Customer Reviews

Man vs. Wild

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I was never really interested in 'survival' programmes on the context of the fact I live in a city/town and the only wilderness around here is a small family park with a small duck pond, not exactly the Rockies.

I found survival documentaries slightly dull, not the programmes themselves, but the fact that it was a topic/genre I could not connect with or relate to. Survival experts seemed to belong to another lifestyle incorporating hunters through to paranoid doomsday nuts (I was very naive about the subject). Survival programmes usually had a barrel-chested bearded guy with glazed twitching eyes trying to show us how to make a smoking-jacket out of some poor rabbit and some leaves for a cravat.

However, I really enjoy the Man vs. Wild ones. In fact, nowadays I like survival programmes a lot, and my naivety about them is now only 'slightly pathetic'.

I first watched this on the Discovery channel, though it was re-titled (or may have been originally titled, I am not too sure) Born Survivor. I slowly come to liked it, listening to Bear Gryll's morbid stories of 'travelers' and 'hikers' meeting a doomed fate - he ALWAYS has a story to go with a poisonous plant, or a man-eating frog, etc. It was also funny watching him eat some gigantic insects to 'survive' and whilst he is telling us that these are good for us he squirms and chews with disgust at what the poor creature tastes like. There is also a slight Steve Irwin OTT drama about Bear Grylls also. For example, watching him jump off a helicopter with a slight over dramatic "yee-hah!"

Man vs. Wild is survival in a dramatic, but fun way, glamourising environments that most of us city dwellers will seldom see, besides sitting on our sofas watching TV.

Grylls comes across as a likeable fella, he seems the type to be devoted to what he does, and I guess that's what makes the programme work well. It must be great to have a job one enjoys as a hobby.

A lot has been said recently about 'faking' parts; I do not know why people would believe that these Man vs. Wild docs were 100 percent genuine. I spotted it first time I watched them, for example Grylls climbs a cliff type face yet the cameraman is at the top filming him climbing up, yet they are `all' together.

The fuss over these programmes came about because of an uproar over 'fake' scandals on British TV (fake phone-in scandals, dodgy editing on a Royal family documentary trailer that made the Queen look like she walked out of a photoshoot in a huff when she was exactly walking IN to the photoshoot, and she wasn't in a huff). Grylls came into the firing line, though his seem the most innocent. His programmes are fun and educational, if you really think that he can walk across most of Alaska and suddenly find an abandoned boat to rescue himself are slightly naive.

Another clear indication to viewers that certain parts are dramatized for artistic lisence is that each episode has a 'plot' arc which is as follows: Grylls gets stranded (albeit, purposely), Grylls has to get to a certain position covering many miles or/and obstacles whilst telling us how to accomplish it, and, finally, Grylls gets rescued or he escapes. It's that simple. The fact that certain things were planned was not shocking. He is showing how things should be done in the wild. If it was 100 percent real what are the chances he could find every plant he wanted to show us ("This is poisonous, don't eat it") or get a camera crew up a cliff? I am sure Grylls, being one of the youngest to climb Everest and being an ex-TA SAS Special Forces soldier could do all the stuff he wants to do, but people forget that programmes are made with the restrictions of lawyers, health and safety people and, most importantly, the liability and insurance restrictions. I also read somewhere that during his time with the SAS he broke his back from a parachuting mishap and spent months recovering, so I think he has already taken enough risks in his lifetime without folks calling him a 'fake'.

I am not writing this review to defend the guy, however, as a fan of the series I was worried that they would not make any more, which would be a huge shame in my opinion.

All in all, you have to take these programmes as they are - a dramatic calculated documentary about survival techniques that appeal to an audience that may not necessarily like 'survival' documentaries. It is fun yet informative, and whilst most of us will never experience some of the things Grylls does, I guess there are loads of us who wish we could get off our lazy arrses and experience some of these journeys through the exotic and hostile environments that our diverse world has to offer.

If you like Bear Grylls stuff, you may also like Ray Mears programmes as well.

I'm a huge fan of the show, but this DVD disappoints. First, the episode list that is listed here on Amazon, isn't what's on the actual DVDs. There is no desert island episode, or Colorado Rockies for example. Plus the episodes that are on the DVD, well they aren't the original broadcast edited versions...they've been re-edited. For example, there is no horse taming scene in the Sierra Nevada episode. Now while some may feel good about that, as they called some of those scenes fake, I think it's a poor choice to not include the ORIGINAL episodes as they were meant to be.

And there are no bonus features on this disc, UNLESS you call "deleted scenes" from the Sierra Nevada episode (which the scenes in question are already included in the final cut of the episode anyway), and a quick montage of eating bugs as bonus material...then well, there really isn't anything here worthwhile. Plus the menus are designed horribly. The DVD seems like it was authored in some guys living room using cheap software. Discovery should be ashamed of themselves. Plus whatever happened to releasing shows by season? That would have been much better as well.

