian tiger cubs to life in a Swedish animal park.
#23 - Bushmen of the Kalahari
Season 1974 - Episode 3 - Aired 5/17/1974
Follows a visit made by filmmaker-anthropologist John Marshall to Bushmen of the Kalahari. Shows how they are adapting to cultural change, becoming herdsmen on reservations after centuries of being unrestricted hunters and food gatherers.
#24 - Man : The Incredible Machine
Season 1975 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/28/1975
Depicts the structure and functions of the human body, both internally and externally, using new techniques of medicine and photography.
#25 - This Britain: Heritage of the Sea
Season 1975 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/9/1975
Takes a look at the traditional British heritage of the sea as reflected in the lives of the country's people. Shows the lives and work of fishermen in the Hebrides, the day-to-day activities of an apprentice lighterman on the Thames, and the traditions of the feudal ruler of the Isle of Sark.
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