Quad Blogs

Another season of Man Vs. Wild has concluded. For the season finale itself, the show delivered another Behind The Scenes episodes. Behind The Scenes usually features the crew commenting on the various challenges and locales they’ve been to. This episode included footage and commentary for some of the newer episodes. The blueprint for shooting the show doesn’t change. I didn’t learn anything I didn’t know already about the process of shooting the show but there were moments of great humor and insight into specific challenges in some of the shoots for this season. I’ll just dive into the highlights:

-The best part of the Behind The Scenes episodes is whenever the crew has the same reaction that viewers did to Bear’s antics. For example, four minutes or so were spent on the shark-infested waters in Northern Australia. I wrote about the episode a few weeks ago. Dan Etheridge, the second camera man for Man Vs. Wild, described the island as the scariest locale he’s been to because sharks were everywhere–in the shallows, in the deep part of the ocean. Bear had to go from island-to-island through the shark-infested waters. The most memorable bit was when Bear felt a shark hit his leg as more sharks got closer. Bear and his cameramen eventually sprinted out of the waters. Additional shots of the waters were included for this episode. In the actual episode, only one shot of a shark in the shallows made the final cut. There were several shots of sharks hanging out in the shallows.

-Speaking of perilous situations, the crew commented on the alligator populated lands of the Northern Territory in Australia. This episode had the memorable moment when Bear fought an alligator, briefly, for food before conceding the fight to the alligator. The crew commented on the tough climb Bear had to get to the other side of the water. The tree he had to climb was rotted so Simon nor Dan could follow him. Bear nearly dropped but he didn’t. Once again, additional shots were in this episode of alligators bubbling beneath the water. Australia’s an insane country but I’d still visit there if I could.

-The funniest part of the Behind The Scenes episodes was the segment about what Bear eats in the wild. The series has done episodes about the food Bear eats so, again, this wasn’t new ground nor was the information. In North Africa, Bear collected a bunch of bugs that crawled into his camp because of the fire for breakfast in the morning. Bear decided to make a bug patty. He squished every bug and combined it all into something that resembled a beef patty. Simon nor Dan ever turn the camera from Bear when he’s eating something. They basically force Bear to swallow the entire thing. After Bear finished his bug patty, he said that it was a truly terribly way to begin the morning.

Overall, there isn’t a whole lot to write about with an episode that comments on the series itself. As I mentioned at the top, I’m very familiar with the Behind The Scenes stuff because there’s been a few of these kinds of episodes in the past. The crew deserves their time in the spotlight because they do everything Bear does (well only the camera men). The entire crew does a tremendous job on each and every episode.

I posted my Terriers review about an hour ago so check that out below. The Week 3 NFL picks won’t be posted until late tonight.

SCREENPLAY OF THE DAY

Treme–”Pilot–Written By David Simon & Eric Overmyer

http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Treme_1x01_-_Pilot.pdf

For an 80 minute pilot, the screenplay is only 66 pages. Remember: Treme is a show that features a lot of music. If you’re a David Simon fan and you don’t have HBO, read the Treme pilot.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

Credit: lesstroud.ca

Beyond Survival with Les Stroud remains a work in progress through three episodes. In last week’s episode, Les struggled to put his personal stamp on the episode. I assume Les wants his own personal stamp on an episode because such a stamp exists in this episode. With the Sea Gypsies, he was a bystander because he lacked a translator. The communication lines were non-existent. The episode struggled for an identity outside of the premise for the show.

The third episode aired on Discovery is a much better effort from Les Stroud and his crew. In Malaysia, he lived with a large village. In Africa, specifically Namibia, Les lives among the San Bushmen–the oldest tribe in Africa and considered the first people of South Africa. The San Bushmen Les lives with for a week reside in the Kalahari desert. Their way of life is threatened by a number of factors: loss of land, lack of interest by the younger generation in learning survival skills, and the overall threat of assimilation that the modern world presents.

