Deadliest Warrior – Season One (2009/Spike/Paramount DVD)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: C+
One of the most amusing
(and amusingly bad) mixes of reality TV, pseudo-documentary, American Gladiator, special interest,
battle competition TV and speculative programming is a series called Deadliest Warrior, a new tough guy series that offers experts and scientific measuring
devise to see how various types of fighters might fare against each other. If course, everything here is quite a stretch
and Season One (2009) offers the
following bizarre shows that when you start to think of each match-up, you know
this show is off its rocker off the bat (and add ‘off the hook’ if you like):
1)
Apache
vs. Gladiator
2)
Viking
vs. Samurai
3)
Spartan
vs. Ninja
4)
Pirate
vs. Knight
5)
Yakuza
vs. Mafia
6)
Green
Beret vs. Spetsnaz (Soviet/Russian commandos)
7)
Shaolin
Monk vs. Maori Warrior
8)
William
Wallace vs. Shaka Zulu
9)
I.R.A.
vs. Taliban
As if there were not
enough wars in the world, this shows feigns historical and factual accuracy,
but has plenty of errors and is more for the WWE/TapOut/UFC crowd. Some people will find that appealing and that
is why it is enough of a hit that it was renewed, but could it at least have
tried to be accurate as often as possible?
Well, you’re not
supposed to care about detail, just enjoy the thing, but this lazy approach
actually sabotages what could have been a much larger hit and a much more
interesting TV show. Yes, the people
they hire to fight at least seem to know what they are doing and are likely as
lethal in real life as they seem to be here, but the show does not have the
same edge and that makes it unintentionally funny throughout.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image was shot on what appears to be 1080i High
Definition video and it is not bad, even with some digital bits here and there,
but it is softer in detail throughout than expected and has a little emotion
blur as well. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has some Pro
Logic surrounds, but not enough to make this sound better and the mix is so
simple stereo that it sometimes seems older than it is. Also, it can be harsh at time. Extras include Producer’s Roundtable, Season
One Wrap-Up and The Aftermath:
Post-Fight Analysis.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
