Reviewed by Leo Kerr
Pros: informative, neat explosions
Cons: a little on the redundant side
Cons: a little on the redundant side
The Detonators
A Discovery Channel program, released by Image Entertainment.
Street date: January 12, 2010.
MSRP: $24.98
3 standard-definition DVDs, 12 episodes, enhanced for 16x9 displays.
Total run time: 8 hours, 36 minutes. Average program-time, 43 minutes.
Dolby Digital stereo sound in English, subtitled for the hard-of-hearing. Some dialog in the last episode is open-captioned for accent-related intelligibility (in Lagos, Nigeria, with South African blasters.)
Externally, the case looks like a common DVD-style box, but instead is a Scanavo 3/One overlap case. On the left, disc 1 is centered. On the right, disc 2 is at the top, mounted high on its ring, overlapping disc 3 at the bottom, low on its ring. Disc 2 should be removed before attempting to remove disc 3. The inner packaging is clear, and the detailed program listing is printed behind disc 1.
Menus are simple and fast, and apart from an unskipable ten second anti-copy warning, and a skipable Discovery Channel “I love the world” promo at the start of each disc, there is very little in the way between the viewer and the content.
The Program
In addition to the general take-down process, each program tends to focus on two major aspects. One aspect will be a challenge, such as dealing with post-tensioned-concrete construction, or taking a building down without disturbing a “live” structure 10 meters away across an alley from the 17-story apartment tower. The other aspect is a “trick” or detail about the how and why of explosive demolition. These examples include the differences between, say, PETN versus classical dynamite versus C-4, or how a linear shaped-charge is used to cut a steel beam.
Unfortunately, there are a few flaws with how the programs in general are produced, and, in particular, how they translate to DVD. Produced for air over a one-hour time slot with advertisements, they include extensive bits of repetition ‘for those who came in late.’ Combined with a curious need to ‘create suspense,’ it means that about a third of the program-time is watching part of the program you have already seen. The ad-breaks on the DVD are just a quick fade-out/fade-in, so as you get deeper into a particular program, it can start getting actually more boring, as they keep recycling the same shots, narration, and discussions. I believe this is one area that having an alternate-edit, with perhaps a 25-minute run-time per program for home-viewing, without the constant refresher material, would be a tremendous advantage. The other major flaw I see with the program is the almost continuous rapid-cut style of editing. Count-downs to explosions are almost always cut into one-second shots of — something. Anything. And, for the first few showings of the building actually coming down, they keep interrupting the shots just as they start getting interesting, jumping from view to view to view to view. Eventually, they generally show some of the same views, uncut, to point out specific aspects of the demolition, but it’s rather like in an Agatha Christie story, when they try to point something out, but don’t actually let you see it until the finale when Hercule Poirot is dissecting and laying out the detailed scene of the crime and the time-line, adding in facts that we could never see, even if we had known to look for them. And, as a sort of personal note, I know I would prefer the more stately pace, allowing the viewer a moment to acquire the shot, so to speak, and then to appreciate the majesty of the slowly collapsing building.
Though I must admit, my mother is amused when they throw the video into reverse, and the cloud of smoke and dust reassembles itself into a building again. But, “sometimes,” to quote General Munro from The Fifth Element, “the old tricks are the best ones.” [I’m sure other people have said it as well.]
The Video
The picture is generally sharp and clear, but the picture quality does vary. Much of the program is fairly clean, appearing to have been shot with HDV cameras, but given the nature of the program, not all of it is. A special credit is in each program for the guys who rig and wire the “sacrificial cameras,” and it’s fairly easy to understand that they’re not going to put an expensive camera/lens combination somewhere it is going to get wiped out by flying debris, or be flattened by a falling masonry smoke-stack just for three seconds of footage. And, as the series progressed, it appears that the production budget went up, allowing for more high-speed camera footage, better animations, and generally a better technical product.
In short, this is not Reference Quality video material for showing off a home-theater, but it is not intended to be, and is wholly suited toward the program material — field-shot documentary.