Unlike the previous two episodes, when the show drops the viewers immediately into the culture and the environment, the first ten minutes follow Les’ journey to the village. The dunes of Namibia are beautiful. Les spends a few minutes walking the dunes as all sorts of cameras film the dunes–angles from the helicopter, from faraway, close-up. Les follows a very ancient path to the village. The markings on the sides of rocks inform him the direction of water or a village. It takes Les and the crew a full two days to arrive in the village. They travel along flat dirt roads or flat smooth surfaces or grassy trails. Namibia is a flat place.

The most improved aspect of this episode compared to last week’s was the focus. Les spent the majority of the episode with a small group of San hunters on a hunt. The extended time with the San allowed for a story to develop naturally rather than a story concocted in post-production through narration.

While the San are in the process of extracting honey from a beehive, using the same method the Veddas used, a San tells Les that his son and brothers do not know how to hunt or extract honey. The hunters are a small group. Besides the threat of the modern world, one wonders how the tribe will continue to live as they want when these males one day pass away. The skills aren’t being passed from generation-to-generation like they were long ago. The San Bushmen are a patriarchal bunch so much so that the roles of women were never clearly defined by Les because the San wouldn’t speak much about the women in the village. Once the honey was collected, the men ate the honey immediately. The honey extraction happens once a year because of the cycle of bee life; however, each year, the men never return with honey to the village. The honey isn’t for women and children. Les doesn’t know why.

Following the consumption of honey, Les joins the men for a hunt to find the village food. Before the hunt begins, a poison is created from varying ingredients with elements that aren’t toxic until mixed together. The process can be long. The San Bushmen must be careful because an antidote to the poison doesn’t exist. The San Bushmen credit their knowledge of the ingredients and the concoction to the ancients they can communicate with during the trans-dance. The tribe uses poisonous arrows to kill large game. The poison kills red bloods, decreasing the level of oxygen in the body until the animal dies from asphyxiation. San Bushmen will track their prey for over 70 miles until the prey succumbs to the poison in their body.

The hunt is an arduous process. Hours are spent walking the lands, surveying the lands, evaluating the tracks in the ground. The hunters then follow the tracks and the trail until they find the place where their desired prey lives. There are an abundance of holes in the desert. Leopards hide in the holes and will leap and attack someone who crosses in front of the hole. Black mambas and other poisonous snakes live in holes as well as very large spiders. Large porcupines live in holes. The porcupines are the target.

Two porcupines can feed the village for a number of days. The village, often, eats only once a day–usually, small portions of rice that neighboring villages offer. Two porcupines are big catches. A member of the San Bushmen will dig into the hole to scare the porcupines into leaving from the other side of their hole where other members await with small spears. The hunt succeeds without anyone being harmed. The men eat small portions of the porcupine to restore their energy because their hikes are long. Water is scare, obviously, so they have to get creative to find clean water. The search for water isn’t shown in this episode though.

The San Bushmen believe in the power of the spiritual world. Communication with the spiritual world occurs through the trans-dance. The trans-dance is a long dance that sends its dancers into a trance state of being in which the ancients communicate with them about survival. Les wants to communicate with the spiritual world; however, despite dancing uncomfortably in front of the camera, Les isn’t strong enough to enter the state of being required to communicate with the ancients. The shamans dance for over ten hours. A man with no arm, because he injected himself with poison after feeling shame for beating up another male in the village, enters into a trance for the first time in his life after years and years of seeking that spiritual world. The experience makes him a Shaman.

Overall, the third episode of the series is the best yet. Visually, the cameras captured some amazing shots of Namibian twilight, starlit sky and dawk. I’ve never seen so many stars in my life.

