Review of Deadliest Catch: Series 2 (Review)
Monday, 28th January 2008, 22:07

Introduction
I was looking forward to 'Deadliest Catch: Series 2'. I've seen a fair few episodes on the Discovery Channel, and it's a fascinating show. Adhering to the reality TV actually depicting reality ethos, it's a fly-on-the-wall documentary series following Alaskan crab fishermen as they ply their dangerous craft out in the deadly Bering Sea. Several boats, several crews and non-stop hard graft and danger, the TV crew follow them throughout a season and catch them at their highest highs and their lowest lows. Crab fishing in this particular spot of the world has been called a modern day gold rush, and when they strike, they strike big. But it's a job that's fraught with danger. It must be one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

So I was disappointed and mildly amused when what turned up for review was a simple DVD-R with two episodes on it. Annoyed because I was gearing up for a fishing season in the company of some big, burly blokes in oilskin slickers, amused at the fact that whoever sent the disc in actually thinks they're going to get a proper DVD review of their product for their troubles. I'm tempted to change the title of the review to 'Deadliest Catch: Series 2 - Crappy Promo Disc' and actually review what was put in front of me. But then I'd probably get spanked by our editor.

So I won't.

But this is a specialist DVD site, not Amazon Prime; some people would do well to bear this in mind.

Video
Deadliest Catch is filmed documentary style, most of it on-board the trawlers but a little before and after they dock. It's meat and potatoes-style stuff, but credit to the production crew for managing to capture the gritty feel of being on a fishing boat while still maintaining the values of being a modern television production.

The disc I was provided with presented the episodes in 4:3, and the quality was decent. However, it's a DVD-R, not a final authoring, and as I can't be sure it's representative of what will end up at retail, I'm not going to say any more than that.



Audio
Same with the sound. Presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, the sound was clear, but if you're reading this review and are looking to buy this set, I couldn't tell you what you'll be getting.



Conclusion
'Deadliest Catch' is a cracking show, in my opinion second only to 'Mythbusters' in terms of entertainment value per pound on Discovery. I wish I could elaborate more on the second year specifically, but I can't, because someone's too cheap to send us the whole set.

Hence, no scores.