Live Chat with the Film Crew Thank you to everyone for joining our live chat with Whale Wars Senior Producer Monica Martino and camera operators Ashley Dunn and Timothy Wheeler on Friday, June 12, 2009. A total of 2,657 people joined the chat and together asked 8,066 questions. Here's the transcript from the chat — enjoy!
Animal Planet: Welcome to Animal Planet's live chat with the film crew behind Whale Wars: Ashley Dunn, Timothy Wheeler and Monica Martino.
Please note that the opinions expressed are the views of the film crew and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Animal Planet or Discovery Communications, Inc.
Monica Martino: Thank you to everyone who's watching. It means a lot to us that the ratings are so high and that people are so passionate about the show. It's really rewarding that people are out there, paying attention to it.
Kelly Michelle: What is the most intense experience you have had while filming?
Monica Martino: The ice. The ice was by far the most intense experience for me personally because it was so terrifying. That's all I can say about it. It was terrifying. Timothy Wheeler: I can't go into too much detail about my experience because it comes later in the series, but we had a near collision with Nisshin Maru, the big factory processor ship. Basically, if it had hit us, we would have been in a very precarious situation that was very imminent. But I can't say anything more about it now because it's in a later episode. Ashley Dunn: The ice was definitely the most traumatic for me, to the extent where I was packing my bag and getting ready to abandon ship. I agree with Tim's experience as well — that was terrifying as well. Ale: What criteria is used to pick the crew? Timothy Wheeler: I think all of us have a lot of experience with international work and are highly skilled at our particular jobs. But in addition, they had to consider that we would be living on a ship for 3-½ months together so they had to pick personalities that would meld well together. Monica Martino: I had done a lot of adventure producing and had recently done Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel, so I knew I was picked because I had experience in miserable cold conditions at sea! Ashley Dunn: I got called back because I survived the first season! :-) ryan4444: Has Whale Wars made any strides in stopping the Japanese from killing whales? Ashley Dunn: Absolutely. Just the fact that the Japanese have the potential to kill 10 whales a day, the Sea Shepherd keeping pressure on them definitely affects them. The Japanese managed to kill 680 whales this year out of a quota of a thousand, so we have had an effect on the quota. Huck: Why are they using a ship that doesn't seem appropriate for those natural conditions? Is it because of funds? Ashley Dunn: Yes, definitely because of funds. Timothy Wheeler: That's a good question. Why WOULD they? Ashley Dunn: That's a question we wondered about. |
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