Whale Wars

[Sean Malone]

I’ve recorded the last 5 or 6 episode’s and was bored during the first episode I saw but hung in there to catch what I saw in a show preview. The preview showed two small inflatables along side a huge 8000 ton ship and the occupants of the small boats were throwing some kind of projectiles at the ship, which to me equals ENTERTIANTMENT VALUE!!

I’ve gotten kinda hooked on it, although they drag it out tediously and just when things start happening the show is over and they drag the ‘action’ into the next show. But then for some reason, the action at the beginning of the next show wasn’t as action packed as they lead the viewer to believe the week prior.

The camera crew is on board the ‘Steve Irwin’, a ship from the anti whaling org called Sea Shepherd. Captained by Paul Watson (who technically isn’t a certified ship capt), who was a founding member of Green Peace in the 70’s but got kicked out over his extremist views (he believes the lives of whales are more important than the lives of people from a global perspective).

Last weeks episode was one of the more entertaining ones however. Most of the show was about the inflatables going out to try to throw some kind of smelly junk onto the deck of the 8000 ton Nisshan Maru (Japanese factory whaling ship. If I had a dollar every time a Sea Shepherd crew member said “Nisshan Maru”. It would make a great drinking game!) while the Steve Irwin danced with 3 harpoon ships, cutting across the bow and trying to foul the props with large ropes. Pretty wild stuff when you really think about it and break through the tedium of the drawn out editing.

Plus, considering that most of the Sea Shepherd’s crew are tree hugging volunteers that have never stepped foot on a ship let alone got into a 20’ inflatable to try to throw stuff at an 8000 ton whaling ship in the Antarctic cold doing 20 knots…it’s got a real keystone cops element to it at times!

Oh, and I like Jane Taylor. She’s a quartermaster on the Steve Irwin, an ex Navy officer turned smelly hippie girl whale lover and she’s cute as a button in that ex Navy officer turned smelly hippie girl whale lover sort of way.

This Friday’s show looks like a good one. The Japanese land a whale as the Sea Shepherd watches in horror. I’m sure they’ll try something drastic….or not.

Friday's @ 9:00pm EST on Animal Planet.

[Elmo T]

Your review has it down pretty good. :thumbup:

It should have been a 2 hour special. SSlllllowwwwwww.

Cute hippie girls and dorky hippie guys. ;)

Add "LRAD" to the drinking game too.

As for clothing and paint schemes, black is the new black.

[Wheel-Nut]

I don't know why they don't drop stuff from the heli.

[Sean Malone]

I don't why they don't drop stuff from the heli.

I was wondering about that too and can only assume there are some kind of unwritten gentleman agreements about 'rules of engagement' where dropping something from the heli would constitute lethal force etc etc. But the whalers throwing large brass nuts from 6 stories up has lethal possibilities also.

Elmo, the LRAD was pretty intense! Using it on the heli pretty much says 'anything goes'. Although, I think there is more to the story as Watson claims he has rammed and sunk numerous whaling ships. That is no small claim.

[Wheel-Nut]

There is some video on the Sea Sheperd site. :eek:

Tora, Tora, Tora . . . . lol :laugh:

[Steve99]

Plus, considering that most of the Sea Shepherd’s crew are tree hugging volunteers that have never stepped foot on a ship let alone got into a 20’ inflatable to try to throw stuff at an 8000 ton whaling ship in the Antarctic cold doing 20 knots…it’s got a real keystone cops element to it at times!


Are you watching the first season or the second? The first episode of the first season was hilarious. The entire crew gets majorly seasick. Then, the first time they try to launch one of the small boats, they end up flipping it. In trying to throw a line to the overboard crew members, they damage the main rotor blade on the helicopter and can't use it. And that's just the half of it!

[Sean Malone]

Are you watching the first season or the second? The first episode of the first season was hilarious. The entire crew gets majorly seasick. Then, the first time they try to launch one of the small boats, they end up flipping it. In trying to throw a line to the overboard crew members, they damage the main rotor blade on the helicopter and can't use it. And that's just the half of it!

I think the ones I've been watching are season 2, but I saw a 'flash back' to when the small boat flipped. It's funny that usually most things they try, fail. I wonder if that is part of the producers intent to show or if they truly are that incompetent.