THE SCREENPLAY OF THE DAY

In this economy, seeing many movies isn’t cheap. If you’re like me, you have no problem reading screenplays rather than watching the actual completed film. If you prefer the visual experience, you probably don’t enjoy reading screenplays. I hadn’t seen Insomnia so I simply read the script last week. Good times. Today, I have TWO screenplays to recommend:

1. \”Crush\” By David Fury

This is a television screenplay. TV scripts have different structures, are broken up into acts. If you’re an aspiring television writer, TV scripts are great pieces to study in preparation for a spec. Buffy, The Vampire Slayer scripts are great to read because the writing is so good, especially this one from David Fury.

2. Inception by Christopher Nolan

Many people have seen the movie, discussed the movie, theorized about its meaning. NOW read the actual screenplay.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

This picture is unrelated to the actual episode but it's so awesome.

Last summer, Will Ferrell joined Bear Grylls for two days in Sweden to promote his movie, Land of the Lost. With another person to look after, Bear toned the intensity of the challenges down. Ferrell actually had a walk in the park compared to the two fans who won a chance to survive for two days in the Canadian wilderness with Bear Grylls. Bear’s mission is to push both fans, Joe Mesto and Sean Lacoste, to their limits. Bear also wants each man to face and conquer their fears. Joe fears heights. Sean fears water.

The challenges the two fans face aren’t fierce. Bear and Discovery can’t get these guys killed so there won’t be any fights between man and an actual bear for food. Bear used rope more than ever and might’ve repelled down a mountain more than ever. They are in British Columbia, in the Powder mountain range (I think).

As per usual, here are the highlights:

-The helicopter has no way to land on the mountain so the three have to rope down. Joe and Sean look terrified. Bear descends first and then shouts directions to the two men. Both reach the ground safely. Bear tells them they need to do two things: listen to him and trust him. If I’m in the wilderness with Bear Grylls, am I going to do anything but trust him? Surprisingly, Joe doesn’t give complete trust to Bear. More on this later.

-Whenever an episode begins high on a mountain, the first half is devoted to climbing down. You know what that means: REPEL. Bear uses a rock anchor for the descent via rope. For Joe and Sean’s first time, Bear puts the two together. Bear has to assure Joe that the rope will hold. It does. They are safe.

-Bear keeps the three of them tied together through rope a lot during the first ten minutes. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

-Bear worries about the guys becoming dehydrated. He and the fans gather snow in their bottles. Yes, Bear doesn’t advise anyone to eat snow for hydration in cold, dry air because eating snow lowers one’s core temperature. As the three continue to work their way down the mountain, the snow will have melted by the time they reach the bottom of the mountain. Bear also worries about the endurance level of the fans because of the high altitude. A new environment is a shock to one’s body and the British Columbia environment takes its toll early on Joe. During the narration, they using their hands and feet to climb down. You know, kicking deeply into the snow or digging their hands into the snow. Bear decides to glissade down the slope. Simon doesn’t crash into anyone this time. He doesn’t follow any of them down with a sled though. The three glissade safely. It looks fun.

-Bear and the fans navigated a glacier with many crevices. All that stood between them and solid, non-snowy ground was a fifty foot icewall that leads into a crevice. Bear and the fans dig an ice anchor for the moments. Bear has to assure Joe that the rope will hold, that the anchor is good. Sean repels easily. Joe struggles. He doesn’t trust himself or Bear. His feet aren’t planted flatly and he isn’t arching back; therefore, he sort of slides down the mountain. Bear wishes Joe would trust himself more.

-The three make camp. Bear brought dinner because he didn’t want the fans to kill for their food. Bear lets Joe remove the bad parts of the rabbit. Bear narrates about how most people like their meat in a pretty package. Bear feeds the fans the heart of the rabbit before cooking the rest of the animal. Joe actually enjoys the cooked rabbit. I guess it beats a raw rabbit heart. The three sleep in twenty degree temperature. I’m not sure if any of them sleep. In the morning they wake up for breakfast. They warm themselves up with tea. Bear instructs them to look under rocks for worms or grub. The fans collect a decent number of worms. The three of them eat. Bear describes the taste as simply “awful.”

