Perilous Journey: National Geographic channel

[tamangel]

tonight:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/across-the-roof-of-africa-3523/Overview

busts both drive shafts in the process..

Mike

 

[blakesrover]

awesome...looks to be good from the little vid clip...i'll make sure to watch

 

[sinuhexavier]

What a rookie...

Can't fix a broken half shaft or broken ujoint?

No tools, no spares?

No problem I'll just call in the mechanic with a sat phone :Wow1:

The only thing that made that a perilous journey was his ineptitude.

How much better would it have been if he whipped out the Pelican and had the full tool kit with the proper spares to do a roadside repair?

 

[traveltoad]

How much better would it have been if he whipped out the Pelican and had the full tool kit with the proper spares to do a roadside repair?

Where's the peril in that.

 

[blakesrover]

dont ruin it for me! lol it's not on for another hour

 

[taco2go]

The part where he's helping out the motorcyclist get up the incline had me quite nervous. :Wow1:

I'm trying to figure it out- was it too much torque/stress due to having the handbrake on while revving the engine (on the switchbacks) that precipitated the shaft break?

Nice show nonetheless- would have liked to see more rock art though.

 

[michaels]

that guy was an idiot.

 

[haven]

For more comments see http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18818

 

[KevinNY]

What a rookie...

Can't fix a broken half shaft or broken ujoint?

No tools, no spares?

No problem I'll just call in the mechanic with a sat phone :Wow1:

The only thing that made that a perilous journey was his ineptitude.

How much better would it have been if he whipped out the Pelican and had the full tool kit with the proper spares to do a roadside repair?

Absolutely agreed, the show was so contrived.

 

[blakesrover]

i'm wondering how the shaft was able to come in and out once he diagnosed the problem on the trail..isn't there something called a drive flange that encloses the axel? i could be wrong on this, but it was no where to be found including the alloy cap, which was on the other side:Wow1:

and of course you always gotta think about the camera angles and wonder what vehicle is following them up the trailhead;/

 

[luangwablondes]

Reminds me of one of my interesting experiences.

I broke the bolts on the u-joint going up the escarpment in North Luangwa NP in Zambia, on a kind of a huge speed bump that directs water during the rains. At 1st I thought I had screwed the pooch. But, in one of the many quirks of the series land rovers design, you can strip nuts and bolts from all kinds of places in a series land rover to make due for that kind of situation.

 

[Colorado David]

i'm wondering how the shaft was able to come in and out once he diagnosed the problem on the trail..isn't there something called a drive flange that encloses the axel? i could be wrong on this, but it was no where to be found including the alloy cap, which was on the other side:Wow1:

and of course you always gotta think about the camera angles and wonder what vehicle is following them up the trailhead;/

Overall, the continuity from wide shots to tight shots was poorly done. The alloy cap was missing in the tight shots of the broken half shaft, but was in place for the wide shots of the vehicle driving front wheel only after the break. It was then missing again in the next tight shots. In all fairness, even for National Geo, these types of shows are done quickly and on limited budgets. There is a need to feed the hundreds of channels with programs. The phenomenal quality of Nat Geo television from the 60s and 70s was really something to behold and is probably partly responsible for my love of wild places.

In addition, it's not easy to find a television host/personality who is capable in front of the camera and skilled in multiple disciplines for an adventure program. One skill set or the other is easy to find, but both in the same package is much tougher. In the former glory of Nat Geo television, real experts were in front of the camera and almost all of the dialogue was covered by a voice over narrator (of magnificent quality, I might ad). Now, in this show, almost all of the dialogue is covered by the on-camera host/personality. I enjoyed the program for what it was and mostly ignored its faults. Thanks for the heads-up on the schedule.

 

[blakesrover]

yes...i agree on ALL that.

I've been around a Nat. Geo shoot on the "Science of Dogs" as they were filming Dogo Argentinos hunting boar. In actuality, the hogs were caught beforehand and then let go in an open field where we then released the dogs to run them down. without doing it that way, there would be absolutely no way of capturing that shot in a real time hunt. but... i guess my point is for what guidelines they have in place for a show, they are able to do a great job and meet them.