I think it would be a hoot to spend a few weeks on board. I'd love to chuck stuff at a big ship and I would LOVE to play tag from a 20' inflatable (catching air off swells!!!) with 2, 200hp mercury outboards! But they only serve vegetarian meals. That would be the deal buster for me. I'd have to smuggle my meats on board. :D

[Gnam]

The Japanese Navy should treat those morons like the pirates they are and sink them. That would be entertaining.

I'd also like to see the crews from Whale Wars and the Deadliest Catch face off in a reality show. Call it 'Fish or Cut Bait.' I have no idea what they'd be doing, but it would be ratings gold. :gomer:

[Sean Malone]

The Japanese Navy should treat those morons like the pirates they are and sink them. That would be entertaining.

I'd also like to see the crews from Whale Wars and the Deadliest Catch face off in a reality show. Call it 'Fish or Cut Bait.' I have no idea what they'd be doing, but it would be ratings gold. :gomer:

I'd watch!! the whalers are getting more resourceful and aggressive. Considering how bumbling the Sea Shepherd crew seem to be I don't think it will be long until that boat is put out of commission.

I didn't think they would make it through that ice field a few shows ago! The metal in the bow was flexing like a balloon!

[Andrew Longman]

The Japanese Navy should treat those morons like the pirates they are and sink them.

I've only caught a few minutes of it here and there, but I questioned the premise.

I don't approve of whale hunting and the Japanese are abusing the law, but it is technically legal. So help me out, what legal basis allows them to continue to harass the Japanese boats? I do something like that off the Jersey Shore and Coast Guard hauls me in for a long stay.

That said, when I was in HS I loved The Monkey Wrench Gang about a bunch of eco terrorist (that's what they are called now) going up against the timber companies in the Pacific Northwest. (OC may have been one of them :gomer:)

[oddlycalm]

I'd also like to see the crews from Whale Wars and the Deadliest Catch face off in a reality show. Call it 'Fish or Cut Bait.' I have no idea what they'd be doing, but it would be ratings gold. :gomer:

Part of it could be a specific criteria to get promoted from apprentice baiter to master baiter....:gomer:

oc

[Don Quixote]

:rimshot:

[extramundane]

I'm completely against the practice of whaling, especially when disguised as legit research. People like Steve Watson, however, give a bad name to everyone involved in such a cause. I've only watched it a couple times, but both times he struck me as an egotistical ass in it more to stroke his own than to save any animals.

Should anything happen to his ship, I can't say I'd have much sympathy.

[Boatdesigner]

I can't watch this show. As someone who takes the sea very seriously and knows how dangerous it can be out there, I think these idiots should be keelhauled on a rusty old supertanker. If I was the captain of a boat they were attacking, I would assume they were pirates and respond with enough force to scare the s*%t out of the whale huggers.

I don't condone whaling and find it completely unnecessary in this day, but if they aren't breaking any law they should be left alone. They should be fought through legal means and public pressure, not poor seamanship. Someday one or both of their ships is going to be damaged bad enough to sink and someone will die, I hope it is the eco terrorists.

[cameraman]

I hate whaling but I hate eco-terrorists more.

[Sean Malone]

I endorse responsible fishing practices. If there is a consensus among nations not to fish a certain species due to numbers then the countries who go against that should be open to non violent protest, which Sea Shepherd claims they are doing. However, the games they are playing are not non violent in my opinion which put them in the 'eco-terrorist' bucket.
If the fish numbers increase than by all means resume fishing. Fishing is one of the most regulated activities there are in the US. Hell, it's easier to be on wellfare and pump out babies (not that I am doing that).

[TrueBrit]

I abhor whaling and would only watch this show if they sank the Japanese "research" vessels and then harpooned the survivors...you know...for "research purposes"....:shakehead:rolleyes:

[extramundane]

I abhor whaling and would only watch this show if they sank the Japanese "research" vessels and then harpooned the survivors...you know...for "research purposes"....:shakehead:rolleyes:

First time I watched it, I suggested the rest of the crew swap Steve Watson for the whales and call it even. I suspect we'd all come out ahead.

[TrueBrit]

First time I watched it, I suggested the rest of the crew swap Steve Watson for the whales and call it even. I suspect we'd all come out ahead.

And you'd be right...

[Mr. Vengeance]

Paul Watson's a gold plated ****.