Bear and the manufacturer of para glider engines take off from a base camp trying to be the first to para glide over the peak of Mt. Everest. The noticeably shaken manufacturer/engineer gives up about 1/3 of the way up, but Bear para glides so high, his altimeter/gps freezes at 20 thousand some odd feet. It is absolutely amazing and no one could ever question his will as he makes it to the top and back with little more than a parachute, massive fan harnessed to his back, some warm clothes and an O2 tank. He absolutely shattered the world record height record for para gliding that day.

Yes, I think it's funny when Bear lays out snow chicken traps made out of shoe laces, doesn't catch anything and then appears with a dead snow chicken saying "if you had caught one, this is how you'd eat it" but it is a great show to watch in High Definition. Bear engages my son and I, we giggle when he says "glaciers, vitamins and crevaces". The shows take us to great locations with beautiful scenery and keep us engaged for an hour. Who cares if during days and days of filming in hostile conditions at remote locations he spends a few nights in a motel. My hat goes off to Bear. He is driven, common-sense clever, entertaining and crazy.

Man vs. Wild is a fun show to watch and talk about. I put it in a league of it's own. It is better than 99% of the mind numbing crap found on TV today.

It really doesn't matter if he has a crew and researchers and people making sure he is safe, or if some shots are staged. This show is not about Bear really surviving.

It is a *demonstration* of how to survive in extreme circumstances.

Lighten up, it is a very entertaining show, even if some of the techniques
are suspect, even if there is a crew with him...and if you really believe
that he jumps off a cliff into a river before first having the crew
check it out for depth and rocks, well then, you don't get what the show is trying to do. Entertain first, teach second.

5 stars for an original and very fun show to watch.

Discovery channel started airing the episodes of Man vs Wild again in late September and a lot of the editing and narration has been redone. Each episode now begins with a disclaimer stating "Due to health and safety regulations certain precautions were taken..." and so on. The narration also states, in addition to "A camera crew will follow me", that he will "recieve help from local experts along the way if needed".

One major change I did see was in the Scotland episode where he caught a rabbit with a snare. Before he shouted "I see movement!" and ran over to the rabbit, killed it, and ate it. Now the narration gives a brief description on why they killed a rabbit and states that "this time my snares didn't catch any rabbits, but I'm going to show you what to do if you did catch one" then he kills and eats the rabbit just like before.

IMO this extra editing is most likely why the DVD's release was pushed back from early September.

Also, in Bear's defense, Jackie Chan had a similar problem when he started filming in the US. Remember when he used to do his own stunts? Maybe Bear was never given this chance.

The list of epsiodes Amazon lists above are not correct. These are the episodes that are actually on this DVD:

*European Alps
*Sierra Nevada
*Alaskan Mountain
*African Savannah
*Everglades
*Ecuador
*Kimberly, Australia
*Mexico
*Iceland
*Scotland

Bear Grylls is over the moon with entertainment & he is a true stud. Who cares if he has some support. I have never met anyone who could pull off even one of his stunts with support after eating a live reptile & drinking water out of an animal dung puddle. Most of all Bear does not hide his faith in God & I respect him for this above all.

Baer goes around in the natural environment and shows you how to survive in that element. He also shows you worst case situations. Is it fake? no. Is it 100 % real? no. It isn't shown in real time, meaning 1hr of being in the wild = 1hr of show. So of course they edit. The producers also assist with the survival options placed in his path to show you what to do if you run into such circumstances; dead sheep used for shelter, pre plotted caves for shelter, dead animals used for food, etc. The show is using a storyline to assist you the person in those situations, not Baer in his 'pure' situation. Meaning to say, they illustrate you more options than you may run into so you can have a greater knowledge base to make decisions that will save your life- OHH YEAH, and the show is entertaining as hell. People, please relax. It's not a con, it's cool.

I bought this collection as a replacement for an existing set that I had. It was purchased from the Discovery Channel's website for $40 and was housed in 4 full-sized DVD cases in a chintzy cardboard outer sleeve. This set is one case with two discs and has bonus features that the other set didn't have. The first season is my favorite so far and the new season is a very close second. If you're a fan at all, I highly recommend this set and for $15, you can't beat it!

We love Bear Grylls at our house. It does not bother us in the least if Bear himself didn't build every raft or cut down every piece of bamboo. He has learned skills from experts and teaches them to his watchers. Isn't everyone in a learning stage in life? Teachers must learn before they can teach. The fact remains, Bear IS out there doing the things he does. If he spends a night in a hotel to save his life now and then, hooray! If he didn't, we wouldn't have any more episodes to watch. And we will continue to watch every episode.
I must say that I would love, however, to see how the crew works and what they do while Bear is eating snakes and frogs and sleeping in snow caves.