flashcutter

This is a reality series that follows students at Moorpark College in Los Angeles as they learn how to deal with the ups and downs of animal management and training for careers in this amazing field. We see how they train, how they care for sick animals, how they cope emotionally with the death of animals under their care. We travel with them as they visit other parks and how they handle animals in live performance situations. In one episode we follow them as they cope with the escape of a mountain lion, while we also learn about the individual students who must cope not only with this rigorous academic program, but with personal problems as well. We learn how student bond with each animal, and then must learn to break those emotional bonds as well. All in all a wonderful series.

I gave it a 10 'cause I edited this...plus the director, Michael Krueger, (now deceased) was truly a wonderful guy and this was his 2nd film. And yes, it sucked...but it was supposed to. The previous reviewer had it right...there was NO budget. Mike was at the beginning of his career and wanted to make a campy, "bad" film. And it was "direct to tape". It WAS like a class project because almost no one got paid...it was a labor of love and an attempt to start a career that all to quickly ended before he could move on. I had fun because Mike sent me the tapes from Denver (where it was shot and Mike lived) to an edit bay in LA where I put this together in a few short weeks. (And, yes, it looks like it...I was also at the start of my career too, and this opportunity was too good to pass up. My moment of glory came when I had the genius idea one night that the possessed VCR would turn on and light up to 666...the only problem in the field was that VCR's don't like to be forced to display numbers that don't relate to time...and 666 does not...so I had to roll the tape backwards to make this work. Yeah...it was awful and hokey but it was a hoot too.