Whale Wars - Krieg den Walfängern!

Whale Wars is an OK introduction to the Sea Shepard conversation organization, but follows PC sensationalism in exclusively keying in on human stories, and therefore misses on the real story that Sea Shepard is about: the whales!! There is essentially nothing about what whales are about, how humans have terrorized and murdered these creatures for centuries, how terribly whales die by harpoons and other torture devices utilized by modern whaling ships, how little we know about whales' consciousness and social behavior, how much we do know about them. Without any providing emphasis about the most justifiable reasons for not murdering whales, the series misses out on the main points that should be made in support of Sea Shepard. Even so, this series provide a good introduction to the organization, and should help with awareness and fund raising. Paul Watson obviously approves, but one has to suppose for pragmatic reasons.

This is not a classic program & the people chasing the whalers really don't have any clue about cultural or religious aspects on why the Japanese or other cultures eat things that we wouldn't. I enjoy the show, but mainly because of the way they all conduct themselves. You know other cultures eat dogs, cats, or whatever but for some reason that seems to pretty well ignored. What everyone reminds you of on the ship is these are all of the people that were made fun of or booed at because of their lack of education or just plain ignorance. Greenpeace is already messed up, though I can understand saving some animals to a certain extent, but for this so-called "Captain" getting voted out 11-1 as his was the only dissenting vote, is pretty pathetic in it's own right. Back to the show, it's enjoyable, but if you take anything that is being done seriously well that's sad. How these people can take off 2 months at a time w/out losing their job if they aren't already mooching off their respective countries. It's doubtful anyone would hire these borderline personalities to begin with, well who knows. Their is a line that needs to be drawn as far as conservation is concerned and what's even worse is that they most definitely cause more harm than if they did nothing. These people all have such high self-importance of themselves that quite simply doesn't exist. If you want to get a couple chuckles & see how NOT to conserve, well this is for you, if you take it all seriously and cry when a whale is killed, well skip it.

Watching the show I would have to agree with the woman interviewed from Greenpeace who said "they (the Sea Shepherds) have set our cause back years." Paul Watson, the Captain and Paul Brown, his first Mate, seem like completely unprepared grade school children. However that may be the shows motive to display just how unprepared and haphazard the crew is…yet willing to risk it all to save the whales.

My opinion, the Sea Shepherds would be far better off taking pictures of the Japanese whaling ships, their captains and their crews. Find out who they are and posting their pictures and all their information on the Internet. Throwing stink bombs and harassing the Whaling boats just aggravates the whalers and escalates the situation.

Although I do not agree with the tactics the show has informed me of the unnecessary killing of an endangered species for money and using "research" as an excuse. The show is certainly worth watching once you get past fact the captain and first mate are bit immature and their tactics are a pretty worthless. I will continue watching and am curious as to whether the Sea Shepherds will learn anything from their mistakes. I recommend watching an episode or two and posting your opinion.

Separating politics from the show is a critical first step to deciding whether this show is watchable or not. Whether you want to slaughter every living thing on the planet and eat it, or whether you don't think humans should kill anything and absorb our nutrition out of the air is irrelevant to the quality...

That being said...

Does the show entertain: yes. God knows each time those guys and gals do something you are just waiting for one of them to screw up. These people are not professionals and their lack of training is beyond apparent. Also you have the disconnection between the captain and reality. Everything that happens (including every misstep) is spun into a positive happy message... and the show allows the knife of the camera to cut right through the bull. At the same time you also get to see the world from THEIR perspective.

The show is NOT about whaling... the show is about these guys and gals behavior in an very strange situation. THAT is what documentaries are about... and this show is done well....

Real eco-warriors trying as hard as possible to stop whaling with nonviolent but extremely provocative tactics. Some might call them terrorists for throwing stink-bombs to stop fake "research whaling" while the Japanese whalers hurl back explosive flash grenades to keep making millions of dollars in international waters to kill the largest mammals on the planet. The camera and film crew show the sea shepherd crew as extremely inexperienced, morally conflicted, scared, but determined and undoubtedly brave, while the whalers are generally not shown. This makes the show a little too one sided.

Also the show makes no secret of the sea-shepherds real intentions: to get as much publicity as possible in an attempt to get public opinion against the whaling companies.

Love it or hate it...it's definitely not boring. Test your morals...which side is right.