Whale Wars Premiers Tonight: Test Your Sea Shepherd Trivia
For diehard fans of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Captain Paul Watson, or the Whale Wars series, today is a great day because season 4 of Whale Wars premiers in just hours. – Global Animal
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Whale Wars, in which a ragtag band of enviro-crusaders in inflatable dinghies and refitted fisheries enforcement vessels chase, harass and try to disrupt Japanese whaling off the coast of Antarctica, returns Sunday.
Watson, speaking by phone from dry land -location undisclosed -was guardedly optimistic that Japan's "whaling for research purposes" has been suspended for good. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's campaign against Japanese whaling in the ironically named Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary off the coast of Antarctica was out of sight and out of mind for most TV viewers -until, that is, film cameras brought the urgency, rough seas and thrill-of-the-chase into people's living rooms.
Whale Wars has since gone on to become one of Animal Planet's most watched programs: a living, breathing example of what one Discovery Communications executive -Animal Planet's parent company -said at the time was indicative of the channel's move into "competitive adult TV."
"We've demonstrated we can shut them down," Watson said, of the Japanese whalers. Whale Wars has been accused of telling only one side of the story -that of the protesters. Watson is unapologetic, though. As for being ridiculed and parodied in the 2009 South Park episode Whale Whores -with its mocking newspaper headlines such as "Whale Wars Gets Better: Things Actually Happen!" If anything, he was glad that South Park raised the issue of illegal whaling before an even larger audience than watches Whale Wars.