Customer Reviews

Man vs. Wild: Season 1

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I abosuletly love this show. Some people say Bear loses a lot for having a camera crew and putting himself into certain situations that aren't truly dangerous, but this is a television show and it is supposed to be entertaining.
With that aside, I bought this 6-DVD set from amazon with hopes of it being of high quality. I was sorely mistaken. These are DVD-R transfers from an outside company.
The downsides to this set include:
There are no interactive menus
The letterbox presentation bars at the top are unsteady and shake.
The actual shows are not of DVD quality
On the second disk of part one, it wouldn't return back to the menu after the episode was over, it just returned to the middle of the episode.

I returned this item to amazon and they were very friendly about the entire ordeal. Their customer service has never steered me wrong.

The actual Discovery channel box set of Man vs. Wild season 1 has fixed all of the above mentioned problems because they are the actual DVDs. So in short--if you want a good copy of a great show buy the Discovery Channel DVD's.

Over all a very entertaining program, but be forewarned that this DVD release reflects the recent re-editing of the episodes. The original concept of the show has been changed from "finding your way back to civilization," to an on location demonstration of survival technique. While the original concept was more fun to watch, it had been criticized because various situations were staged without informing the audience. The re-edited episodes explain when and where Bear receives outside help. The new concept is more honest, but leaves on the editing room floor scenes that were more staged for their own good, such as the wild horses and bunny kill from the Sierra Nevada episode.

The Hawaiian, the MOAB and the pilot episodes are also missing from this set, as they have been highly criticized for their authenticity.

Also please be aware that this DVD set is presented as non-anamorphic video.

Bear Grylls still comes off as being very charismatic and very hungry. Despite its short comings, this is still a worthy purchase for any Man Vs Wild fan as it is plenty fun to watch, and you might even learn something.

Bear Grylls served in the British Special Forces; at the time he climbed Everest, he broke the world record as the youngest ever to do so; he parasailed the same mountain (really, he had an oxygen tank and a special parasail); he is an avid rockclimber, mountaineer, and adventurer; needless to say, Bear Grylls is a pretty cool guy.

That's why Man vs. Wild, a show dedicated to survival, tends to fixate on him; but this isn't a bad thing. The show is only partly instructional; if person wants some real lessons in survival, they need more then just Man vs. Wild.

A review of the show is not complete without mentioning its scenery. Filmed in HD, this show has some great shots of the world's most foreboding wildernesses; wide angle shots are fantastically directed (even if it takes always from the sincerity of the "survival" situation.) and Bear always needs to get into a place in an interesting way; weather it's hangliding, parachuting, jumping out of a helicopter, or some other stunt; these scenes, while a bit contrived, are incredibly fun to watch.

There is a gross-out factor to this show, and the editors know it. Bear often has to find food, lacking options, like a fire, he must sometimes eat some disgusting things raw, which is shown in a little too much detail. But even this has a point; it does show what a person must go through in order to survive. Despair, I have heard, is the number one killer; keeping a positive, survivalist attitude is the most important factor.

It's also worth noting that the show doesn't shy away form some of the crueler aspects of life; Bear must sometimes hunt, and kill medium sized animals (sometimes cute ones); it shows the complete process, from capture to preparation to eating. For this the show has taken some heat from environmentalists (I believe there is a petition to get it off the air.) Bear Grylls clearly has a reverence for the beauty of nature, but he is not deluded as to what nature is; he's no environmentalist (at least not by their standards.)

Bear Grylls also took some heat awhile ago for supposedly not being authentic; that he was actually much safer then he said he was. I tend to put such accusations under the same category as the people who where shocked to learn that Ashley Simpson was lip-synching. Of course it's not completely real, the fact that he has a camera crew with him tells you something; the wide angle shots have to be planned, and I'm sure the crew is not scrounging for food like Bear. Still, Bear really jumps into crocodile and leech infested swamps, really boulders that steep rock-face, and really does all the things impossible to fake. There are also times when Bear is clearly nervous, like when a good sized shark was circling his small raft in the pacific.

