Shark Week on DVD is the perfect package to remind us all that the ocean is an unknown, terrifying place that can and will bite back at you when given the chance. It’s also a DVD set that shows off some pretty fascinating animals with unique habits of hunting, communicating, procreating and quite a few mysteries that have yet to be seen or solved. Even more, the DVD set has a neat technology and scientific aspect that takes all of the above and makes it more than just a show of sharks doing shark things…although, there is a nice sprinkle of that in the release.
Anyway, Shark Week: Jawsome Encounters has a lot for everyone. Variety is good most of the time, which makes finding flaws for the package somewhat a difficult chore. In true reviewer fashion, though, I have two complaints for this DVD package.
The first, the organization of the DVD set seems to be a little bit random. Typically there is some flow to the madness, at least when it’s on television, but this one seems to be a bit all over the place. One show you learn about the flying great whites in South Africa, but on the same disc you learn about a mysterious Hammerhead named ‘Old Hitler’ living off the coast of Florida. The latter of the two seems straight from another series on Discovery. No consistency can make this feel like a sloppily put together DVD set, which is what you always want to avoid when trying to get consumers to buy your product on a consistent basis.
The second complaint I have is that I wish the content was a bit fresher. For example, the Monster Hammerhead show is from 2014. That’s nearly two years ago. Instead of rehashing old material, Discovery should probably go find some up-to-date stuff and put in a seasonal package. Throwing random shows into special edition DVD releases that have no flow to them is just sloppy at best. I would purchase 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons, if they just went that route. I’m not sure what the motivation of this set was when it was put together, but it’s a mash of greatest hits instead of a new album.
With all this said, if you have never seen some of these and you love sharks, this stuff can be quite good to watch. A few of my favorites from this DVD release are as follows:
Monster Hammerhead – I knew this was never going to conclude with a giant Hammerhead being found. It rates up there with finding Big Foot documentaries that Discovery used to air during the summer and into the fall. Regardless, it was neat seeing some cool locales and some interesting diving places, especially when the show goes diving at night time. It was also fascinating to learn about hammerhead habits and how cool the shark actually is in real life. My kids liked this one, as they were on the edge of their seat more than their dad.
Alien Shark: Return to the Abyss – This one is pretty low key when it comes to action, although I know Discovery did some editing and then some to make it more suspenseful. A man lives on a fishing boat and his job is to make sure rare sharks aren’t killed in nets. People call him up on deck to retrieve, research and then let go rare sharks from the depths of the ocean. It’s a neat show that gives a glimpse of some unknown sharks of the deep, as well as some random other animals, and provides some great information that most viewers probably didn’t know. I like this one for the educational purpose.
Spawn of Jaws: The Birth – The late, great Paul Walker joins scientist Michael Domeier to discover the mysterious birthing of great whites that is rarely seen, much less captured on film. The episode is as low key as Alien Shark and it features a very enthusiastic Paul Walker, who proves that actors can be more than just onscreen characters — they can be genuine people who are just as curious as us about life’s mysteries. What’s tragic about this episode is that Walker passed away during filming, which is addressed in it as well. A good episode for a lot of reasons.
Sharksanity – Yeah, enjoy this one. We’ll just leave it at that.
There are some more episodes on this set that give you a few choices of entertainment with the Megalodon and the one where people are getting eaten being my least favorite (couldn’t even get through the latter). As a whole, there is a lot to like about this release, as it does cater to a lot of tastes, but I think Discovery just needs to think through some themes or seasons and make sure the DVD set is worth the price of admission and not just rehash of old material.
With that said, if you enjoy Shark Week and you need a good reason for goosebumps before you go to the beach, this is certainly a way to go. You can’t really go wrong with 13 solid shows about sharks, even if some of them aren’t that great. Overall, it’s still a good reflection on how cool and traditional Shark Week has become.