The Audio
The stereo sound is not ‘very’ stereo, not surprising given the field-rough documentary style of the shooting; dialog and ambient sound is mostly centered-mono. Dialog, narration, and interviews are clearly recorded, although some of the voice-editing is a little on the crude side. For people accustomed to modern films with heavy bass emphasis to anything that goes “boom!”, there may be some disappointment in how the building collapse sounds are recorded — realistic as opposed to earth-shaking impressive-knock-your-teeth-out. Like the video, however, as the series progresses, it also appears that some more effort was being spent on the audio production, with a better stereo image. Unfortunately, at times, the music is a bit bass-and-thump heavy when you’re trying to hear the specific bangs of the building charges.
In short, like the video, this is documentary, not ADR and manufactured foley sound, and apart from the two notes above (voice editing and music over explosions), the soundtrack is entirely in-line with its needs.
Extras
Disc 3 includes 15 deleted scenes, mostly from the first six episodes. The scenes are short, and generally were deleted for a good reason. They are, however, as finished as the rest of the program material, with sound, music, animations, and effects. Some of the most interesting bits of the deleted scenes involve the discussions on placement and use of the sacrificial cameras.
In The End
While the added-value production often feels heavy-handed, I am coming to expect this from Discovery Channel programming, such as with Mythbusters. It is also, I must admit, much more obvious when one watches two or three such episodes back-to-back. That said, however, each program has included some quite nice video content, and some interesting information about the technologies, techniques, and physics involved and required in demolishing buildings. Apart from stylistic choices made by Discovery Channel, this is a fairly satisfactory piece exploring the world of explosive demolition.
A Discovery Channel program, released by Image Entertainment.
Street date: January 12, 2010.
MSRP: $24.98
3 standard-definition DVDs, 12 episodes, enhanced for 16x9 displays.
Total run time: 8 hours, 36 minutes. Average program-time, 43 minutes.
Dolby Digital stereo sound in English, subtitled for the hard-of-hearing. Some dialog in the last episode is open-captioned for accent-related intelligibility (in Lagos, Nigeria, with South African blasters.)
Externally, the case looks like a common DVD-style box, but instead is a Scanavo 3/One overlap case. On the left, disc 1 is centered. On the right, disc 2 is at the top, mounted high on its ring, overlapping disc 3 at the bottom, low on its ring. Disc 2 should be removed before attempting to remove disc 3. The inner packaging is clear, and the detailed program listing is printed behind disc 1.
Menus are simple and fast, and apart from an unskipable ten second anti-copy warning, and a skipable Discovery Channel “I love the world” promo at the start of each disc, there is very little in the way between the viewer and the content.
The Program
This program depicts explosions performed
by highly trained professionals.
Viewers should not engage in
the activities depicted in this program.
As the Mythbusters and Braniacs have repeatedly demonstrated over the years, people are fascinated with things that go “Boom!” So with that warning slate, The Detonators follows a pair of university professors of demolition (how does someone get a job like that?) out to a number of different sites around the world where buildings, bridges, cranes, and other large and difficult structures are being taken down via explosive demolition. They explore the site, talk to the crews, watch some of the prep-work, and then back in their local rock-quarry, set up examples to explain various aspects of “how to take down a building.” This demonstrates some of the how and why and what are they doing? sort of aspects of building implosion or toppling, and shows either what happened, what went wrong, or, coincidentally, some of the things that can go wrong that might not have happened, anyway — when the demonstration itself goes awry for other reasons. Then they return to the building or structure in question for the final preparations, clearing of the neighborhoods, the take-down itself, and the post-action analysis. And, when something does go wrong, the analysis of what went wrong, followed by, “so how did they ‘make it right’?” Programs in general actually tend to deal with two different, but ‘related’ structures in a single episode.by highly trained professionals.
Viewers should not engage in
the activities depicted in this program.
In addition to the general take-down process, each program tends to focus on two major aspects. One aspect will be a challenge, such as dealing with post-tensioned-concrete construction, or taking a building down without disturbing a “live” structure 10 meters away across an alley from the 17-story apartment tower. The other aspect is a “trick” or detail about the how and why of explosive demolition. These examples include the differences between, say, PETN versus classical dynamite versus C-4, or how a linear shaped-charge is used to cut a steel beam.
