The National Parks: America's Best Idea

This documentary combines breathtaking scenery with historical narrative. The cinematography is sublime. I watched it for the first time about a decade ago, and just re-watched it now. It is even better than I remember it. My only regret is that image sharpness could be better, since it was filmed around 2008.

You can tell this was done before iPhones, when we all had longer attention spans. The entire series is 12 hours long, but none of it feels repetitive. It starts at the beginning, with the creation of Yosemite in California, moves on to our very first national park, Yellowstone. It's absolutely fascinating to see the historical figures without whom these parks would not exist - Muir and Roosevelt among them - and there are many. John Muir's writing is very moving, and the voice actor does an amazing job.

This may be my all-time favorite documentary and I will probably re-watch again in a year or so. Helps me compile my bucket list for each year's travels. Beautiful cinematography, a moving score, top-notch voice actors. Could not be better.