Plot: What’s it about?
The oceans hold a lot of valuable content, from pirate treasure to sunken ships to historical artifacts. In some cases, private teams of divers explore the depths, in search of gold, jewels, and other riches. But some dive teams are in search of more than simple treasures, such as the ones featured on The Sea Hunters. These divers seek out underwater historical locations, from shipwrecks to sites of important events. The team then explores the location, looking for whatever they can find to help complete the historical record, so any detail is worthwhile. The dive team is headed up by maritime archaeologist James Delgado and action-adventure author Clive Cussler, so each dive is well planned, technically sound, and well executed. Each episodes offer historical perspective, the dive’s planning process, and footage of the dive itself, so you’re there for the entire process.
The Sea Hunters is a great show, a unique program that combines underwater exploration and historical record. The episodes follow the team from conception to execution, so we’re able to see how each dive is mapped out. The planning process is extensive and it was cool to see the team work around technical challenges, as the show offers true depth on the process. In addition to the planning process, The Sea Hunters offers interviews with experts on each historical element and in some cases, words from those who lived through the experience. Of course, the show wouldn’t be complete without the dive itself and the underwater photography is quite impressive. So we’re there for the plan, the execution, and we’re given some great interviews to help put the scope of the dive into perspective. The Sea Hunters: Set 2 has six episodes, some World War 2 related and some not. I enjoyed the Andrea Gail and Carpathia episodes the most, but all six were solid. So if you’re interesting the worlds of history and diving, The Sea Hunters is worth a look.
Video: How does it look?
The episodes are presented in full frame, as intended. The visuals here look good, but not remarkable. In other words, all the visuals look solid, but you won’t be dazzled by what you see. The dive photography comes across well, which is crucial, since that is one of the show’s main draws. The rest of the footage looks reasonable, about what you’d expect if you found the show while flipping around the channels. I might sound disappointed, but that isn’t the case. The show looks good, just not great.
Audio: How does it sound?
This sounds about like it would when broadcast, solid and more than acceptable. The interviews sound clear and clean, as they should. The rest of the material sounds like a live, as it happens type show, from the reserved audio of the planning stages to the more tense dive sequences. The underwater scenes sound a little different of course, but regardless of what the scene is, the audio is solid throughout.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The extras here are some bonus footage for each episode, plus a profile on Clive Cussler.
