Television Review: Invention Nation
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this docuseries heavily promotes
earth-friendly fuel alternatives like biodiesel and solar
power, giving inventors the chance to tout the qualities of
"green" products ranging from bamboo bikes to hybrid cars. The
arguments are persuasive but one-sided, glossing over some of
the less-convincing details (many of which relate to
implementation costs). Still, the series exposes viewers to
lots of earth-friendly resources and encourages serious thought
about the effects of the world's current energy consumption.
Families can talk about the show's messages. What do you think
the producers' goals are? What do they want viewers to take
away? Are you convinced? Do you think the series tells the
whole story behind the featured products? What other reliable
sources of information exist about products like these? How
could you investigate them further? Families can also discuss
their own energy consumption. What resources do you use on a
daily basis in your home? Where do they come from? What are
some ways you could be more responsible with them?
Docuseries INVENTION NATION follows the cross-country travels of three guys on a mission to redesign their toxin-spewing bus into a lean, green, clean-burning machine. Chris, Nobu, and Micah drop in on some of the country's leading inventors in the field of earth-friendly energy, learning how their products -- which range from a human-powered car to vegetable oil-derived biodiesel -- can reduce pollution, recycle current energy sources, and reuse stuff we currently consider to be waste. But the guys do more than listen to the inventors' sales pitches -- they put some of the products to the test on their own ride, decking out the lime-green bus with alternative fuel systems, solar panels, and other "green" devices.
Invention Nation's premise is intriguing, and its subject matter is both timely and worthwhile -- but getting tweens and teens to tune in is likely to be a hard sell unless they already have an independent interest in green technology. As documentaries go, this one's no-frills style is pretty bland and lacks a lot of the bells and whistles (narrative continuity, CGI effects, etc.) that make others more universally entertaining.
But the show's main drawback is that it rarely offers details on the featured products' costs, so viewers are left in the dark about whether such earth-friendly alternatives are really feasible for them. (Auto fuel from used vegetable oil is free, to be sure, but how much does the conversion kit cost to install, and what kind of maintenance is required? This obvious omission gives the series a commercial feel that detracts from its overall reliability. But in the end, viewers who do watch will be hard-pressed to avoid rethinking their own energy consumption and its eventual effect on the planet, which in and of itself is a positive lesson learned.
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An Inconvenient Truth
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