-The time comes for Sean to face his fear of water. It’s rather dull. He freezes in the water but Bear pulls him across without stopping. After this experience, Sean repels down a mountain near a waterfall and swims in a glacial river. I think he was cured.

-Joe nearly breaks his knee repelling. He never trusts himself nor Bear. He does deliver the best quote of the episode: “I’m repelling down a mountain with Bear Grylls. This is awesome.”

The rest of the episode without any major highlights. Bear’s a good teacher. He shows patience and genuine concern for the individual fears of his fans. The fans clearly admire and respect Bear. Joe remarks that it’s amazing Bear does this (survive in the wild) for a living.

Overall, Fan Vs. Wild was a decent episode. Next week, Bear is in the desert and his crew will be creating the conditions to demonstrate how to survive in the desert. It’s the sequel to the “How To Survive In The Bitter Cold” episode that aired a few weeks ago.

I’ll be back in a bit with my 2010 Week 1 NFL PREDICTIONS. FOOTBALL HAS ARRIVED!

Oh, if you missed it here are my reviews for Hellcats and Terriers: http://blogs.wcuquad.com/2010/09/09/the-foot-review-of-fxs-terriers-pilot/ and http://blogs.wcuquad.com/2010/09/08/the-foot-review-of-the-hellcats-pilot-a-world-full-of-strangers/

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

Beyond Survival with Les Stroud opens with the camera in night vision mode. Les walks through the jungle, talking quietly because the Vedda people instructed him to keep silent. The Elephants are near. The elephants are the biggest concern and danger for the Veddas in central Sri Lanka; however, Les tells the audience that they must be aware of leopards, jaguars and sloth bears in the jungle. The entire trek ends without incident. Yes, the exciting illusion of danger returns to a Les Stroud show.

Beyond Survival is a show about surviving in the jungle in more ways than one. The show focuses on the preservation of the dying cultures of the tribes Les Stroud visits. What happens when modern civilization encroaches on a culture like the Veddas in Sri Lanka? The Vedda people and culture walked the earth 10,000 years before civilization began in Ancient Egypt. The effect of modern civilization is harsh for the Veddas because they’ve lost land through the years. Modern Sri Lanka advertises Aboriginal adventures even though the Veddas want to continue living as they always have. History has told this story for centuries. The natives are usually pushed out of their lands by a conqueror (Amazingly, the bulk of my studies as an English major included post-colonial studies or multi-culturalism and diversity as a whole…I digress). As they lose their lands, hunting and gathering becomes tougher as the wild game diminishes with each loss of land. The Veddas are one of the oldest hunter-gatherer groups in the world. Not only are the Vedda trying to maintain their way of life despite outside forces but they must rely on the youth of their people and their youth is not following in their elders’ footsteps.

Les Stroud also visits the Sinhalese fishermen on the coast on Sri Lanka. The fishermen are modern. The survival of their way life was damaged and put in danger after the Tsunami in 2004. Many of the elder fishermen died and the young Sinhalese aren’t anxious to follow in the footsteps of those who came before. The fishermen used to catch over 300,000 tons of fish a year and the numbers have decreased dramatically.

Besides the focus on the question: can these cultures continue to live the way they’ve always lived? A decent portion of the episode is devoted to the idea of demons and devils.

The Veddas were once considered to be half-human half-demon and they worship a select group of demons that can help them succeed while the Sinhalese believe there are no good demons. They want to rid themselves of demons because they believe the demons cause disease and bad luck among others. The way to please or ward off demons is through dancing–”devil dancing.”

The Sinhalese are a very patriarchal society. They believe the demons are attracted to various vices. Chief among the vices are women. I think the Sinhalese associate women with lust, and lust is the chief vice. Les Stroud wasn’t clear. The Sinhalese dress up in women clothing to entice the demons so they can be destroyed i.e. exorcised. While fishing, the Sinhalese prefer company because an isolated fisherman is an easy target for demon possession. Their devil dancing is intense and long–twelve hours exactly. The Sinhalese wished to exorcise the demons from Stroud which is why the dance takes twelve hours. It’s a dizzying display of noise, color, fire.

