Best Documentaries

OK Everyone, its time to create a documentary thread.
It may have already been done, but i haven't been around here long enough to know, so i'm just going to go for it.
This thread came about due to discussion about a terrible World War doc.

IMHO the best documentaries are pretty timeless. Sure our knowledge of facts and details changes over time (science documentaries are particularly affected) but all the doc needs to do is provide a thorough and complete look at what the opinion of the time is.

I'm going to divide this into categories and add suggestions to the OP to try and provide a complete reference so people can find high quality docs easily.
I will *try* to watch at least one documentary of a series before i add it to the OP for quality control. If i am unable to do this i will base its inclusion on reviews from trusted sources.

History

The First World War (BBC) (2003)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Very comprehensive and factual. Shows a range of opinions and views from the time.

Science

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980) (PBS)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

^^ This is IMHO the greatest series of documentaries ever made. Carl Sagan was such a great speaker. RIP

Wonders of Life (2013) (BBC)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Just a clip, but the full episode are available online. A controversial choice, Cox being well known as a Sagan wannabe, but there's some truly great science in there.


Psychology/Sociology

5 Steps to Tyranny

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Psychology documentary. Are you capable of unjust/harmful actions? You might not think so...


Politics

The Fog of War (2003)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

An interview with McNamara. Not a series but an astoundingly honest interview.

Religion

The Power of Myth (1985) (PBS)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A massive series of interviews with mythologist and academic in the field of comparative religion, Joseph Campbell.
Let it be known that in religion, all documentaries are going to come down to opinion, and this is but one of many.
It is known

Media

Manufacturing Consent

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A short documentary explaining the work of Noam Chomsky, the lefty academic who contributed a huge amount to the study of the media and how it works from an outsiders point of view.

Miscellaneous

Connections with James Burke

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Massive series of docs which choose a start point and then generally go on massive tangents to see where it leads. James Burke is a genius for making this.


More categories will be added as required.

Yes Cosmos gets my vote. Still need to watch the new one with Neil deGrasse Tyson. Stephen Hawking's Universe is also a good shout.

New Cosmos is pretty good, but several times he says something like "We're entering uncharted scientific territory." Which is code for "This is probably totally wrong, but let's just go with it."

Originally Posted by the_mango55

New Cosmos is pretty good, but several times he says something like "We're entering uncharted scientific territory." Which is code for "This is probably totally wrong, but let's just go with it."

That's cool. The Cosmos boxset has science updates alongside most episodes from a pretty old Carl Sagan on the latest discoveries relevant to that episode.

Originally Posted by the_mango55

New Cosmos is pretty good, but several times he says something like "We're entering uncharted scientific territory." Which is code for "This is probably totally wrong, but let's just go with it."

All things being equal, that's what Science does. If Science just did the old stuff over and over it'd be pretty useless and boring.

I know this is unavoidable, but I wish Cosmos wasn't made with just the US audience in mind, because of the many times it feels the need to directly or indirectly challenge religious myths in the US.

In any case, my favorite documentary series:

Battlefield


Offers some great detailed analyses into specific battles or campaigns of WWII on strategic and tactical levels.

I assume you're talking about the new Cosmos series.
The old one tended to avoid that kind of thing, only challenging superstition, with a couple of episodes mentioning religion and myths as a whole.

I'll watch Battlefield later and probably add it to the OP, thanks!

This one is rather old, but "the world at war" was good.

more recent and focussing and the evolution of the final solution (both political will and infrastructure/logistic):
Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution'

I found this one very interesting, Five steps to tyranny, I watched it in december 2000, the five steps being (more info)

1. us and them
2. obey
3. do them harm
4. stand by
5. exterminate

And then, a few month later that speech from G W Bush followed those five steps. I was scared that the political elite of the USA would give several standing ovation to it.

I've been watching The World at War recently because I'd never watched it before, and it does feel aged in terms of its focus, narration, and facts. An ok overview of the war especially if we're talking about the Western allies, but that's because it pays most of the attention on them.

Originally Posted by Stavroforos

I've been watching The World at War recently because I'd never watched it before, and it does feel aged in terms of its focus, narration, and facts. An ok overview of the war especially if we're talking about the Western allies, but that's because it pays most of the attention on them.