Unfortunately, there are a few flaws with how the programs in general are produced, and, in particular, how they translate to DVD. Produced for air over a one-hour time slot with advertisements, they include extensive bits of repetition ‘for those who came in late.’ Combined with a curious need to ‘create suspense,’ it means that about a third of the program-time is watching part of the program you have already seen. The ad-breaks on the DVD are just a quick fade-out/fade-in, so as you get deeper into a particular program, it can start getting actually more boring, as they keep recycling the same shots, narration, and discussions. I believe this is one area that having an alternate-edit, with perhaps a 25-minute run-time per program for home-viewing, without the constant refresher material, would be a tremendous advantage. The other major flaw I see with the program is the almost continuous rapid-cut style of editing. Count-downs to explosions are almost always cut into one-second shots of — something. Anything. And, for the first few showings of the building actually coming down, they keep interrupting the shots just as they start getting interesting, jumping from view to view to view to view. Eventually, they generally show some of the same views, uncut, to point out specific aspects of the demolition, but it’s rather like in an Agatha Christie story, when they try to point something out, but don’t actually let you see it until the finale when Hercule Poirot is dissecting and laying out the detailed scene of the crime and the time-line, adding in facts that we could never see, even if we had known to look for them. And, as a sort of personal note, I know I would prefer the more stately pace, allowing the viewer a moment to acquire the shot, so to speak, and then to appreciate the majesty of the slowly collapsing building.
Though I must admit, my mother is amused when they throw the video into reverse, and the cloud of smoke and dust reassembles itself into a building again. But, “sometimes,” to quote General Munro from The Fifth Element, “the old tricks are the best ones.” [I’m sure other people have said it as well.]
The Video
The picture is generally sharp and clear, but the picture quality does vary. Much of the program is fairly clean, appearing to have been shot with HDV cameras, but given the nature of the program, not all of it is. A special credit is in each program for the guys who rig and wire the “sacrificial cameras,” and it’s fairly easy to understand that they’re not going to put an expensive camera/lens combination somewhere it is going to get wiped out by flying debris, or be flattened by a falling masonry smoke-stack just for three seconds of footage. And, as the series progressed, it appears that the production budget went up, allowing for more high-speed camera footage, better animations, and generally a better technical product.
In short, this is not Reference Quality video material for showing off a home-theater, but it is not intended to be, and is wholly suited toward the program material — field-shot documentary.
The Audio
The stereo sound is not ‘very’ stereo, not surprising given the field-rough documentary style of the shooting; dialog and ambient sound is mostly centered-mono. Dialog, narration, and interviews are clearly recorded, although some of the voice-editing is a little on the crude side. For people accustomed to modern films with heavy bass emphasis to anything that goes “boom!”, there may be some disappointment in how the building collapse sounds are recorded — realistic as opposed to earth-shaking impressive-knock-your-teeth-out. Like the video, however, as the series progresses, it also appears that some more effort was being spent on the audio production, with a better stereo image. Unfortunately, at times, the music is a bit bass-and-thump heavy when you’re trying to hear the specific bangs of the building charges.
In short, like the video, this is documentary, not ADR and manufactured foley sound, and apart from the two notes above (voice editing and music over explosions), the soundtrack is entirely in-line with its needs.
Extras
Disc 3 includes 15 deleted scenes, mostly from the first six episodes. The scenes are short, and generally were deleted for a good reason. They are, however, as finished as the rest of the program material, with sound, music, animations, and effects. Some of the most interesting bits of the deleted scenes involve the discussions on placement and use of the sacrificial cameras.
In The End
While the added-value production often feels heavy-handed, I am coming to expect this from Discovery Channel programming, such as with Mythbusters. It is also, I must admit, much more obvious when one watches two or three such episodes back-to-back. That said, however, each program has included some quite nice video content, and some interesting information about the technologies, techniques, and physics involved and required in demolishing buildings. Apart from stylistic choices made by Discovery Channel, this is a fairly satisfactory piece exploring the world of explosive demolition.
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