Scenes From The Grizzly Man "Prequel"

The Grizzly Man Diaries, a prequel-of-sorts to Werner Herzog's celebrated documentary about the life and death of Timothy Treadwell, Grizzly Man, finally premieres tonight on Animal Planet. Two episodes of the 8-part series will air every Friday night at 9 and feature some of the hundreds of hours of footage not used in Herzog's documentary. The New York Times reviewed the new series today and seem a little squirmy about it:

It seems obvious now that Mr. Treadwell...deluded himself into thinking he was more a member of the bear tribe than he was. How deluded was he? "Hi, Emmy; hi, Letterman," he says, addressing Melissa's two cubs after their mother has abandoned them. "It's your dad."

That kind of behavior among animals with a killer instinct makes this mini-series look like a chronicle of one man's extended suicide. And, especially since it is from some of the same producers who were behind the Herzog film, that leaves the program with a gratuitous, ghoulishly voyeuristic feel.

After the jump, four never-before-seen clips of Treadwell and the bears from the new series.

A PSA by Treadwell about keeping food in barrels. "Love these bears and be respectful and everybody will just come out fine.":

Treadwell explains his view of his role: to protect the bears:

Treadwell analyzes the clam-digging styles of two bears, Top Chef-style:

Treadwell narrowly avoids an altercation with Aunt Melissa. "There should be no humans back here at all.":

As "exploitative" as the series sounds, for fans of the cult documentary, no amount of unreleased footage is enough.

Previously: Was The Happening Inspired By Grizzly Man?

Posted by Lindsay at 10:30 AM in Animals On Film, Documentaries
Tags: Bears | Grizzly Man | Timothy Treadwell