Customer Reviews

Meerkat Manor, Season 2

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Do not get me wrong...I absolutely love this show. The picture quality of these DVDs are great. The problem is the shows are completely OUT OF ORDER! There is no menu...the shows play in a loop. I checked on Animal Planet website and the box for the second season is BROWN...while the "box" for this set is blue. The set from Animal Planet has three disks...while this one has four. Between each episode the Animal Planet On Demand shows up which tells me that someone copied these to their DVR and burned them to DVD and sold them...of course I could be wrong, but the discs are purple like the Memorex DVD/RWs that anyone can buy at Wal-Mart. I've ordered this season from Animal Planet...we shall see...........
Besides the first season has menu options, and they don't look like they are DVD/RW's.

This is either the UK or AU versions of this season, these are 4 DVD sets. The US version is a 3 DVD set. I would buy this from the animal planet site.

The DVD is not in the correct order so it was hard to watch. My son had to make a cheat sheet so that the rest of the family can watch it in the correct order. Too bad since the program is the greatest!

WARNING!!! Disc #4 episodes 11,12 13....

#12 AND #13 ARE NOT ON THIS DISC!!
Instead it repeats #6 and #10
#12 The Godmother and #13 The Quiet Fields are nowhere on my 4 disc
In all fairness to amazon they are sending me another copy at this minute. They responded lighting fast and at NO COST to me.
Thank You Amazon!!

If anyone has not yet watched the Meerkats on Animal Planet, run don't walk to the nearest TV set when they begin reruns of the 3rd season. They are absolutely the most adorable creatures on this planet. I've got both the Season 1 and Season 2 DVD sets and they are marvelous. Would recommend to anyone, no matter the age. I sat my 13 year old granddaughter down one day and she was lying on the couch looking decidedly bored and 'humoring grandma' to begin with. Halfway through the first show, she was watching the TV intently, by the end of the 2nd show, she was sitting upright and giggling. It doesn't take much of the meerkats to catch your attention!! Would recommend these DVD sets to anyone who loves animals and even those that don't!!! Cannot rate these DVDs highly enough.

Season Two of "Meerkat Manor," a 2-disc set issued in April, 2008, brings us back into the orbit of several packs of African meerkats, competing for resources and trying to survive in the harsh, arid climate of the Kalahari Desert.

This is the American version of the show, adapted from the British original with some tinkering and trimming to make it more suitable for the family-oriented Animal Planet cable channel... But the essence of the story remains the same: a band of meerkats, nicknamed the Whiskers and led by a tough matriarch named Flower, battle with two neighboring groups in confrontations that, at first, look comical -- those cute little critters bouncing up and down and bobbing their way across the desert en masse -- but often turns deadly. The Whiskers survive one attack on their nest, with the helpless pups the target of several dozen adult invaders, but when this drama has played out and we begin to empathize with the Whiskers troop, they swiftly turn around and try the same thing themselves, attempting to murder the infants of the other tribe in exactly the same way.

Indeed, this shows the problem with this show: although it is compelling viewing (and hard to pry yourself away from) eventually it becomes clear that none of the animals are really all that sympathetic. Meerkats have a complex social order and survive through cooperative behavior, but the veneer of their civilization is quite thin. There is fierce violence not just against other bands of meerkats, but within each family group as well. No pack members are angels, and the drama soon becomes a neverending narrative of aggression, suffering and dominance. Also, their situation never really changes -- meerkats have lived at a subsistence level in the desert for eons, and the struggles of their lives are cyclical and don't essentially change much at all.

This, of course, raises the question of whether, on some level, the same might be said of humans, whether we too make the same kinds of calculations and errors as meerkats or other animals. The highly detailed study of this group's life gives us a better stick to measure ourselves next to... And perhaps the sympathy we feel for these nervous, often ruthless little critters comes from a more accurate reflection of ourselves than we would care to admit. Season Two of the show shows the formula still going strong -- one wonders what surprises Season Three might hold. (Slipcue film reviews)

THANK GOODNESS we have the wise and compassionate Sean Astin narrating the adventures of the Whiskers tribe. He gets us through the beauty and increasing brutality of Season Two. When the rains fall on the Kalahari Desert ending a long period of drought, viewers are treated to some of the most gorgeous African landscape - and skyscapes - ever filmed. If ever a TV series was made for a hi-def presentation, "Meerkat Manor" is it.
We are also exposed to moments of incredible tragedy, watching vulnerable Mozart, abandoned by her family and sitting outside the Whisker's burrow. Having just given birth to a litter of pups, she is surrounded by fields of bright, yellow blossoms. She waits for the group to return; it's impossible for her and the babies to survive without them. Yet Astin confirms they will not come back for her. Matriarch Flower still makes the hard decisions to keep her family strong, but they aren't easy. It makes for hard watching, too. As Astin reminds us when tragedy strikes Mozart's pups, "This is nature at its most raw."
Season Two begins on a note of controversy. Millions of viewers tuned in to find out what had happened to the Season One Whisker favorite, Shakespeare, who was left defending pups in the finale. We don't really find out, but chances are good that he gave his life for his little siblings.
Before we even have a chance to digest that news, Season Two is off and scrambling with the Whiskers, a tribe of some 40-odd, foot-long furries defending their two-mile stretch of the Kalahari. The battle for territory between Flower's family and their arch-rivals, the Lazuli, takes an uglier turn when both families are confronted by a new group, The Commandoes. Led by the ugliest one-eyed critter this side of the Pecos (or anywhere else), Hannibal and his equally gruesome mate, Nikita, live up to their "Jaws"-like theme music.
Meanwhile, between foraging, grooming, training adorable pups, house cleaning, sunning, and keeping an eye out for predators - cage cobras and golden eagles - viewers follow a fascinating journey of true life and death. Don't deny yourself the Whisker's amazing story.

- Kay Reynolds, The Virginian-Pilot

Great documentary on the meerkats of the kalahari. I would recommend purchasing this second season edition, just as much as I would any of the other 2 seasons available... I love meerkat manor and have had many hours of great laughter and enjoyment from these seasons I purchased. Highly Recommended...

Don't start watching this if you don't want your life to be forever changed..this is REAL, Dramatic, Authentic and as Educational as it get's..It is a Wonderful and Painful journey..Be Brave it is Worth it..
Most important DO NOT MISS the opportunity to know the Meerkats.
Thanks to you, Tom Clutton-Brock you are So important to this world, Thank you for your Dedication, Insight and Passion for your work, and most of all for sharing it with the world....I'm humbled and inspired by this presentation.
Sincerely
A VERY Big Fan

This series is simply wonderful! It is educational and entertaining. The loyalties and apparent love shared between fellow mob members is something pretty unique in the animal world. Sean Astin's narration is just perfect in telling the tale of the daily life of the Whiskers mob and their rivals.

I highly recommend both seasons 1 and 2 of Meerkat Manor for both the young and old alike.

I do caution however, that because this is the true life & death story of these meerkats, that a few episodes that deal with death in Season 2, are upsetting and should be watched by parents first so they can decide if their children should watch them.

You can't help but fall in love with these beautiful, magnificent animals and their deaths can be extremely upsetting as is the case with any animal that you have affection for.

This is nature though and nature is not always kind. But what you get out of the rest of this show, is pure entertainment!!