Crocodile Hunter (Discovery Channel Series - Animal Planet)

Posted by Jan den Breejen on February 25, 2000 at 11:47:42:

My first thought after seeing the Crocodile Hunter for the first time was Is this guy for REAL? I mean, there he was, standing in a boat letting a python bite him deep in the arm, over and over again, while his wife was overboard, thrashing around in supposedly croc-infested waters after being knocked out of the boat by a low-hanging branch. Or there he was again, this time wading through the same waters in the middle of the night, telling us that he can feel one of the large reptiles brushing up against his leg as he pokes it with a stick. There he was working his way down an abandoned mine shaft for a closer look at some salamanders when he slipped and almost fell to his death. Thank goodness he was nearby when Terri lost her footing while rapelling down a deep chasm -- murmuring to herself that she had met her end -- until Steve swung around the corner and escorted her to safety.

For an expert outdoorsman, Steve Irwin seems to get into a lot of trouble while trekking across the outback in search of wildlife, or even while walking across camp to get to the outhouse. Oh, sure, it could be he's just a little nervous in front of the camera, so his feet get crossed and he ends up having yet another brush with death caught on film. Couldn't it? Maybe.

Another thought occurred to me after I had seen every one of the original eleven episodes picked up by Animal Planet: Why weren't there more episodes made? The copyright dates are 1992, so you would figure that by now Animal Planet would have six or seven years of episodes from which to choose, not just the same eleven over and over again. Unless there were only eleven made. But how could that be? How could a show this action-packed and crammed with exciting Australian wildlife have such a short run Down Under? Did Irwin really tank in his own country, despite his new celebrity in the States? Are the Aussies hip to something about Irwin that we Yanks don't see?

I really started to worry about all this. I mean, I'd already put a lot of time into this show -- taped every episode, made a Crocodile Hunter web page, raved to my friends about what a maniac (but devoted naturalist) this Steve Irwin is -- and I just didn't want to believe that Steve could be anything less than Paul Hogan and Jacko combined. Then, in the middle of my fret-fest, Animal Planet premiered Outlaws of the Outback, and I got so caught up in the site of Steve muckin' about with bucketfuls of mice -- I mean hundreds...thousands of mice, man! All over the place! It was amazing! -- that I let go my worries and let myself relax in the belief that Steve Irwin was the coolest import since Mad Max.

++++ As you can guess by now Steve's character can be described as 'adventurous style' in the character set of dr. Oldman. The enneagrammists would call him a counterfobic personality. Very much alike Mel Gibson!

Jan

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Follow Ups:

• Re: Crocodile Hunter (Discovery Channel Series - Animal Planet) Jan 03:24:17 03/02/00 (0)
• Re: Crocodile Hunter (Discovery Channel Series - Animal Planet) Emily 16:24:39 02/25/00 (1)
  • Hmm, you might come in handy if we ever go on a safari together =oP Cory [nt] 16:26:55 02/25/00 (0)

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