Review of Deadliest Catch: Series 2

Introduction

I was looking forward to `Deadliest Catch: Series 2`. I`ve seen a fair few episodes on the Discovery Channel, and it`s a fascinating show. Adhering to the reality TV actually depicting reality ethos, it`s a fly-on-the-wall documentary series following Alaskan crab fishermen as they ply their dangerous craft out in the deadly Bering Sea. Several boats, several crews and non-stop hard graft and danger, the TV crew follow them throughout a season and catch them at their highest highs and their lowest lows. Crab fishing in this particular spot of the world has been called a modern day gold rush, and when they strike, they strike big. But it`s a job that`s fraught with danger. It must be one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

So I was disappointed and mildly amused when what turned up for review was a simple DVD-R with two episodes on it. Annoyed because I was gearing up for a fishing season in the company of some big, burly blokes in oilskin slickers, amused at the fact that whoever sent the disc in actually thinks they`re going to get a proper DVD review of their product for their troubles. I`m tempted to change the title of the review to `Deadliest Catch: Series 2 - Crappy Promo Disc` and actually review what was put in front of me. But then I`d probably get spanked by our editor.

So I won`t.

But this is a specialist DVD site, not Amazon Prime; some people would do well to bear this in mind.

Video

Deadliest Catch is filmed documentary style, most of it on-board the trawlers but a little before and after they dock. It`s meat and potatoes-style stuff, but credit to the production crew for managing to capture the gritty feel of being on a fishing boat while still maintaining the values of being a modern television production.

The disc I was provided with presented the episodes in 4:3, and the quality was decent. However, it`s a DVD-R, not a final authoring, and as I can`t be sure it`s representative of what will end up at retail, I`m not going to say any more than that.

Audio

Same with the sound. Presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, the sound was clear, but if you`re reading this review and are looking to buy this set, I couldn`t tell you what you`ll be getting.

Conclusion

`Deadliest Catch` is a cracking show, in my opinion second only to `Mythbusters` in terms of entertainment value per pound on Discovery. I wish I could elaborate more on the second year specifically, but I can`t, because someone`s too cheap to send us the whole set.

Hence, no scores.