The Veddas dance as a form of worship to the demons they deem good. There are no costumes or excessive displays.

As for the actual hunting methods the Veddas use, allow me to write about some highlights:

-The middle portion of the episode is devoted to an elaborate concoction to create poison so fishing is easier. At first, they warned Les not to get the poisonous liquid in his eye and then they asked him to get in the water that now had the poison in it. Les said his body went numb eventually.

-A few times on Survivorman, Les Stroud got high from a natural opiate. In this episode, he ate a betel nut with some tobacco leaves. Whenever Les Stroud trips out with a camera watching, it’s funny because he seems like he has no clue what just hit him.

-The Vedda slingshots delighted Les. While high from the betel nut, he acted like he’d hit one of the Vedda tribesman with the rock before laughing.

-The Vedda tribesmen own dogs that they use to help on the hunt. In fact, when they arrived home, the dogs greeted the tribesmen excitedly.

-The tribesmen and Les procured honey from a bees nest without the bees going insane. The Veddas take great care when invading the bees’ hive. After they gathered the honey, the tribesmen made sure the bees would re-build by re-building the part of the tree they removed for hive access.

Beyond Survival with Les Stroud is worth your time. DVR it or watch it live should you be home on a Friday night at 10pm. Where else can someone get a glimpse of another culture like this? Les Stroud continues to be a great host; however, no matter how many times he talks about the dangerous animals, you’ll never actually see one.

Tomorrow will launch the beginning of the look at returning television shows on network television. If you any network you’d like me to begin with, tell me in the comments. If not, expect an ABC preview tomorrow.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK

Last night on Man Vs. Wild, Bear Grylls was inches from death. Literally. Had his cameraman and director of photography, Simon Peay, collided with Bear’s head, Bear would have died.

Thus far, the new season of Man Vs. Wild has been insane. He’s flirted with death in every episode. If he isn’t swimming with sharks, he is fighting a crocodile for a fish in North Queensland waters and, if he isn’t fighting a croc then he nearly dies in a situation that he and his crew are supposed to have complete control over. As I talk about this episode, the reader will learn the exact situation that put Bear and his cameraman inches from death. The situation might surprise you.

This episode got me thinking. Bear’s been filming Man Vs. Wild for three years now. I think the man is addicted to this lifestyle now. Perhaps he isn’t but this episode featured survival methods Bear has done multiple times in the past already. Any loyal fan knows this.

This week, Bear was in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia. Instead of the usual, Bear and the crew created different survival scenarios such as a blizzard, an avalanche, icy waters and a glissade down a mountain. Bear wanted to demonstrate how to survive the most catastrophic situations in the bitter cold. He sure earns his paycheck with this episode, folks. Here are the usual highlights:

-The first scenario was an avalanche. In Patagonia, Bear witnessed an avalanche but did not get caught or buried in one. In this scenario, Bear will bury himself beneath 12 feet of snow to simulate an actual survival situation. Most people die buried 2 feet under. The crew set off four explosives to create the avalanche because Bear wanted to time how long it’d take for rescuers to rescue someone trapped. The information he attained from this exercise was used for his own situation. Bear decides he’ll bury himself alive for 12 minutes under the snow. The proper medical equipment is hooked up to him so he can be monitored; meanwhile, he has a device to make his breathing fit into the scenario as well so that oxygen slowly disappears as time passes. Right off the bat, Bear is flirting with death because if the diggers can’t get to him quickly when the time comes, Bear could die.

While buried, Bear tells a story about a close of friend of his who died in an avalanche. Bear adds softly that he doesn’t like avalanches. As he sits, the oxygen leaves the air. He has a tough time breathing. Eventually, he’s suffering. But the time elapses and the diggers get him safely. He compares the oxygen returning to his lungs to a light that goes on in a dark house. It sounds like a description being near death through suffocation because, as Bear tells us, suffocation is what kills someone trapped underneath an avalanche.

