The Discovery Channel´s ubiquitous annual event, "Shark Week," comes to DVD in a two disc set featuring the six programs which made up the 2007 edition of the series. Utilizing reenactments of historical events, brand new documentary footage and computer imagery, "Shark Week: Ocean of Fear" is timed to cross-promote the July 27-August 2 21st edition.
It is evident that a good amount of time and money went into "Ocean of Fear: Worst Shark Attack Ever" (84 minutes), the story of the USS Indianapolis. The cruiser Indianapolis-made famous thanks to Robert Shaw´s character in "Jaws"-was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in July, 1945. For the next five days, the surviving crew fended off shark attacks, the overpowering heat, dehydration and salt water-induced delusions. Out of 1,196 men on the Indianapolis, 317 were picked up. (Some 900 made it into the water following the explosions on the boat, however.)
Filmed at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom, "Ocean of Fear" moves between interviews from surviving members of the Indianapolis and the reenactment, both in the water and of the depositions afterward. The transitions are a bit clunky, using Richard Dreyfuss as a narrator to bridge the segments together. There are too few current interviews with survivors; the piece instead relies on constructing what I assume to be a composite narrative out of the original hearings back in 1945. This is perhaps the most chilling of the six programs featured: to be floating in the middle of the ocean with no hope in site while men around you are being eaten by sharks is a terrifying thought. (It should be noted the majority of the men who died in the water are said to not have been the victims of sharks, but of other calamities. In that sense, this isn´t technically the worst shark attack on record, but it is the worst human tragedy involving the animals.
Next up is an honest-to-goodness documentary, "Perfect Predators" (84 minutes). We´re introduced to six different types of sharks (mako, hammerhead, bull, lemon, tiger, great white) along with special evolutionary adaptations which allow them to roam the seas in search of prey. This turns out to be one of the most engrossing pieces on either disc, if only because each variety of shark uses different ways of surviving. Whether it be an unending supply of razor sharp teeth or a knack for sensing the magnetic field emitted from any animal, 400 million years of evolution has aided the sharks in becoming fearsome predators.
Less enthralling is "Shark Tribe" (41 minutes), a journey to New Guinea to figure out the secrets behind calling and catching sharks by hand. While it is a potentially fascinating story, the execution becomes glacially slow. Perhaps it is due to the scientific information being repeated from "Perfect Predators" (something we´ll see over and over through the programs); we´ve already seen the way the ampullae of Lorenzini pores work in sharks, bringing them to floundering prey. (The ampullae of Lorenzini are tiny pores on a shark´s snout containing a membrane directly linked to the brain. It receives signals of electricity and relays them as a kind of GPS unit.)
Disc two begins with "Top Five Eaten Alive," another mix of reenactments and interviews of real life shark attacks. According to the piece, there are fewer than 100 shark attacks per year and the majority come from the bull, tiger and great white varieties. As we see in each case, these attacks could have been prevented with one very important tool: information. One woman is attacked when she swims in an area known as a shark haven. (She survives only by poking her attacker in the eye, a lesson to remember.) What these people have in common is a very close proximity to others as well as sheer dumb luck, a quality the narrator mentions.
"Survivorman" Les Stroud takes us through "Shark Feeding Frenzy" (42 minutes), an investigation into the qualities which attract sharks to prey. It is concluded fast heart rates and the color yellow bring the predators to their eventual meals. More than that, though, Stroud debunks the "Jaws" assertion a shark will eat anything: the great white either ignores or immediately spits out a whole turkey and ham, devouring 50 pounds of ribs. (A shark will not eat a license plate, for the record.)
Also of interest: in the 1950s, the Navy outfitted their pilots with yellow life jackets because they thought the color repelled sharks. As it turns out, it attracts them more than red or black, as is demonstrated.
Last up is the 82 minute "Sharkman," a man some people will say is absolutely crazy. Michael Rutzen intends to use tonic immobility to demonstrate the great white isn´t the big nasty it has been portrayed as. Tonic immobility is achieved by turning the shark upside down in the water. Using this method on various species before trying on the great white-in essence a heavy paralysis which acts as an anesthesia-Rutzen and other researchers are able to tag, draw blood and study sharks in a safe environment.
This piece, though, spends so much time in getting Rutzen properly trained that, by the time he´s ready to try with the great white, other animals have been immobilized, making the promised payoff something less than it should be. However, it does require an enormous amount of courage to go toe to toe with the most feared of all sharks without protection.
All told, "Ocean of Fear" is a blast of all things shark, from how to survive an attack to how they are misunderstood creatures. It turns out to be a bit much to take in, 377 minutes of fearsome predator goodness is an overload, especially when the ampullae of Loranzini are mentioned for the seemingly 100th time. But this is a theme release from The Discovery Channel and for those people who are enraptured by all things shark, it´s a perfect addition to the other "Shark Week" discs.
VIDEO:
I have one complaint and, really, I´m not sure how valid it is. Throughout the six programs, the documentary footage taken under the water is less than stellar. It shows a bit of blocking in some shots, as well as grain and artifacts. When compared to something like "Planet Earth," the 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer is lacking. But is it fair to criticize underwater filming that much? In the end, I don´t think so. This is a nature documentary unlike any other. The camera people are in a new environment where their safety must come first. Speaking from personal experience, it is not easy to film in the water at any depth, let alone with sharks swimming all around.
So in that sense, I´m giving the transfer the benefit of the doubt. A majority of the above the water footage looks very good, slightly better than HD broadcast quality. (One note: some topside shots appear with a red hue. My guess is that the underwater camera was used to capture the action, resulting in the tinge.)
AUDIO:
A single audio track, 2.0, with no captions, does what I expect it to do: deliver the dialogue in a clear, unencumbered manner. After all, we´re not supposed to be surprised by directional sound effects or terrified by a John Williams music cue. The track fills out the speakers without distortion. That´s the most we can reasonably expect, I think.
EXTRAS:
The two disc Amaray case is housed in a slipcase recreating the cover artwork. Otherwise, there are no extras.
PARTING THOUGHTS:
Sharks are among the most feared creatures on this planet. After 400 million years of evolution to hone their predatory qualities, there´s good reason for the reputation. They´re not the merciless killing machines films have made them out to be and there is a majestic beauty to their rocket-like precision swimming. First and foremost, though, the ocean is their environment and we, as fishermen, swimmers and divers, invading their home need to remember it.