Incompetents in freezing seas...

Introduction

 
Whales are amongst the most beautiful mysterious to inhabit the earth's vast oceans and have a reputation as being both graceful and intelligent.  Whales have been under threat for a long time though, particularly from the Japanese whaling fleet.  In Japan, whale meat is an expensive delicacy, with a slaughtered whale bringing in close to a million dollars in profit from meat sales.  International law has reacted to the outrage over whaling practices so that it is effectively outlawed, but there is a loophole that allows a number of whales to be hunted for research.  Whales are therefore still hunted by the Japanese whaling fleet and research carried out on things like stomach content weight and other useful topics that you'd think we'd have the answers to by now.  As this same International law states that no slaughtered whale can be wasted, the meat is still sliced and sent back to Japan to be sold on the meat markets.
 


One person in particular didn't like this; Paul Watson, co-founder of Green Peace.  Green Peace's anti-whaling activities are generally one of high-lighting the issue and this never sat well with Watson, who much prefers direct action.  This love of direct action led to him being expelled from Green Peace and setting up the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and buying a ship called the Steve Irwin in which to pursue more direct action.
 
Watson and his crew (a mix of regulars who have been with him for a while and new eager studenty types) have only one goal: to save the whales.  Watson will use any means necessary in order to stop the Japanese from slaughtering whales and he and his followers state that they are willing to die to save the whales…
 

Overall

 
I wasn't really sure how to approach this series when it popped through the letterbox.  Don't get me wrong, I like whales, really I do.  Some of the most beautiful sounds come from nature, and whale song is near the top of the list.  But we hunt and kill things, it's the nature of man.  Nothing will stop that bar a major ecological disaster that wipes us out or the world instantly turns into vegetarians.  The former is far more likely than the latter, but is still pretty unlikely based on evidence so far.
 
I thought I'd give it a shot though and popped in the disc, only to find out that for the second disc on the trot, it was a sodding DVD-R.  Argh!!!  And as per the norm with series that turn up on DVD-R, there were only two episodes on it.  Not sure if this is a mixed blessing or not.
 
What I discovered about this series across two episodes is this.  Captain Paul Watson doesn't really seem to care much about his crew, his view appears to be that anyone volunteering for his boat needs to have a mindset that they would die in pursuit of their goal.  The crew is small with a few die-hard crew who have been there for a while, with the rest of the crew made up with young people with no experience in much and certainly no experience as a member of a ship's crew; although to be fair to them, the same can easily be said for some of the senior crew and officers.
 


Some examples of this.  Guy who is appointed vegan chef (no meat eating on this ship, oh no…) shows a bit of interest in the helicopter carried by the ship and immediately promoted to look after the maintenance of said chopper.  Lo and behold, on the first day of his new role, he damages one of the rotor blades of the helicopter, severely curtailing its use in the hunt for the whaling fleet.  Also, the English guy appointed as ship's engineer in the engine room has no mechanical experience and in his words, has trouble changing bicycle tyres.
 
Clearly with this style of faux documentary, there is an element of heavy editing to support something that is going on and I'm not sure if the editor of this series had this agenda in mind, but ultimately the entire crew came out of the two episodes here as just looking completely incompetent.  I don't even know where to begin here.  Firstly, it appears that no one who volunteered for the crew before doing some basic research on what life was going to be like, and so we see a crew meeting after they're at sea, having one of the officers explaining that there will only be 3 minute showers every three days amongst some of the other rules.  Then there's another big meeting explaining that anyone falling into the Antarctic waters is likely to die from the freezing waters within minutes and before any kind of rescue can be attempted.  Oh no, what happens next?  Ah yes, a rather incompetently managed drill to launch one of the zodiac light boats ends in disaster when the boat capsizes and four of the crew are stranded in the water.  Oops.  But it's ok, the ship's doctor had a couple of blankets handy to warm them back up.


 
I dread to think what else happened across the seven episodes, but I am just so glad that I have never had any inclinations to become part of a crew like this.  Bizarrely, the Sea Shepherd crew attempt to reach out to their former comrades in Green Peace when they can't find the whaling fleet, phoning them up to see if they can get a hint of where they may be.  They are somewhat surprised when they are shunned and then decide the best course of action to make their point is to swear and insult them.  Didn't get them the position, but that sure showed them…
 
Not sure who this is aimed at, but I'm positive it would have put off more people than it would have encouraged.  The narration also makes it abundantly clear that what the Japanese whaling fleet is doing is completely legal according to the major Government's involved, but that isn't going to stop Watson and his crew insisting that it's an illegal action, with Watson showing zero concern for his crew by suggesting a more direct course of action by asking for a couple of volunteers to board the whaling ships and be taken hostage as potential pirates.  He gets his volunteers but the action is reckless in the current climate and some of his crew show it.  Luckily I didn't get to see what happened but no doubt it was spun as some kind of success by Watson.


 
I didn't think I would write that much on this series but I found myself horrified that anyone thought it a great idea to take a lot of novices out on a ship into the Antarctic oceans on such a mission.  It strikes me as stupidity of the highest degree.
 
OK, that's it.  No more, you get the idea…