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ZMAN
March 8th, 2011, 03:50 PM
We recently got a new to Canada show on Showcase, called Sea Patrol It is about the Australian navy boat called the Hamersley. I was wondering what you Aussies think about this show.
If you read the promos it seems to be a hit over there but I was wondering what people actually thought about it.

Ch0jin
March 8th, 2011, 05:29 PM
Haha, I know it well. It's a guilty pleasure of mine in fact. Let me tell you about Sea Patrol.....

I think they've had four seasons and supposedly a new one due this year so they must be doing something right.... Unlike the crew. The biggest laugh I get out of the show is the fact that if a real navy crew made as many mistakes as these guys do episode to episode, they'd all be working at 7-11 now. That's just down to the writers though as it seems every second episode revolves around some kind of stupid mistake a crew member makes. Crew member smuggles monkey on board, crew member accidentally tosses cyanide in other crew members face, crew member bonks other crew member etc etc etc.

The other fun thing to do is spot technical errors. One of my favourites was during a scene where they were about to undertake a boarding of a ship full of gunmen who had some of the crew hostage. The female XO, trying to sound all hard core and go get 'em says "Full Kevlar....Extra plates" with a sneer. To me it sounded like running into a fight, and instead of saying "I'm gunna mess you up", saying "I'm gunna defend the hell outta myself". The other one that springs to mind is in the season where they get a new state of the art boat, there's an episode where a guy on a fishing boat opens fire with an AK and all the glass in the bridge shatters like regular old window glass. Really? Standard glass in the windows of a navy patrol boat? Methinks not...

It's quite "light", no swearing or nudity or anything, no OTT violence. It's no Band of Brothers or Generation Kill but it's fun and worth a look. Pretty girls (albeit in navy overalls most of the time) great scenery and they blow stuff up pretty regularly.

ZMAN
March 8th, 2011, 06:30 PM
I see that my wife and I agree with you on the dumb moves by the crew. I was going to say that if that was what was guarding me I would be very scared. We are getting into reruns and they already have the new Hamersley. It seems the same guys just keep getting away, and the Navy has it's hands tied. I loved the one where they tried to board an illegal fishing boat and the guys stuck a punch of poles out and they had to abort the mission. I guess they forgot they had guns in their hands lol. The one on tonight was a laugh. They go onto an island looking for "Swain" and find the rebel camp empty.
Meanwhile Swain is digging his own grave. They find the camp is abandoned and they radio the ship. Then turn around and walk single file down the trail, and 20 yards to the right in the open is the Russian mecenary making Swain dig his own grave and nobody notices!
The show is a lot of fun and you can't take it too seriously. I just wasn't sure how the Aussie audience took it.
One thing about it I have done some research on Cairn, what a beautiful place. Also the Armidale class cruisers that they are portraying.
I do have relatives in Australia, and when my Dad Mum and I came from Scotland in 1948 it was either Canada or Australia. Canada it was , I was 1 1/2 years old and I could have been an Aussie. My Dad's sister lives there.

Ch0jin
March 8th, 2011, 07:03 PM
Awesome, I cant speak for Australians in general, but it sure sounds like you and your wife see it the same way I do. You cant take it too seriously. If I want serious, I'll watch reports and documentaries of our troops in Afghanistan. That stuff is hard to watch. Anyway....

Cairns (we pronounce it "Can's" by the way) is nice, but the real gems are just outside of Cairns. To the north, great white water rafting through tropical rainforest, and to the east the Great Barrier Reef. Cairns city centre is one big tourist trap that locals try to avoid. That said, it's always chock full of 18-30 backpackers partying which can be a good thing ;)

I know what you mean with the "guarding" comment. Fortunately the only thing we have to guard against is illegal fishing and illegal immigration and even that is more a job for the Darwin boys up the top of the country. The top of Aus is the closest point to Indonesia which is about the only border we need to watch, and that's why we have a navy base in Darwin. I don't think anyone has actually tried to attack us -at home- since the Japanese in WW2.

I was born here, but if you go back a few generations my ancestors actually moved from England to Australia, although, they didn't really have a choice if you know what I mean :)

ZMAN
March 8th, 2011, 07:38 PM
My Dad came back from the war to Scotland and there was nothing much going on for him there. He came to Canada with 10 bucks in his pocket with me and my mother, and went on to a great and prosperous life here. He is still alive at 84 and sharp as a tac. He was the Plant Manager of a Westinghouse plant here and retired from there 26 years ago. He was in the Royal navy and I think he would die laughing if he saw Sea Patrol. His sister is still alive in Australia. We got a call from them on Christmas Eve about 20 years ago, and I remeber it was over 100 degrees there at that time. We are in the dead of winter then.
I will pass on your impressions of the show. I heard through the grapevine that in the next season ET has left the service and is diving for a living on an oil rig, and turns up dead. That should be interesting.
Thanks for the feedback