That was an excellent one.

Fantastic!

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to confess that I've only been able to sit through three episodes over the last two years. I gave it a chance, it was crap. I gave it a second chance and, yup, still crap. A friend told me to try again but it was crap. From five minutes in, you just want the remote in your hand to stifle the stupidity and boredom, interlaced with watching stupid people do stupid things.A college professor once told me that being ignorant is worse than being stupid. If you're stupid you don't know, but if you're ignorant you must have "ignored" the lesson. That is, you could have learned but chose not to. These people are ignorant.Activists have a valid place in our world, and I do not dispute the Sea Shepards' right to raise money, sail boats to frigid waters, and protest. I do not even dispute their right to protest with potentially life threatening tactics. There are consequences to such protests, which make the news from time to time but are best remembered as Rosa Parks (who got arrested for sitting on the bus). These people just don't seem to understand.A bunch of idiots who have no idea how to navigate or maintain a complex system like a ship remind me of the Children's Crusade in history class. Idealism is great, but these people risk no only their own individual lives, but their co-volunteers, on a daily basis. Do none of them see that? None of the "officers" of these ships have a clue how to lead, how to delegate properly, or even how to operate the ship. Each episode seemed to be made on a "best guess" theory of operations with an "at least we're trying" denouement. The comedy is unintentional; however welcome it comes about, because they're ignorant. Do these people not train at all? Even the drama is false. The Japanese ship uses an acoustic device to defeat the anti-whalers? How rude! Did they actually think that the whalers were going to help them? They can't possibly think that the whalers were not going to respond to their interventionist protest, yet that's what they certainly appear to believe. Idiots. Cutting together three elitists I watched, I might get 10 minutes of compelling and interesting video. Out of one season, you might get a good two hour documentary. But episodic bumbling is not entertainment.

I can't rate this gripping show about a bunch of idiots talked into risking their lives so Paul Watson can get some air time, because it is great TV that no one should be watching. Capt. Watson says he prefers to use amateurs over professionals, because the former have more heart for the mission. What he leaves out is that the latter wouldn't make (I'm guessing) two-to-five life-threateningly stupid mistakes per day. None of his worthless tactics (glass bottles of smelly acid thrown at the whalers, ropes trailed across their bows to foul propellers, running intercept courses in his slower-than-the-target fragile ship) do diddly to stop the Japanese whalers, but the bumbling landlubbers he lets break, ground, or crack up many thousands of dollars of maritime gear are guaranteed to put on a good show. Very disturbingly, one gets the idea that Watson's preference for amateurs is due to the fact that they will ignorantly endanger their lives where professionals would just know better, and watching people almost kill themselves is something he thinks we'll all be eager to do.At first, their passion is endearing and their methods seem mildly Ghandi-esq. But, not long after the first time you watch, their monotone recitals of the shipboard party lines ("we only use non-violent means," "we're here for the whales," "we're ready to risk our lives for Paul- I mean, for the whales") start to sound like hypnotic mantras, giving way, eventually, to plain old whining. For example, when the Japanese return "fire" to the Sea Shepherds' glass bottles full of acid with metal nuts and bolts, the environmentalists complain that theirs was a "harmless" attack, while the Japanese are clearly out to do some personal injury. Frankly, the difference between being hit in the head with a thumb-sized bolt and a glass bottle full of liquid is lost on me. Likewise their insistence that fouling the prop on a single-screw ship in antarctic waters is "non-violent" seems pathetically naive. If the Japanese can't clear their propeller, any disabled ship's crew will have to transfer to another craft, over water so cold it kills by hypothermia in minutes. Yet, when circled by Japanese ships so the factory craft can escape, the Sea Shepherds suddenly grow acutely aware of how dangerous any hazard to navigation can be in the far southern ocean.Watching these knuckleheads capsize boats, knock off outboard props, lose their way, nearly run out of water, oil, and fuel, and commit every other possible screw-up with the millions of dollars' worth of toys apparently bought for them entirely by television celebrities is fun for a while. But only until you realize that the one man on board who knows what he's doing never takes any of those risks himself, happily standing firm at the helm, while a passionate crew of Keystone Kops insures his real purpose: to get himself on TV.A Twitter post said it well, "If these guys are their best hope, the whales should start voluntarily swimming towards the Japanese." Sad fact is, saving the whales is neither Watson's purpose, nor is it the act of saving this show most demands. What needs saving is Watson's crew and, if we have any integrity at all, we'll do our part and e-mail Animal Planet that we've decided to watch something else.

At one time I wanted to join the Sea Shepherd Society. I can accept the risk but after watching a rag tag crew with no experience or training I'm kinda glad I decided to go back to school and get my degree instead. I admire them greatly but at some point you would think they have better organizational and basic seamanship skills. The First mate clearly had no idea what he was doing. I could care less how long he has been at Paul Watson's side. His inability to lead effectively and perform his deck task was a complete joke. If I were on the zodiac I would have rung his neck after getting back on board. His staring at the chart trying to make sense of time and speed to get distance made me laugh...at him. Caring is one thing. Getting someone killed over relaxed standards of training is just the dumbest thing I have heard of. SSCS needs to train in port every chance they get. As it stands they are the Barney Fife's of the high seas.

*WARNING SPOILERS** Out of sheer curiosity, I tuned into a few episodes of the new Animal Planet series "Whale Wars". Not in quite a long time have I been so left with an awful taste in my mouth. A taste so bad that even some of the worst FOX reality shows have come out tasting like candy. While I do love Whales and feel that there is no need in any way to hunt them, Watson and his merry gang of terrorists do nothing but drill a hole into all the work that the people who truly do make a difference in animal welfare. Of the few episodes I have watched I have been treated to a group of people breaking international law repeatedly, wage acts of terror, and repeatedly put their own selves in danger. The last point is a big one...the crew of the Steve Irwin are inept mariners. We see a simple boat launch go bad, improper use of sea equipment, and use of a damaged helicopter even after the craft's makers recommend it not be flown in the condition it's in. A.P., with all its good programs to offer, has dealt to the public an argument that if you break the law, you can get your point across. How about using your brain and make the pen be mightier than the sword? Educate with information, not acts of terrorism.