This might sound cruel of me; but I enjoy watching this show from the safety of my own home; watching Bear Grylls have to ring water out of his own socks; or walk through is water; or futilely try to start a fire in the rainforest; makes me feel cozy.

People don't seem to realize how big this world is, this is only occasionally demonstrated in the media; when a rich adventure's plane went down, the largest single man-hunt in history couldn't find him; and that was in America! This show gives a clear sense of the scale of our planet, and how little of it we actually occupy.

I like this show because it's only star - Bear Grylls- is a clearly confident, competent, and strong individual. It also perfectly demonstrates, implicitly, the importance of technology in our lives, by showing what life is when a person is (mostly) detached from it.

Man vs. Wild is an amazing show that gives you insight to the wilderness as you may only hope to experience someday. Top notch.

The DVDs are pirated-looking with no options at all other than play track. When you play, it starts with the Discovery OnDemand animation, letting you know these were probably not far from pirated DVDs. Nonetheless the show is great, but the DVDs leave much to be desired.

This is a good DVD set if you like the show. It is pretty bare bones if you are looking for DVD extras. It esentially has the show and thats about it. However, if you are like me you don't watch those extra's most of the time anyway.

My son likes the Man vs. Wild programs on the Discovery Channel. He is deaf and the programs are close-captioned. I bought him the Season 1 DVDs for Christmas - assuming they would also be close-captioned. They are not, and therefore he cannot enjoy them. I also bought Seasons 2 & 3; they are close-captioned. There is nothing on any of the 3 sets stating whether or not they are captioned. This is something that really needs to be addressed by the Discovery Channel. I feel cheated: buying something my son cannot use.

I try to catch the show whenever I can. It's not that I am going to go out there in the wild anytime soon, but it never hurts to know these possible life saving tips. People complain about how the show is not 'real' enough. Now I ask these people who sit comfortably at home,'Even with all the help you ever need, are you able to scale those cliffs, swim across arctic water, and swallow the food that Bear puts in his mouth?' Bear is here to eduacate and also entertain us, and in my opinion he is doing a great job.

I love this season! So many episodes to watch. Covers almost every demographic from, the desert to the jungle, the hottest areas in the world to the coldest areas in the world. Great set, Very happy!

When I ordered this DVD for a Christmas gift, I found out that the DVD would not play on a Blue Ray player. When I contacted the Discovery Channel store in regards to the defective DVD, they continued to state that it was not returnable or exchangeable due to it being an opened DVD (though we did not know of the problem until we tried to watch the season),as well as a DVD apparently not suited for a blue ray player. Those of us that have a blue ray know that blue ray or not, it should still play, therefore this should not have been an issue. Regardless I checked upon their recommendation to find a Blue Ray DVD in the season one and there was no such thing! Even after telling them, I would pay the difference if they could get me a Blue Ray season one, I would keep the old one if they could send a new one that did work, I would pay for an original one if they could let me know it was viewable... and anything else I could say to get across that I just want a DVD that will play in my DVD player... it was all useless! In the end, I still have the defective DVD that will not play... along with a very bad taste for the Discovery Channel. As an educator and it being my very first personal experience ordering from the Discovery Store, I highly recommend NOT ordering from their store due to the very poor customer service this would be both professionally for the classroom and personally for your own entertainment.

Despite what anyone says about either Survivorman or Man Vs Wild, both have different qualities, both are great shows that I love. They have both changed throughout the seasons. You can't say that Man vs Wild is fake. Maybe they put him in staged things here and there to show you how to survive, but that's half the point of the show, to inform the viewer. But he is really jumping off waterfalls, eating bugs, getting sick, taking risks. To think that either of them are really alone in the wilderness is dumb. If there were a real emergency in either case, (even with survivorman, where most people like the fact that he is "alone") you can bet the producers of the show would be sending in the lifelines, while the camera men jumped in and helped. If they didn't, and something happened to either of the shows stars, it would be their butts on the line. The reality of it is, they are both t.v. shows! However much you want to believe is real or not, depends on your personal opinion. Survivor man is a good show. Man vs. Wild is a good show. Bear Grills is a good guy with high spirits that takes real risks while teaching you things that could literally save your life. What's not to like? Either way, it's entertaining.