Alaska Off-Road Warriors

Coloradan said:
The film cars must be pretty capable rigs, anybody know what they're driving?
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The vehicles the teams have are:

- 1942 Willys MB (Super Jeep)
- 1984 Land Rover Defender 90 (Rover 1)
- 1977 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ55 (War Wagon)
- 1994 2nd Gen Toyota 4Runner
- 1986 1st Gen Toyota 4Runner

As far as "capable" goes... I'd really only use that word to describe Super Jeep. Carl Jantz has been working on that rig for a long time, even engineering his own parts for it (he owns his own shop), and he's won competitions with it before.

The other teams aren't driving their usual rigs, since they were told by the show's recruiters to expect them to get beaten to shit, so they went out and bought a bunch of old beaters. Most of them haven't even driven them much before the show, and it shows. There are lots of weird mechanical failures that wouldn't have happened if they had the rigs a while and did proper maintenance on them, and you can tell they weren't used to how their vehicles handle or how to control them (forgetting to engage lockers, etc). The Leigh brothers were surprised to find out that their 1st Gen 4Runner didn't have any lockers, even though it was apparently supposed to have them when they bought it. Mechanical issues have already brought down the Land Rover, and I bet the 1st Gen 4Runner won't make it the whole way either with it's overheating issues, but the others look like they should finish.

Also, they would be doing a lot better if they hadn't been limited to 37" tires. I get the feeling the producers put that as the max size to help even the playing field with Super Jeep in there. At the start, Carl mentions he has 44" tires (that article I linked even shows it with 47" boggers) so that's probably what he usually runs, but that just looks like it's from his initial interview before the race. You can tell he has different tires on while it's on the lift vs during the competition.
 
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There is a thread on Pirate4x4 where Carl and Jason posted quite a bit, mostly fending off attacks from keyboard cowboys. There Carl said that the camera crew followed them around on ATVs and moose buggies.
 
Wardell said:
The vehicles the teams have are:

- 1942 Willys MB (Super Jeep)
- 1984 Land Rover Defender 90 (Rover 1)
- 1977 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ55 (War Wagon)
- 1994 2nd Gen Toyota 4Runner
- 1986 1st Gen Toyota 4Runner

As far as "capable" goes... I'd really only use that word to describe Super Jeep. Carl Jantz has been working on that rig for a long time, even engineering his own parts for it (he owns his own shop), and he's won competitions with it before.

The other teams aren't driving their usual rigs, since they were told by the show's recruiters to expect them to get beaten to shit, so they went out and bought a bunch of old beaters. Most of them haven't even driven them much before the show, and it shows. There are lots of weird mechanical failures that wouldn't have happened if they had the rigs a while and did proper maintenance on them, and you can tell they weren't used to how their vehicles handle or how to control them (forgetting to engage lockers, etc). The Leigh brothers were surprised to find out that their 1st Gen 4Runner didn't have any lockers, even though it was apparently supposed to have them when they bought it. Mechanical issues have already brought down the Land Rover, and I bet the 1st Gen 4Runner won't make it the whole way either with it's overheating issues, but the others look like they should finish.

Also, they would be doing a lot better if they hadn't been limited to 37" tires. I get the feeling the producers put that as the max size to help even the playing field with Super Jeep in there. At the start, Carl mentions he has 44" tires (that article I linked even shows it with 47" boggers) so that's probably what he usually runs, but that just looks like it's from his initial interview before the race. You can tell he has different tires on while it's on the lift vs during the competition.
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But to me, the whole show is very non-entertaining from History standards because of all this..its just one big rouse. Why can't the producers make a real show? Real people with real rigs built for a real contest...like JKX or similar, but with more than JKs. It's just appalling that the only Jeep is an old custom beater. It seems like it would be far more interesting to make a real show about the real challenges. Not just a bunch of rednecks fucking around in the bush.

You know what I mean? It seems like what they did film is more appropriate for MTV, not History.
 
This show is horrible! I watched the first two episodes and turned the third one off 10 minutes in. I can normally sit through bad TV but this show is just horrendous.

Wardell said:
The vehicles the teams have are:

- 1942 Willys MB (Super Jeep)
- 1984 Land Rover Defender 90 (Rover 1)
- 1977 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ55 (War Wagon)
- 1994 2nd Gen Toyota 4Runner
- 1986 1st Gen Toyota 4Runner

As far as "capable" goes... I'd really only use that word to describe Super Jeep. Carl Jantz has been working on that rig for a long time, even engineering his own parts for it (he owns his own shop), and he's won competitions with it before.