-The next scenario is a massive blizzard. Bear experienced this while in Iceland. For this, the crew had two huge fans along with small weather stations to make sure the conditions were blizzard-like. Bear advises against fighting the blizzard because the wind will kill you. One must take shelter. The shelter is the snow itself. What one does is dig a deep hole so that it shields you from the wind. I’ve seen Bear implement this method several times in the series. Nothing new with this scenario of surviving a blizzard unless you’re a first-time viewer, in which case you learned something.

-The icy lake was next. Bear never seemed to enjoy himself when he plunged into icy waters in the Arctic Circle or Siberia or anywhere. The plunge and the swim has to be torture. Naturally, Bear is wearing a heart monitor to track his BPM. Simon has a thermal camera to show how cold Bear’s body gets. Bear has to swim 80 feet in the water. Before diving in, he says the icy waters are different when he’s in ‘journey mode’ because he doesn’t stop to think; however, diving in like one dives into a swimming pool is a different beast. He dives in and then surfaces quickly because the trick is to slow one’s heartbeat down because the cold water sends the body into panic mode. Every time Bear went into icy waters, he always made sure he calmed his heart rate down because cardiac arrest is a risk. His BPM drops to 88. He spends nearly five minutes in the water. In his narration he describes the body’s way of surviving by decreasing blood flow. On the surface, his body temperature fell from 88 degrees to 32 degrees.

When Bear leaves the water, his number goal priority is preventing frostbite. Bear rolls in the snow as a way to dry his body (hey it works and he’s done it before) before putting his clothes on. He must start a fire or else he might die from blood flow. Bear gets a fire going quickly and then makes himself tea. As he sips his tea, he RETIRES from diving into icy waters. It’s about time, Bear. He admits he always hated icy waters.

I wondered: can a regular person survive what Bear just survived? He must be in superior shape. He’s climbed Everest twice after all. CHIME IN with your opinion in the comments.

-After three insane challenges, Bear settles down to show the viewer how to make good shelter in a bitterly cold place. The show flashbacks to Siberia when Bear spent a night in minus 30 degree temperatures. Now, personally, I’d like to live in a shack in Siberia. I digress. Bear builds a great shelter and a great fire. In the morning, we find out his shelter was 66 degrees (thanks to the fire and the way he built the shelter) while the British Columbian night had temperatures in the low-20s.

-The final challenge is the icy glissade. In the Yukon, Bear lost his footing and slid down the mountain. Bear wanted to determine the speed of someone doing this as well as the length it takes to stop the slide. Bear tells a story about his wife and son who nearly fell off a cliff but stopped just shy of the edge. I’m not surprised The Grylls family climbs cliffs in Bear’s downtime.

From when Bear began to dig his hands into the snow to stop the slide until he stopped, the distance was 180 feet. Bear stresses the importance of being aware of your environment so no one falls off the edge of a cliff. The second time, Bear uses an ice axe to stop; meanwhile, Simon follows Bear on a sled from behind. Once Bear stops, a white cloud of snow hides Bear from Simon’s sight. Simon collides with Bear. The camera breaks and the crew thinks one or both of them could be dead. Good God. Luckily, Simon did not nail Bear in the head. The crew thinks Bear’s femur might be broken. Simon’s nose is busted. Bear is teary-eyed. Simon talks about the fear he felt. The two are airlifted to a hospital.

An insane ending in yet another insane episode of Man Vs. Wild this season. I hope I never see a glisside again on the show nor a dive into icy waters. I will welcome the return of swimming with sharks or fighting a croc for fish OR staring down 200 elephants and WINNING.

Next week, Bear is in The Caucasus Mountains. In which country? Who knows. Hopefully it is матери России.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK