Whale Wars

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.

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.

most of the crew may be inexperienced at sea, but who cares? at least they are doing something against whaling. in a world full of cowards who just calm their conscience by donating a few bucks to some more or less effective organisation it's good to know that there are other people who really take action. just having an opinion like "i oppose whaling" doesn't help these animals. and politics, as we can see, can mostly be interpreted in favour of the exploiting whaling industry.

their methods may look like a prank to one or another but they are way more effective than circling the whalers with a zodiac and just waving banners. think about that.

I really do appreciate what these people are doing for the benefit of the whales, but the show is completely lacking of excitement. The crew seems like they sometimes have absolutely NO idea what they're supposed to do, and they end up falling back to their captain who just sits there writing poems. And to add onto all of this, they have the WORST of luck, which makes the show that more unwatchable. The only thing that this show has going for it is the way these people are actually doing something about the whaling industry in Japan. If you are looking for another documentary style show, I would recommend 'The Deadliest Catch'.

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....