The other teams aren't driving their usual rigs, since they were told by the show's recruiters to expect them to get beaten to shit, so they went out and bought a bunch of old beaters. Most of them haven't even driven them much before the show, and it shows. There are lots of weird mechanical failures that wouldn't have happened if they had the rigs a while and did proper maintenance on them, and you can tell they weren't used to how their vehicles handle or how to control them (forgetting to engage lockers, etc). The Leigh brothers were surprised to find out that their 1st Gen 4Runner didn't have any lockers, even though it was apparently supposed to have them when they bought it. Mechanical issues have already brought down the Land Rover, and I bet the 1st Gen 4Runner won't make it the whole way either with it's overheating issues, but the others look like they should finish.

Also, they would be doing a lot better if they hadn't been limited to 37" tires. I get the feeling the producers put that as the max size to help even the playing field with Super Jeep in there. At the start, Carl mentions he has 44" tires (that article I linked even shows it with 47" boggers) so that's probably what he usually runs, but that just looks like it's from his initial interview before the race. You can tell he has different tires on while it's on the lift vs during the competition.
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He said film cars. As in the ones people are filming from.
 
OverlanderJK said:
He said film cars. As in the ones people are filming from.
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By "film cars" I thought he had meant the vehicles that appeared on film, not the production crews' vehicles off film. My bad.

holy_crap said:
There is a thread on Pirate4x4 where Carl and Jason posted quite a bit, mostly fending off attacks from keyboard cowboys. There Carl said that the camera crew followed them around on ATVs and moose buggies.
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Yeah, I got bored at work last week and read through that whole thread. If you can skim over the keyboard cowboys pointless attacks and calling each other gay (seriously... they have issues), there are a few pages worth of posts from Carl, Jason, Glen and some of the other Alaskans where they give some good insights into the show. Some of the Alaskans even posted up the land use agreements for the trails they were on.

The production crew were on ATVs mostly, plus each one of the competitors vehicles had a Production Assistant (PA) riding along in the back (behind a brown curtain, so you can't see them on the GoPros in the cab). They would have to stop and let them out at certain points to film where there was no ATV guy, which meant starting and stopping the time. Carl mentions going through 4 different PAs over the course of filming, so each one probably only made it through two trails before getting switched out. Considering they had a couple days in a hotel between each trail, it sounds like they were pretty lame.

They also had preset times about every two hours when they all had to stop so the ATV guys could reposition. The race clocks got stopped, but if they wanted to use the time to try and fix anything the PA would have to start the clock again. Also, there were a lot of sections of the trails that they weren't allowed to straight up race. I think that was mainly because they were areas where no one could pass or go full throttle through anyway, but as a result they usually weren't as spread out as you might think (unless someone broke down).

Honestly, I think this show would be a lot better if it was presented differently, because as you can imagine there is a lot that has been distorted by the editing. The biggest one is that it's not a completely off road race from once side of Alaska to the other - there is no legal way to do that due to the land use regulations in the state. It's just a series of races on 8 or so different trails, but they have to drive on road in between them (which required them to all have street legal rigs). If they would have kept the show honest to that, instead of making it sound like it was entirely off road, they could easily have presented it as something more like JKX instead of a redneck rodeo.

Also, there is a lot of creative editing to make it seem like there is more drama than there actually was, just so they can keep their "redneck soap opera" viewers interested. Stuff like mashing three different arguments together to take what is being said completely out of context. That comes at the cost of turning off the more serious viewers, like most of us here.

To be honest, I'm really interested in the show because they're crossing similar terrain to what I have up here, but I have to keep that context in mind in order to keep it watchable. It shouldn't have to be like that. And apparently, there are two more production crews over there that want to make a similar show too...
 
Just saw tonight episode and they are racing on the Dalton Highway. That is a public highway. WOW I can't believe the law is not after them for that.
 
Wardell said:
By "film cars" I thought he had meant the vehicles that appeared on film, not the production crews' vehicles off film. My bad.



Yeah, I got bored at work last week and read through that whole thread. If you can skim over the keyboard cowboys pointless attacks and calling each other gay (seriously... they have issues), there are a few pages worth of posts from Carl, Jason, Glen and some of the other Alaskans where they give some good insights into the show. Some of the Alaskans even posted up the land use agreements for the trails they were on.

The production crew were on ATVs mostly, plus each one of the competitors vehicles had a Production Assistant (PA) riding along in the back (behind a brown curtain, so you can't see them on the GoPros in the cab). They would have to stop and let them out at certain points to film where there was no ATV guy, which meant starting and stopping the time. Carl mentions going through 4 different PAs over the course of filming, so each one probably only made it through two trails before getting switched out. Considering they had a couple days in a hotel between each trail, it sounds like they were pretty lame.

They also had preset times about every two hours when they all had to stop so the ATV guys could reposition. The race clocks got stopped, but if they wanted to use the time to try and fix anything the PA would have to start the clock again. Also, there were a lot of sections of the trails that they weren't allowed to straight up race. I think that was mainly because they were areas where no one could pass or go full throttle through anyway, but as a result they usually weren't as spread out as you might think (unless someone broke down).

