Not that this is really important, but it just irritates the hell out of me.
There's a "reality" television show on the Discovery Channel called "Mantracker" in which a modern-day cowboy/backwoodsman/second-rate-Marlboro-Man-knockoff is called upon to basically hunt two complete morons who have volunteered to run around in the wilderness while being followed about by a television production crew. Somehow, this is supposed to be entertaining. It mostly isn't -- unless there's hot chicks being chased. There's a few things obviously wrong with this "game";
a) The "Prey" is starting from a known location and expected to win by beating Mantracker to another known location. Therefore, Mantracker begins the"game" with an advantage; he knows where the finish line is, and his "local guide" can be expected to be at least familiar enough with the terrain to know the best routes to that finish line.
b) The Prey is almost constantly being filmed or taped, as is Mantracker. If Mantracker can't find any sign of the Prey (assuming the Prey is half-way intelligent enough to cover it's tracks/hide it's progress), how do you know he isn't just following the freakin' camera crews tracks, or zeroing in on pre-ordained "waypoints" where the camera crew is already waiting for the Prey to arrive?
c) Very few folks actually beat Mantracker, and when they do, it's usually because Mantracker is about as smart as a doberman with a brain tumor -- which tells you something about the Prey, doesn't it? -- and makes a fundamental mistake (like not following the trail of the camera crew?), or they use a strategy of blazing a trail through terrain where Mantraker's horse can't follow easily. Which is like, duh!, the one strategy you should use all the time.
d) Mantracker and his guide ride horses, the Prey is on foot. It would be much more impressive if Mantracker didn't have the ability to cover far more ground per day than the moronic City-Slicker-Watermelon-Green-metrosexual-wanna-bes (i.e. "Outdoorsy Types") he's typically hunting.
Someone should get this crap off the air, as it has no redeeming value whatsoever and is incredibly tedious, predictable, and boring.
I'm beginning to think the days of the Reality TV show might be coming to an end if this poorly-thought-out premise actually made it to a TV screen. We're scraping the bottom of the barrel, here.
10 comments:
horses add to the challenge, not take away from it.
i guess you've never actually seen when the prey run into the bush and mantracker is just left helpless.
any smart person would also assume that whatever the prey do to hide their foottracks, the camera crew does as well.
also if you're so skeptical of the show why don't you sign up and if you get chosen then you can write an actually appealing, interesting, and informing blog, instead of whatever you call this.
I used to be a hiker and mountain climber when I was younger and wasn't carrying this spare tire. I'm a pretty-experienced outdoorsman, I should think (though definitely not Les Stroud or Bear Grylls!) and I would imagine it can't be very difficult to track anyone being followed about by a small team of people carrying spotlights or reflective panels for the benefit of the cameras.
Not to mention sound gear, and probably half-a-ton of impedimentia the modern television crew requires. Yeah, yeah,spare me the spiel about portability of modern AV gear: you still need a small team to set up shots, get the lighting right, etc.
Tracking TWO people through the wilderness may be hard, but tracking two people being followed by seven or eight others probably less so.
If Mantracker really wants to impress me, send him out to find Bin Laden under the same conditions!
Wow, for not liking the show it seems like you've seen it more than once.
-The idea of the show is to represent a scenario where there are a couple of fugitives on the run and Mantracker and his volunteer track the prey down for capture. This is why the prey is on foot, and Mantracker on a horse.
-Mantracker and his guide DO NOT know the location of the finish line, but they try to estimate the travel direction of the prey, and Mantracker knows about how far they need to go.(20-25 miles)
-Horses are the original All Terrain Vehicles. The prey can't possibly be on terrain horses can't go on, it would wear the prey out too quickly and that type of terrain doesn't always run continuously for long distances.
-I do agree, the camera crew would surely give the positions away of the prey and hunter.
Well, wouldn't I be a fool if I said the show was stupid but had only watched it once?
If a show is lame enough it gets booted off the air. It must have enough viewers, and people obviously like it and don't think it's boring.
You dont have to like it
But your arguments are worthless
You clearly know nothing about how the show is filmed
I happen to know a former contestant.
There is a real chase that takes place, with some prey cam and very limited other footage. Tracker does not know their destination or route. How fast the prey choose to travel, what route, whether to spend time attempting to hide their tracks or not, etc is up to them. He has good tracking skills. The terrain is a major factor in how easy or hard they are to track, spot, ambush, chase. The horses can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on the situation.
Then they recap the race and reenact portions with crews in place to show you what happened, and then cut everything together.
It's a compromise but it's really the only way to have a legit chase and still show you what happened, because camera crew would ruin the whole concept.
So don't run your mouth about things you know nothing about
My, mighty tough talk for someone who posts anonymously.
I'm entitled to my opinion, and you're entitled to your's. It's my page, therefore, my opinion wins....you don't have to like that, either.
By the tone of your response, I reckon you're probably Mantrackers' gay lover, or maybe a member of the crew; most likely the douche they send out to get the horses coffee and a bran muffin every morning.
Then again, I'm thinking that's maybe why you seem so keen to defend what is a rather lame show; it must be the horses. They probably turn you on. How many hours do you spend in front of te TV screen, I wonder, masturbating to Mantracker's horse.
Yeah, i said it, douchebag; if you're going to talk to me like that, at least be enough of a MAN to put your name on it.
Wow, smart talk for someone who has never been in the show...
I dare you to enter the show and see how good you are coming out of it...
Even if you win, it won't be easy...
Mantracker will find you....
You people clearly have no apreciation for the show. If you observe closely, mantracker ignores the camera crew and focuses only on the prey. I mean, just try to go out in the forest and sprint a few miles in rocky terrain or in a forest, mantracker even clearly said in a recent episode that he feels bad when he catches someone because they are tired! What I am trying to say after all this is that if you don't experience something like that for yourself, you should not even try to begin to think that you can say negative things about it.
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