[ul][li]Gojira runs over a line. Fouls prop.[/li][li]The new helicopter won’t start.[/ul][/li]
Sad Sacks, the lot of them.
Most of the dialog was lost to me because the constant crescendo-y background music (now there’s a misnomer!) was so loud and obnoxious. I can’t tell if it’s the fault of Whale Wars producers, Animal Planet, or my U-verse signal, but I would have gotten more out of it if I’d had the presence of mind to turn on closed-captioning.
The Whale Wars crews seem to go from one calamity to another. They are a danger to themselves. That’s why I watch!
They’re definitely the Keystone Cops of the Antarctic. Heaven forbid they actually practice the refueling technique once or twice to work out the kinks before they head out on their “mission”.
A week or two ago, Paul was complaining because the helicopter pilot wouldn’t take off in bad weather (“Is it snowing out?”) I stand convinced he desparately wants one of the Sea Shepherds to die, (other than himself of course) to get more publicity.
What I really couldn’t believe is that the helicopter wouldn’t start, but instead of aborting the flight and actually finding and fixing the problem, he just jump starts it and takes off in a chopper with an undiagnosed fault, and exactly two possible landing places.
Another week, another set of poorly considered actions.
Not on here for a couple more hours. Anything I should look for? Or is it just general bumbling?
This episode had a couple of moments when even the people involved seemed to realize that poor preparation, planning and maintance were potentially life-threatening. Last season, or the season before, we were told how dangerous it is for the small boats to lose sight of the larger ships. Now we seem to see routine tactics that call for the boats to travel far away with no serious thought given to potential problems. When they first began the mission I assumed that the problem would come in not being able to find the big ships again, and I still wonder if “near the iceberg” is really a good enough navigation point on which to bet the lives of the small boat crews.
Meanwhile the helicopter is gone and out of contact and there seems to be no plan for searching for it or a backup rendezvous. If I were the pilot I think I might be privately hoping for the helicopter to get hosed by one of the Japanese ships and give me an excuse not to trust my life to it again.
We also see the ship without the ice-reinforced hull butt it’s way through an icepack and some of the crew giving worried glances at their captain. At least this time they posted someone below to watch for leaks. I’m not sure of he was the same person who confessed to havng nightmares about dying in a flooded compartment. I think if I were part of that crew I’d be having those dreams myself.
Is PETA loving putang THAT good?
Just askin.
[Paul Watson] Ahem, that’s Rear* Admiral Bumbling to you sir!
*'Cause everybody’s head is further up my ass than even my own. [/Paul Watson]
CMC fnord!
Nice one! 
I remember from previous seasons the cough manufactured drama around the RIBs being too far away, and wondered about this tactic. Good that the prop-fouler actually worked this time. But bad planning for them to leave the other end in a position where it would be fouled within the RIB. I didn’t see what kind of knife they were using to cut themselves free. A serrated blade is designed for cutting lines. It shouldn’t have been that hard to cut a taut line. And they seemed to take a long time to decide to cut it. ‘Duh… We’re caught. What should we do?’
As for the helicopter, I would have aborted as soon as visibility became too restricted. Heck, I aborted once because I was getting wonky readings on the carb temperature gauge while taking off in rain. (NB: Carb temp. is used to assess the possibility of carburettor icing – there is a yellow arc. The MD-500E on Whale Wars is a jet, so it doesn’t have a carburettor or carb temp. gauge.) Either the pilot has poor judgement in go/no-go decisions, or else he knew exactly where he was and it was all played up for drama. I think the latter.
I think muldoonthief is right: Rear Admiral Bumbling desperately wants someone to die, so that he can wail and tear his shirt on-camera.
.
I’ve noticed in some of his interview spots that Cap’n Paul is wearing some kind of badge. Is there a story behind that?
I like the helicopter pilot guy. He usually comes across as the sanest.
You can’t be too crazy, and still be a functional pilot. I do envy his ability to fly expensive machines without having to rent them.
Closeup of the badge on this page. It has a DIVE RESCUE RECOVERY emblem in the middle, and SEA SHEPHERD [something] CAPTAIN in the banners. The badge number is 007. :rolleyes:
I call it his Junior Rescue Ranger Badge.
In the ad for the show the Cap’n says “You gotta be willing to risk your life to save the whales.” He is trying to make good on that claim, for the whole crew.
I stopped watching WW midway through last season because I kept going :headdesk: repeatedly.
I have nothing against whales, I’m happy they’re attempting to literally fight for the cause, but there’s a little part of me hoping the whaling ships will just ram them to smithereens…
That’s pretty much the whole appeal of this for me. I keep hoping that the Japanese will just hire a private security firm and scuttle the lot of them.
I want to watch the Japanese version of WW. Seems like a reality show from their perspective could be fun, too.
Oh hell yeah. They could take footage of the Japanese guys scurrying around the ship talking loudly and fast. Then dub over that with some very poorly translated and awkward sounding english that is totally out of sync with their lip movements. Then throw in some Godzilla screaching sound effects when the Whale Whores ship makes a move. And some Mothra sounds for the when the Helicopter is buzzing them.
I watched this scene a few times, and it looks to me that the prop fouling line they were dragging in the water was actually tied to the inflatable - you can see it wrapped several times around the metal bar that holds up the console. I think they didn’t actually expect that line to get into the prop - they were trying to get the whaling boat to turn so it would foul on the “shepherds crook” lines they had previously placed.
I actually briefly thought they were going to competently execute one of their risky plans, but nope, one idiot doesn’t make sure a line is free, or at worst that you can just throw the container overboard, and now 8 people are at risk of dying (though the post-mission interviews makes it obvious they all survived).
And WTH was with them launching flares & smoke grenades into the whaling boats netting? They’re getting way past the “non-violent” message they’ve been preaching - such devices could easily start a fire or burn a fisherman badly.
I’m sure they could hurt someone if they try hard enough, but I also suspect with the number of camera crews seemingly always around them, it would be hard for someone to actually drown or get irretrievably lost or something.
In my mind I imagine the Japanese version of WW showing a bunch of harpoon ship crewmen in a lounge playing cards when someone walks in and says, “Those Sea Shepherd people are out there again” and the collective response is “Huh” as the card game continues.