Toughest Place On Earth: Iditarod (Image DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Episodes: C+
The line
between annoying “reality TV” and documentary science/nature programming can be
thin and one of the thinnest we have seen recently is from The Discovery
Channel. Toughest Race On Earth: Iditarod is a series with unnecessarily
degraded images, fast cutaway editing with no point, loud music that is more
distracting than anything else and other clichés that make it one of the poorer
shows the network has produced to date.
Now, six episodes are on DVD.
However,
even through this, there is a good story somewhere to be seen, but it is
unfortunately buried in bells and whistles of the program, leaving the race
competition and the people involved too often playing second banana. Why?
Do the producers think they are being slick? Do they think the audience is dumb? Are they bored with their subject? Do they care?
Not enough to make this the best show they could, so only the very
curious or diehard fans will want to sit through this. The full-length program Expedition Alaska is the only extra, included as a bonus DVD and
after seeing the main episodes, I can see why.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is ruined by all the not-so-fancy cutting
and degrading, sabotaging the scenery too often and color also suffers. Detail is going to be limited from this HD
shoot, but even beyond the limits of DVD itself. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo in both cases is
fine for what it is, but the main Earth
shows are a bit harsher in character when they do not need to be.
- Nicholas Sheffo
