Nature documentaries may be as lifeless as dust. Consider all the documentaries you’ve seen when the narrator utilizes a calming monotone. Or a David Attenborough documentary where even his zeal isn’t enough to keep you awake. The finest contemporary wildlife films and docuseries make use of comedy to tell the story of the creatures they follow. Penguin Town elevates this form to a whole new level.
Not every penguin enjoys the cold! Penguin Town is a humorous and educational Netflix series that follows an unusual colony of African Penguins. As they arrive in South Africa’s idyllic beach resort of Simon’s Town to nest. Over the course of a summer, they rear their young while also socializing with beachgoers, clogging traffic, wrecking picnics, and stumbling over buckets and spades!
‘The takeover begins every November when penguins arrive in waves,’ adds Patton Oswalt, who narrates Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Numbers are falling, though, and they have six months to perform their most essential mission, pick a spouse, stake a claim to some area, and breed more penguins. Here’s our introduction to Netflix’s colorful Penguin Town series and its cute cast.
Release Date of Penguin Town on Netflix
Penguin Town, a Netflix sitcom, premieres on Wednesday, June 16, with all eight 25-minute episodes accessible to view.
Plot of the Show, Penguin Town
A sunset view over the water. Then we see swimming penguins, and narrator Patton Oswalt makes certain remarks. There are a lot of penguin movies. Penguin Town, an 8-part docuseries about a group of African penguins. It yearly decamp for summer mating season in the South African resort town of Simon’s Town. It is narrated (and has an EP) by Oswalt. Yes, these penguins aren’t perched on a glacier or drifting on an ice floe. Instead, these penguins are dubbed “jackass penguins” by locals and are mixed with residents and visitors in the sunny, and warm environment. It talks about all those seeking to find a suitable position to mate, lay eggs, and care for their new offspring.
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The penguins are rather bold, freely roaming among humans and breeding in home gardens. The show follows three groups of penguins: A experienced couple known as “The Bougainviellas,” a pair of “Newlyweds” known as “The Culverts,” and “Junior,” a young bird venturing out on his own for the first time. The first episode depicts the couples returning to the water to catch sardines while avoiding predators such as fur seals. The goal is to gain as much weight as possible in order to survive the molting season as well as mating and caring for eggs. This is an old routine for the Bougainviellas; what they have to deal with is a grumpy neighbor, who wants to take over their nest under a bush.
After we witness the Culverts meet cute and get to know each other. We see them looking for a place to nest. It’s difficult since all of the more experienced penguin couples are snatching up the best real estate. They locate a location under a fence with concrete barriers and an ocean view. Let the mating begin! Meanwhile, Junior, who hunts for fish on his alone rather than with a raft of other penguins. He lacks the fat reserves needed to go through the molt. That would transform his feathers from juvenile brown to adult black. He’s shivering and hungry when he glances up and notices someone reaching out to him.
Penguin Town Stars — the Bougainvilleas
This ideal duo is roughly 12 years old, which is middle age for penguins. They’ve been together their entire lives, even rearing 12 offspring beneath the same shrub in Simon’s Town. They’re the poster penguins for monogamy,’ says Patton of the penguins. They know how to develop the colony better than anybody. They’ve discovered a secret in Simon’s Town: the closer the nest is near humans, the safer it is, since humans frighten predators away.
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Their bush is one of the coolest areas in the area, which is important in the African heat. The Bougainvilleas are also seen waddling out to the ocean to fish, which is important because laying eggs and rearing chicks requires a lot of energy. ‘The penguins’ purpose is to become as fat as possible as quickly as possible, adds Patton. They may seem clumsy on land, but in the sea, they’re sleek, intelligent predators that will travel 10 kilometers on average in quest of their favorite prey, sardines.
Trailer of the Show
Yes, there is a humorous Penguin Town trailer that depicts a lot of the trouble the penguins do in the program.
Penguin Town Stars — Mr and Mrs Culvert
The Culverts are newlyweds who have only been together for a year and are inexperienced when it comes to locating the right nest, but there’s no time to spare. “Every mating season, over a thousand penguin couples congregate in Simon’s Town, and competition for the best site becomes fierce – nearly no spot is off limits,” Patton adds. This couple has no time for a honeymoon since they need to find a nest as soon as possible. Their success as parents will be determined by where they deposit their eggs, but as first-timers, they have no idea!
Meet Junior the Misfit
Junior has just returned from spending more than a year alone at sea, yet half of all penguin babies do not survive to adulthood. Some are vulnerable to attacks by Cape Fur seals, who kill 150 penguins in Simon’s Town each year. “Junior’s first item of business is he has to molt,” adds Patton. Every year penguins replace their old feathers with a brand new waterproof coat, which is an arduous three week fast that burns through half their bodyweight. “During Junior’s first adult molt, he finally exchanges his juvenile brown for the distinctive black and white. His efforts at sea, though, have left him frail and emaciated. He’s dropped a frightening amount of weight, and if his fat stores run out, he won’t be able to make it through the summer.”
Who Is Narrator Patton Oswalt?
Patton Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian who starred as Spence Olchin in the C4 comedy The King of Queens (1998–2007) and as Eric Koenig on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014–2020). Patton has appeared on Parks and Recreation, Two and a Half Men, Will & Grace, Veep, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine since his Seinfeld debut. He voices Remy in the 2007 film Ratatouille and narrates the comedy The Goldbergs.
What Shows Will It Make You Think of?
March of the Penguins, but a lot more fun and a lot warmer (literally and figuratively). This is more reminiscent of Disney nature documentaries with narrators like John C. Reilly, John Krasinski, and Tina Fey who combine the hilarious with the emotional and serious.
Our Opinion of the Show
How can you produce an eight-episode, four-hour docuseries on penguins mating? Of course, make them into characters! Many nature films, such as the ones mentioned above by Disney, do this. Penguin Town, on the other hand, goes all in, giving each character their own visual and true backstories. It’s one thing to give a penguin a human name, but giving one pair the name “Bougainviellas” and another the name “Culverts” goes a step beyond. And that makes Penguin Town a hilarious and endearing show to watch.
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It takes some doing to sketch out a storyline for a nature documentary. And we’re guessing Oswalt assisted EPs Brian Armstrong and Shannon Malone-Debenedictis in this respect. The filmmakers travelled to South Africa to capture these endangered penguins in an unexpected setting – among people, in a warm habitat. Then, as they sift through hundreds of hours of film, they notice stories form. We assume Oswalt was present at that moment to punch up the comedy, as he has done on screenplays throughout his career. We’d be surprised if he didn’t come up with names like “Bougainviellas.”
Are Some of the Moments Corny?
Sure. But Oswalt’s sense of humor makes for an effortless, enjoyable viewing. Too many wildlife documentaries take themselves too seriously. Hence, resulting in films and programmes that are difficult to watch unless you have a genuine interest in the animals being tracked. What Penguin Town does is continue the legacy of these creatures. And, in this instance, the humans who interact with them – being both humorous and graceful. The trick is to inform while entertaining, and this show clearly paints a picture of a sort of penguin we’ve never seen before.
Conclusion
African penguins, often known as jackass penguins because of their donkey-like bray, live in South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Gabon, and Mozambique. They have exposed skin on their legs and above their eyes to keep cool. The earliest penguins to be discovered by humans are said to be among the flightless birds. They are, however, endangered, with numbers dropping by 60% in the previous 28 years due to overfishing, habitat degradation, and coastal development. All in all I would like to conclude by saying that Penguin Town is a must watch show and everyone must stream it once in their lifetime.
