Animal Planet

Still dogged by the Japanese spy ship, with one engine broken down and an inoperable crane making it impossible to launch their attack boats, Capt. Watson heads the Steve Irwin back to port in Melbourne for repairs. Along the way, the underpowered ship has to outrun a massive storm that has the crew banging into things below deck while Watson, who’s obviously been through storms like this before, is reciting sea-related poetry for the benefit of the cameras. Once the skies clear, the seas calm and the fearful hours are over, the relieved volunteers are ready to party. Not so […]

By Elaine B Pottsie and Giles, having been “liberated” from the Japanese whaling vessel and reunited with their mates on the Sea Shepherd are basking in their 15 minutes of media fame  — including Greenpeace condemning their actions and the Australian government beginning a criminal investigation into their actions — when a new problem arises. Out in the cold Antarctic waters, the crew spies an unknown Japanese vessel. It’s the Oriental Bluebird, a ship the Sea Shepherds rammed a couple of years ago. Now it’s back but its intentions are not clear.

By Elaine B The episode opened with the crew still divided over whether Potsie (Benjamin Potts) and Giles Lane should have boarded the Japanese whaler. But no one could argue that their actions created exactly the international incident Capt. Watson hoped for. “We live in a media culture and things don’t happen unless they appear on television,” he said. Meanwhile, volunteer Paul Brown has a more cynical outlook. “The media is very important even if I don’t like them,” he told the cameras. The irony of that seemed to have been lost on him. The media feeding frenzy forced the […]

Capt. Paul Watson took a hint from The Prince (as in Machiavelli) in this episode and decided to give the whalers something they must have wished for after the stink bombs started hitting their deck: two of his crew as hostages. Watson wanted to use a hostage situation to force Australia, whose government conveniently ignored the whalers even though public sentiment was against allowing the kill. As shown last week, it was Steve Irwin’s wife Terri who christened the Sea Shepherd vessel filmed for this series. As she did, she said, “If Steve were alive, he’d be aboard with them.” […]

By ElaineB Ice Road Truckers and those hunks on Deadliest Catch, move over. The scrawny crew of vegans on the Sea Shepherd have the REAL dangerous job. And they don’t even get paid to do it. Led by eco-warrior (or eco-terrorist, depending on your perspective) Paul Watson, the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin (Irwin’s widow christened the ship) travels the Antarctic waters in search of whaling ships that they will then disable or, if possible, sink. In the past, they have gone after illegal whalers, a perfect target for Watson and his crew as no government would bring charges for […]