To me the main appeal of TWAW is the interviews. Its datedness serves it in that it was able to get a lot of testimony from more senior figures before they kicked the bucket. Otherwise I don't care much for it. I mean actually seeing the likes of Manteufel, Horrocks, LeMay, Harris, Speer, Mountbatten and Eden giving their own perspective on film is invaluable. Especially the German command and the more questionable figures on the Allied side like Harris, LeMay and Mark Clark. But yes the lack of eyewitnesses from the USSR and the general lack of focus on the East is strange, especially considering there was actually quite good detail on the rather minor Soviet-Japanese border clashes.

Edit: Just looked at the wiki, I totally forgot they had Richard O'Connor as well, possibly the best mind Britain put in the field. I actually appreciate that the series didn't feature Montgomery and instead spared time for him and Brian Horrocks, the 2 most overlooked British commanders.

Just a note, you should probably change the tile to "Best Documentaries" instead of "Best Documentary series" because otherwise it indicates you are looking for series recommendation when it appears you are not.

On that note, i just watched a really good documentary called Chosin about the Korean War battle of Chosin. Really, really good. It's almost all testimonials. It was a battle i had heard of but i had never heard personal details of it, and man what a god awful battle. Testimonials from the actual soldiers is soooo important. I mean, i think it's half of what made a show like Band of Brothers so successful because you saw real faces attributed with the actors in the show. But I saw it on Military Channel which is now at least in my parts called the "American Heroes Channel" which is retarded because many of the programs have nothing to do with Americans. Such a stupid rename.

The First World War is an excellent series! Really thought they did a great job. I also think that World War II in Color is a really good documentary series you can watch for free on youtube.

Originally Posted by brandbll

Just a note, you should probably change the tile to "Best Documentaries" instead of "Best Documentary series" because otherwise it indicates you are looking for series recommendation when it appears you are not.

Done.

Thanks

Pretty much any of them David Attenborough shows are good.

^Who?

Originally Posted by Lord Oda Nobunaga

^Who?

He does a lot of nature documentaries - or just narrates or commentates them -and has been doing them for decades. He's very old now actually.

Got a great voice to listen to.

Originally Posted by Lord Oda Nobunaga

^Who?

David Attenborough does the narration on a lot of nature program for the BBC( best of list). The credit of the documentary should go to the work of the cameraman, there are some stunning scene in them. There are also some controversy, as some shoots where staged or filmed in zoos and later passed as if filmed from the wilderness.

As for the world at war, it's true it's an overview, you really can't fit the American offensive in the pacific in an one hour episode, yet I haven't seen any other documentary about that botched attack by the French/British in Norway at the start of the war.

I'm not sure if what Feynman did falls under the definition of a documentary, it sure is dawn good.

BBC does true artistic work with every doc.

Originally Posted by Gatsby

To me the main appeal of TWAW is the interviews. Its datedness serves it in that it was able to get a lot of testimony from more senior figures before they kicked the bucket. Otherwise I don't care much for it. I mean actually seeing the likes of Manteufel, Horrocks, LeMay, Harris, Speer, Mountbatten and Eden giving their own perspective on film is invaluable. Especially the German command and the more questionable figures on the Allied side like Harris, LeMay and Mark Clark. But yes the lack of eyewitnesses from the USSR and the general lack of focus on the East is strange, especially considering there was actually quite good detail on the rather minor Soviet-Japanese border clashes.

Edit: Just looked at the wiki, I totally forgot they had Richard O'Connor as well, possibly the best mind Britain put in the field. I actually appreciate that the series didn't feature Montgomery and instead spared time for him and Brian Horrocks, the 2 most overlooked British commanders.

Yeah that's true, the interviews are good and it's the greatest benefit of a documentary produced before those people died.

Originally Posted by Orphydian

BBC does true artistic work with every doc.

I don't know, their documentaries I've come across lately are pretty bad.

I will update the OP with recommendations on Monday/Tuesday when i get a full day off work to watch this stuff.

Except for "5 steps to tyranny" which i watched last night. That goes straight in on account of it being really really good