russ@oakhill.UUCP (Russell Schwausch) (08/27/85)
Has anyone been watching Oceanquest on NBC on Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. It's a series that started on Aug 18 and goes for 5 or 6 weeks. The underwater photography is great. The story line leans a lot toward sensationalism but I try to ignore this. One of the stars is Miss World (1980). In the first two segments coverage has included great white sharks, grey sharks, moray eels, sea serpents??? and octopi. There was also a neat shot of a large school of baracuda (about 1000! ; ok maybe it was 2000). The rest of the series should be great too, if the previews are any indication. The claimed motivation for the series is to present a view of the ocean through the eyes of a novice (Miss World). I don't think this is being achieved with any real success. I'm certified (no, as a scuba diver) but haven't done any ocean diving yet. Sharks don't scare me but then I don't plan to do some of the things the divers in the series are doing to bait the sharks. The moray eels looked viscious while eating but friendly as a puppy while being petted, barehanded yet. What I want to know (from some experienced divers) is how much of this show is realistic and how much is artistic license? Meanwhile, tune in next Sunday at 7 p.m. but make sure your tanks are full first. Russ Schwausch <oakhill!russ> Life is what you make it.
jww@sdcsvax.UUCP (Joel West) (08/29/85)
> Has anyone been watching Oceanquest on NBC on Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. > ... One of the stars is Miss World (1980). Oceanquest is what you'd get if the producers of Charlie's Angels brought you "Jacques Costeau" (spelling?) With the worst of both.
bob@pedsgd.UUCP (Robert A. Weiler) (08/30/85)
Organization : Perkin-Elmer DSG, Tinton Falls NJ Keywords: In article <505@oakhill.UUCP> russ@oakhill.UUCP (Russell Schwausch) writes: >Has anyone been watching Oceanquest on NBC on Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. >What I want to know (from some experienced divers) is how much of this show is >realistic and how much is artistic license? > I wont dive up here ( water too cold, murky, and generally ugly ), but I used to dive alot when I lived in Florida.( my folks live on Plantation key, bout 6 miles by boat to Pennekamp park). I only saw about 7 minutes of the last show, but that was enough. The part I saw had Miss World molesting a 4 foot long octopus, urged on by the jerk who arranged this fiasco, while the announcer tried to convince us that Miss World was in some sort of danger. Course eventually they decided that there was no danger. Made me want to throw up. In general, the diver is his own worst enemy. Sea creatures pose little threat. > >Russ Schwausch <oakhill!russ> > >Life is what you make it. Bob Weiler.
repete@inmet.UUCP (09/03/85)
I'm sorry to say I agree with the comparison to Charlie's Angels as far as the OceanQuest "story" goes. Its relationship to the real-life adventures of a novice diver is essentially non-existent, and its sensationalistic approach seems likely to encourage novices to ignore their own judgement regarding potential dangers. On the other hand, the underwater footage is absolutely fantastic. If I had a VCR, I'd tape the shows, edit out the nonsense above water, and replace the commentary with music. I probably couldn't sell it to commercial TV, but I bet I'd have a winner in the underwater film festival arena...