Special Forces: Manhunt debuts tonight on the Military Channel

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hikeeba

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Jul 20, 2006
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Here we go again. Maybe....

Special Forces; Manhunt puts SAS operative Chris Ryan in situations in different parts of the world hwere he must accomplish a task while evading capture by a special forces team that is trying to hunt him down.

In light of the whole Bear Grylls fiasco, i am skeptical that this show will be nothing more than an hour long 're-creation' of events that might occur would this have been an actual excercise. The way the previews played it out though, was that it was more or less like a filmed training, and not a pre-planned scenario that was acted out.

The Military Channel will be running 3 episodes back-to-back tonight starting at 8:00 EST. I plan on recording all three episodes.

In other TV-related W&SS news, the local morning radio show I listen to will be interviewing Les Stroud via phone tomorrow around 9:00 am. They know who les is, but otherwise have no clue about survival, so I don't expect it to be a great segment. It'll probably be a good test of Les' 'idiot radio interview' survival skills!
 
Sounds like an interesting concept. I would imagine that the camera crew and 10 support people would give the dude's location away though. Maybe they have some clever way of filming it while not giving away his location.
 
Figures as always we get the good stuff late on this side of the pond.

Sasha
 
I have a friend that does this for the air force, although I don't think its as intense. The sessions just last several hours and is more new recruits as opposed to special forces.
 
I wached all three episodes on youtube in the past weeks, they are fun, makes you think about E&E a little, differently specialy for me with NO military experience.
 
The difference is that Ryan was a really SAS, not a reservist who hoped to be SAS someday.

EDIT after watching it. Meh. Better than Bear ofcourse.
 
I was referring more to the way the whole thing was approached...too much drama...everybody was an expert, probably true but I guess my information retention is such that I don't need to be reminded of it every time the guy shows his face on camera. Much respect to Chris Ryan...he's certainly been there and done some things I've not, but it's sad that he let himself be constantly described as "top operative" Chris Ryan and "special agent" Chris Ryan. This forced drama, for me, subtracted from both the premise and the credibility of the show.

I probably shouldn't complain too much...I really only had the opportunity to watch the Siberia episode...maybe the others were different. I did see some blatantly dumb violations of cold weather protocol which more than likely added to the "severe hypothermia" suffered by Chris.

It's an exciting concept that doesn't need any added drama...cut the BS and fill the space with something useful...better explanations of "why" this or that technique was employed.

just griping, I guess...will be bitter until I see Ray Mears televised in the US.
 
Hunting Chris Ryan is a real good show. I enjoyed watching it:D
 
hikeeba said:
In light of the whole Bear Grylls fiasco, i am skeptical that this show will be nothing more than an hour long 're-creation' of events that might occur would this have been an actual excercise.
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I've seen a few episodes, it is more about Escape and Evade, than Survival, but it is interesting anyway.
I don't know how much it is the real thing (did he really nearly froze to death or was it re-enactment etc...), but the point of the show is IMO more about smart skills/tactics than about how badass is C.Ryan.
Fact is they show many interesting techniques most of them being no-nonsense and efficient. The explanations are pretty clear and didactic. There are a few "spectacular" sequences but not enough to spoil the whole thing.

The only problem is IMO, that unless you happen to be chased by some large enemy force, you'll probably won't ever need those skills.
 
I recorded all three episodes, but only got to see the second half of Siberia, and almost all of Honduras.

Ravaillac said:
I've seen a few episodes, it is more about Escape and Evade, than Survival, but it is interesting anyway.
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Agreed. I see survival as the foundation of escape and evasion, which is why I was drawn to this show.

Ravaillac said:
I don't know how much it is the real thing (did he really nearly froze to death or was it re-enactment etc...), but the point of the show is IMO more about smart skills/tactics than about how badass is C.Ryan.
Fact is they show many interesting techniques most of them being no-nonsense and efficient. The explanations are pretty clear and didactic. There are a few "spectacular" sequences but not enough to spoil the whole thing.
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Again, I agree. Some of the scenes seemed completely unplanned and off the cuff, where others (Honduras, where the 'hunters' passed about 20'-30' away in a boat) seemed impossible to not be faked (Hunters didn't see Chris' camera guy/crew?).

But from what I was able to watch, I did enjoy the show. The idea of being out there and doing what you can with what you have to get by always intrigues me, regardless of the situation. Yes, I also thought it had a few Grylls-esque (not totally Gryllstastic or Gryllstacular) moments, but they did not detract from the overall tone of the show. I will watch the Botswana show, and wait for more episodes.

Chris' story is pretty remarkable.
 
I saw one last night. It looks ok, but some how seems a little scripted to me. For the next season, they can go hunt down Andy McNabb!!
 
sherlockbonez said:
I saw one last night. It looks ok, but some how seems a little scripted to me. For the next season, they can go hunt down Andy McNabb!!
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Yeah, Hunting Andy would be an interesting show. The premise being that they catch him and beat the crap out of him for six days on every single show. Don't worry about the graphic violence, though...the whole show would be pixellated to hide Andy's identity...even the credits.
 
I don't really think it was scripted much if at all. I really didn't care much for it thoug. Fair at best really.
 
As for me i think it was a cool show and i want to watch the rest of them.. I think they had some rules to follow for the show and that made it look sort of scripted. Its not a survival show in the thought of living in the outdoors. For what it is a military show its good. Its shows the thought pattern of what each team thinking about. Is it 100% realistic ???? I dont think so and they even said that. But it does show that no matter how good you think of it the granede might still not explode when you planed on. You can do the best you can and things can still go aginst you, or someone else mistake can help you out when you least expect it. One heck of a better show then Bear. Shows you one thing, the most important thing out there are your feet.

Sasha
 
I think the injuries- the dehydration requiring IV, and trenchfoot, as well as the willingness to admit that there is camera crew and contact with (a) central command evidence that the man v. wild staging isn't happening here. Controlled? Definetely. Staged- not as.
 
At least Chris is a proven warrior and he shows it with true professionalism. Yes it is staged but still grueling. Good E&E info and no BS.

A top man.

Skam
 
I was actually going to start a thread about Chris Ryan!

Yep, as someone already mentioned, it is the re-packaged program from the BBC series. Like Bear Grylls stuff, I've only seen the Youtube vids over here on my side but I do have his book based on his BBC program (Hunting Chris Ryan) and it has some good general info about survival on it.

For me though, there's no comparison. You really can't have a show about this without some sort of "crew support" but the dehydration and injuries the guys get are telling enough to show that the it is indeed gruelling. Ryan's stuff is straightforward without trying to be "Jackass" about survival. It simply shows him trying to outmanouvre and outsmart (through E&E) those trying to hunt him down. It HOW he does it is worth watching.

As for cred? Well, you could Google Chris Ryan. I'd be more solid with him.
 
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