Did I just watch a mockumentary? I sat down to watch a documentary, and the whole time it was trying to present itself as one, but I feel like the subject matter may have strayed into some strange, wacky places that they didn’t intend.
Animal Instinct was all about what would happen if humans and animals switched places, with animals doing human jobs and humans acting like animals in the wild, although a fair few of us were kept as pets or in zoos. The whole thing was a little bit disturbing, to be perfectly honest.
They actually filmed a small bit of it near me in Cheltenham. Electrician companies were taken over by dogs, because of their supposed intelligence, but I know plenty of dogs and there’s not some blanket intelligence there that would allow them to rewire a home and deal with electrical issues. It was quite adorable seeing a poodle all dressed up in overalls and going to the home of a kangaroo, who was having trouble with her kitchen power cutting out at annoying times. Turns out she had the kettle, toaster AND microwave being powered by the same outlet, and the microwave was 1200 watts and the kettle was one of those fancy glass ones. Basically there was just too much juice flowing through the place, and so when Mrs Kangaroo made her toast in the morning, while boiling the kettle for her cup of bush tea and microwaving her heat bag…well, the predictable thing would happen.
Alright, I was quite into this. Animals aside, it really was just a series of very practical scenarios that taught us things about electricians and home maintenance. Like, I now know that my daily habit of making toast while I’m sitting in the bath is unhealthy, because if it falls in…I could be in trouble. Mr Clicky the Dolphin learned that the hard way, and his grieving widow made sure she got a residential electrician to come and rewire the whole place so her calves were kept safe.
Maybe it wasn’t a mockumentary after all. It sure did go to some dark places.
-Giles