I saw this National Geographic show today and noticed, at least when streamed through Netflix, that the sound mixing was simply abysmal. The background sound effects and music were MUCH louder than the narration and dialog. I assume it was not this way originally--but here it's very, very difficult to watch. Fortunately, the captions were quite good, so I could follow along this way.
The documentary is about an unusual archaeological site in Dorchester, England. All in one small area are the remains of 54 dead men--well, actually, of the 54, only 51 had skulls that could be found. However, and this is weird, all had been beheaded and their skulls stacked to the side. To make it more difficult to do the modern forensics is because the bodies lack the usual identifying material you'd expect with the bodies--no weapons, no jewelry...nothing! Using carbon dating, they determine the dead men are from around the 11th century--so they probably are either Saxons or Vikings. A more vivid picture of who they exactly were and how they were killed is given through interviews and the usual recreations. However, be prepared as you hear a lot of 'could have been', 'mights' and the like, as in the end, the scientists really could not establish much as fact about these folks. Additionally, sometimes the show seems too overly dramatized and drawn out--making for tough viewing at times. Overall, watchable but frustrating, too, as it really couldn't establish much for certain and seemed padded heavily.
The documentary is about an unusual archaeological site in Dorchester, England. All in one small area are the remains of 54 dead men--well, actually, of the 54, only 51 had skulls that could be found. However, and this is weird, all had been beheaded and their skulls stacked to the side. To make it more difficult to do the modern forensics is because the bodies lack the usual identifying material you'd expect with the bodies--no weapons, no jewelry...nothing! Using carbon dating, they determine the dead men are from around the 11th century--so they probably are either Saxons or Vikings. A more vivid picture of who they exactly were and how they were killed is given through interviews and the usual recreations. However, be prepared as you hear a lot of 'could have been', 'mights' and the like, as in the end, the scientists really could not establish much as fact about these folks. Additionally, sometimes the show seems too overly dramatized and drawn out--making for tough viewing at times. Overall, watchable but frustrating, too, as it really couldn't establish much for certain and seemed padded heavily.
