Les took a break for four years, but now the Canadian outdoors-man returns to Discovery Channel with a new set of adventures in the fourth series of “Survivorman.” The format is similar to past series — Stroud is stranded at a remote location with no food, water or film crew — but this time he must survive 10 days instead of 7. The first location in the new series is the uninhabited desert island of Tiburon off the coast of Mexico. Stroud is left shipwrecked on a small sailboat and makes his way by kayak to the beach. (This week's episode takes place in the Norwegian mountains).
With Les operating all the camera equipment, he is both in charge of what we see and as sole narrator, what we hear (including his harmonica playing used as an impromptu soundtrack). He alternates between static camera shots, which face his location from different angles and close-up shots, where he holds the camera at arms length as he addresses it. He also pins a small camera to his clothes to capture action shots like climbing steep or slippery terrain.
With Les as a one man film crew, most of the action focuses on the most important task of surviving — the search for drinkable water. In the Tiburon episode, he uses a rusty bucket, a thin pipe and a plastic water bottle to construct a distiller that converts seawater into drinking water. His advice to the viewer? Sometimes you have to “think like an engineer.” For those of us less engineer-minded, he offers more useful survival tips, namely that “reactionary survival is doomed to failure.”
Les took a break for four years, but now the Canadian outdoors-man returns to Discovery Channel with a new set of adventures in the fourth series of “Survivorman.” The format is similar to past series — Stroud is stranded at a remote location with no food, water or film crew — but this time he must survive 10 days instead of 7. The first location in the new series is the uninhabited desert island of Tiburon off the coast of Mexico. Stroud is left shipwrecked on a small sailboat and makes his way by kayak to the beach. (This week's episode takes place in the Norwegian mountains).
With Les operating all the camera equipment, he is both in charge of what we see and as sole narrator, what we hear (including his harmonica playing used as an impromptu soundtrack). He alternates between static camera shots, which face his location from different angles and close-up shots, where he holds the camera at arms length as he addresses it. He also pins a small camera to his clothes to capture action shots like climbing steep or slippery terrain.
With Les as a one man film crew, most of the action focuses on the most important task of surviving — the search for drinkable water. In the Tiburon episode, he uses a rusty bucket, a thin pipe and a plastic water bottle to construct a distiller that converts seawater into drinking water. His advice to the viewer? Sometimes you have to “think like an engineer.” For those of us less engineer-minded, he offers more useful survival tips, namely that “reactionary survival is doomed to failure.”
When he realizes his distiller will not meet his water needs and he faces dehydration, he hikes to the island's mountain region in search of another water source but not before carefully planning what shelter materials he can easily carry and how he will transport the fire he has kept burning. He solves the fire problem by using cigars he found on the stranded boat as portable flame carriers.
“Survivorman” is on Sunday on Discovery Channel at 8 p.m. Eastern/Pacific.