Honestly, I think this show would be a lot better if it was presented differently, because as you can imagine there is a lot that has been distorted by the editing. The biggest one is that it's not a completely off road race from once side of Alaska to the other - there is no legal way to do that due to the land use regulations in the state. It's just a series of races on 8 or so different trails, but they have to drive on road in between them (which required them to all have street legal rigs). If they would have kept the show honest to that, instead of making it sound like it was entirely off road, they could easily have presented it as something more like JKX instead of a redneck rodeo.

Also, there is a lot of creative editing to make it seem like there is more drama than there actually was, just so they can keep their "redneck soap opera" viewers interested. Stuff like mashing three different arguments together to take what is being said completely out of context. That comes at the cost of turning off the more serious viewers, like most of us here.

To be honest, I'm really interested in the show because they're crossing similar terrain to what I have up here, but I have to keep that context in mind in order to keep it watchable. It shouldn't have to be like that. And apparently, there are two more production crews over there that want to make a similar show too...
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It really makes me wonder why they make this crap and nobody has picked up JKX for a show.
 
I tried to watch this show on 2 separate occasions,,,, turned it off in the first 10 min both times due to the pre fabricated drama. Can't stand the entertainment designed for idiots these days:grayno:
 
The part that got me was Episode one the Rover guy lays away the " Lower 48ers " about treading lightly and make a stateMENT that says nobody wants anyone from the lower 48 states up there wheeling and that it's posted all over wheeling forums. I get its all for show but thats a bold statement calling us out like that.
 
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I havent been able to get into a show since the letdown that was the end of LOST. That said this became a guilty pleasure; for an unkown reason I had to watch each week. Yay superjeep

What I cant believe is how much exposeure the show got. Each friend I saw the past few months brought the show up to me and had seen and enjoyed a few episodes. Mind Blown
 
Slavens said:
The part that got me was Episode one the Rover guy lays away the " Lower 48ers " about treading lightly and make a stateMENT that says nobody wants anyone from the lower 48 states up there wheeling and that it's posted all over wheeling forums. I get its all for show but thats a bold statement calling us out like that.
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Yeah... from what the cast has been saying on their facebook group as well as on another forum, it sounds like competitiveness aside, none of them really had anything against the Lower 48ers. Also from what they have said, that scene was the result of some very creative editing of two different incidents. Right after they finished, Jason had only accused Rich and Carl (as well as Bill and Butch) of trying to make the trail more difficult for anyone behind them by pushing more deadfall down and leaving it on the trail as they went by. Most of the deadfall had been blown over by a storm a few days before, and since they were dead trees it's not really anything against the whole the tread lightly philosophy. It's just bad trail etiquette really... but they were in a race. At any rate, the whole thing was more ribbing the competition than an argument, and it should have been shown like that on the screen.

A little bit later, after everyone had finished, Jason blew up at the production crew for carelessly tearing around off the trail on their ATVs and moose buggies, which caused damage to live trees. The whole "forums full of people" comment about people who didn't want "them" there was actually referring to the production crew, since there were a lot of Alaskans who thought the crew would show such little regard for the environment that they would ruin it for everyone, giving the environmentalists the sort of thing they need to have their trails shut down. The cameras happened to be rolling while he was yelling at the crew, so the editors spliced everything together after the fact to make it look like that rage was directed at Rich and Carl. That's why you never actually see Rich and Carl in the frame while Jason is full on yelling - the people Jason was yelling at weren't even on camera.


Overall, I was glad to see Super Jeep win it, and that my other two favourite teams also finished. I was surprised about Scott and Brent though. Sure, I had my doubts the whole time that they probably wouldn't finish, but after they managed to go that far with just a four banger and without lockers it was kinda a shame to see them break down on the highway like that.
 
I would like to see another season filmed but with built rigs similar to what they run in JKX. I would find that way more interesting to see what can really be done and how reliable the built rigs are. Sure cast a bunch of "interesting" people to drive them, preferably members of different forums that make not like each other and see how things turn out. To me that would be real entertainment!
 
H8ROADS said:
Also, don't waste your time on this...I just watched it and it's a joke at best. These rigs are laughable..and not even close to equipped for the task...the actors are 90% rednecks that you'd expect for TV, and there is a lot of staging for TV and its essentially a big fluff piece as far as offroading goes.
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Whats wrong with rednecks?
 
If anyone is interested, Carl put up a really detailed video about Super Jeep on youtube. He talks about his build and points out everything that broke along the way. It's almost a wonder it finished the trip, let alone won!

 
Wardell said:
If anyone is interested, Carl put up a really detailed video about Super Jeep on youtube. He talks about his build and points out everything that broke along the way. It's almost a wonder it finished the trip, let alone won!

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His partner was at KOH. Weird fucker and he sure liked to talk.

He called himself a Hollywood star at one point. Lol
 
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