Geologist Iain Stewart is the most recent inheritor of a television tradition of the charismatic teacher who takes viewers on a “personal journey” through a documentary series. Taking the talking head out of the studio and into the museum (Civilisation: A Personal View by Kenneth Clark, 1969), historical sites (The Ascent of Man, 1973, with Jacob Bronowski), and even a virtual Library of Alexandria (Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, 1980, with Carl Sagan) gives a television program movement and energy. However, the persistence of direct address maintains a classroom dynamic. These series all, directly or indirectly, stem from the tenure of David Attenborough as controller of BBC2. Attenborough is best known as the nature documentarian whose hushed, urgent cadences give a “you are there” perspective, as if he were whispering information into the viewer’s ear. Both of these models transmit authority, but differ in the relationship between the audience (students), teacher, the subject at hand, and any analytical object that the teacher may use to enter that field. Attenborough’s narrating convention suggests distance between the audience/teacher in the “duck blind” and the subject/object in the field; the personal journey model places the distance between the audience and the teacher/subject/object — the teacher is a performer on a stage, drawing in the audience in a manner that replicates the distance as configured in a typical classroom, with the added cinematic advantages of editing, graphics, and especially music.