Sea Patrol - The Complete First Season - DVD

Content: Under the leadership of Lieutenant Commander Mike Flynn (Ian Stenlake), the crew of the patrol ship HMAS Hammersley keeps law and order on the north coast of Australia. The captain is joined by Lieutenant Kate McGregor (Lisa McCune), a competent young woman. But Flynn is not really happy about the new addition, as he once had a brief but passionate affair with her as Kate's instructor. But there is no time for personal tensions, because hardly Kate is on board, the HMAS Hammersley is already recalled to a new mission. Whether it's smugglers, illegal immigrants, hostage situations, storms, recovering casualties or even a poison assassination, the Hammersley team rarely gets a moment's peace. A buoy that serves as a drug stash, an attractive, mysterious sailor who turns the heads of all the men on board, a dramatic child abduction, the strange injury of a female explorer, the death of a comrade by a poisonous jellyfish, or the theft of the ship's mascot by the crew of a rival vessel, all are adventures that demand full commitment from the crew of the naval vessel time and time again.

Sea Patrol is an exciting as well as entertaining TV series that ran successfully on Australian television between 2007 and 2011 and has now made its way to us. The adventures of the crew of the fictional naval vessel HMAS Hammersley thrive on the good chemistry between the individual characters, the missions drawn with a great effort for realism and the beautiful landscape shots of Australia's north coast. The staging is pleasantly unagitated, eschewing the hectic cuts and shaky camera pans common in many other contemporary action series (though the term action may not be entirely accurate here anyway). Even if this somehow makes the whole thing seem a bit old-fashioned, the series neither makes a dusty impression nor can it be called boring.

Because by focusing more on the stories themselves than on big effects, the very well-crafted production creates a somewhat ponderous but quite effective tension. This is evident in the episode Irukandji, for example, in which Flynn and his crew face a dramatic battle against time that could cost the lives of more than one member of the crew. Here it becomes clear how well the mixture of drama, crime, action and humor works, even if the whole thing is almost completely without big explosions, lots of blood and exaggerated gunfire.

So if you expect a series about the Australian Navy to be a real action cracker, you will probably be rather disappointed by Sea Patrol. But if you are looking for a thrilling drama series with likeable characters, exciting stories, high show values and a bit of wit, you can safely grab this one. Recommendable!

Picture + Sound: Thanks to the good color scheme, especially the beautiful shots of the sea and the sometimes very picturesque landscapes come out well. Otherwise, sharpness, matching of contrasts and cleanliness of the picture are on a good TV level. The stereo sound reproduces the dialogues well understandable, ambient sounds and music are mixed coherently. Some scenes would have definitely offered the potential for good surround effects, but again the sound remains rather restrained. But the overall impression is a TV series according to perfectly fine.

Extras: Bonus material there is unfortunately none in this first season.

Conclusion: Sea Patrol is an exciting as well as entertaining Australian television series, which can score with a mixture of drama, action, thriller and humor as well as with its pleasantly unexcited production. This makes it seem almost a little old-fashioned compared to comparable US series such as Navy CIS or Hawaii Five-O, but this hardly has a negative effect on the entertainment value of the series. Technically, the episodes of the first season are well implemented, only the lack of bonus material is a bit negative. Nevertheless: who is looking for decent series entertainment and would like to follow the adventures of the Australian naval ship and its crew, can confidently access this DVD box

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp