PBS 10 Part Series "Carrier"
Jack Linthicum
Reality like you have never seen it.
Blue Shark
Blue Shark is the code name for a US Navy operation in the Arabian
Gulf. In addition to providing protection for the USS Nimitz, the HS-6
Indians--a Navy helicopter squadron--monitors activity in the Gulf and
on the waterways of Southern Iraq. (5:48)
Captain's Bridge
The Commanding Officer, Captain Ted Branch, spends much of his time in
the Captain's Bridge, also known as the Pilot House. The steering and
navigation are dictated from this location. (0:38)
Chris Altice Berthing
Chris Altice lives with the other "ordies" in his squadron in one of
the enlisted berthings on the Nimitz. Some of the berthings house up
to 150 sailors. (2:39)
COMREL in Malaysia
The US Navy often conducts Community Relations (nicknamed "COM-REL")
activities while on liberty in foreign ports. In Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, Chaplain Joseph DuFour takes a group of sailors to a local
orphanage. (2:45)
Disciplinary Review Board
Following a liberty incident while in port, a young sailor faces the
Disciplinary Review Board (DRB) convened by CMC Christopher Penton, on
USS Nimitz. (4:39)
Dropping Anchor
Though often used for large meetings such as religious services and
the other ceremonies, the primary purpose of the forecastle (more
commonly referred to as the "Foc'sle") is to house and operate the
anchor chains. (0:38)
Flight Deck Bow
Experience the nighttime launch of a fighter jet from the bow of the
USS Nimitz. (0:23)
Flight Deck Control
Lieutenant Regina Rogers, the V1 Division Officer during WestPac 2005,
describes her role in directing the movement of aircraft in Flight
Deck Control. (1:56)
Flight Deck Danger
The deck of an aircraft carrier is one of the most hazardous jobs in
the world. Chief Patrick Reynolds describes some of the dangerous
aspects of working on the flight deck of the USS Nimitz. (6:16)
Foc'sle Follies
Foc'sle Follies is a vaunted tradition in Naval aviation. At the end
of each line period, the squadrons onboard the ship gather to
recognize pilots that have performed the best, and to make fun of each
other. One squadron is selected to perform a skit; in this case,
VMFA-232, the Red Devils. (5:09)
Garzone and the CDB
Airman Christopher Garzone attends his Career Development Board (CDB),
where CMC Christopher L. Penton advises him on the next steps in his
Naval career. (2:50)
Garzone and the Mosque
On liberty in Bahrain, Airman Christopher Garzone and his buddy,
Philip Mager, enjoy a cultural tour of the country. Their last stop is
at the Grand Mosque. (3:30)
Garzone Rides a Dolphin
Airman Christopher Garzone and his buddy, Philip Mager, swim with
dolphins while on liberty in Bahrain. (3:09)
Guam Arrival
USS Nimitz pulls into Guam, a territory of the United States. (0:59)
Guam BBQ
Fighter Squadron VFA-41, the Black Aces have a barbeque in Guam (1:02)
Hangar Bay
The USS Nimitz has three Hangar Bays used for storage and maintenance
of aircraft. (1:03)
Leaving Coronado
Additional footage of the USS Nimitz departing Coronado on a 6-month
deployment to the Persian Gulf. (1:42)
Man Overboard Drill
The USS Nimitz conducts a Man Overboard drill using a life-sized
dummy, named Oscar. (4:42)
Mana's Music Video
Maui native Kenny "Mana" Vida performs a song he wrote on his ukelele.
Using footage of Kevin "Proton" McLaughlin and his family, this is
"Never Stop Searching for You," the music video. (2:49)
Maritime Security in the Gulf - Boarding a Dhow
To help maintain maritime security in the Arabian Gulf, the US Navy
engages local fishermen working on dhows. The Navy finds out what
these vessels are doing, and lets them know that there is a coalition
military presence in the Gulf. (2:47)
Maritime Security in the Gulf - Boarding the Silvia
To help maintain maritime security in the Arabian Gulf, the US Navy
boards ships to look for weapons and materials which could be used to
make Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). (4:40)
Mess Decks
The Mess Decks on the USS Nimitz are where the enlisted sailors eat.
(1:38)
Nightwatch
Caroline "Lilo" Granadosin has the late shift as the aft (rear)
lookout of the USS Nimitz. (3:03)
Pearl Harbor
The USS Nimitz pulls in to Pearl Harbor, the first of port of call on
the deployment. (1:12)
Perth by Land
View additional scenics of Perth, Australia, from a nearby hillside.
(0:27)
Perth by Sea
View additional scenics of the USS Nimitz arriving in Perth,
Australia. (1:10)
Security Drill - USS Nimitz
A security drill aboard the USS Nimitz. Scenario: the security team
must neutralize a member of the film crew who has lost his marbles and
is wielding a gun. (2:21)
Shirley and the Mosque
Shirley Lamoreaux tours a mosque while on liberty in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. (4:23)
The Brig
Chief Jack Adams leads a tour of the brig aboard USS Nimitz. According
to Captain Ted Branch, only 12 individuals were sent to the Nimitz
brig--for an average detainment of 3 days--while on deployment in
2005 (3:06)
Tiger Cruise
Friends and family join the sailors and marines for the final leg of
the deployment, from Hawaii to Coronado. (1:14)
USS Princeton
USS Princeton Commanding Officer Bill Ault conducts a tour of his
cruiser and describes its role in Strike Group 11. (6:33)
Walt Timberlake
Walt Timberlake talks about life and deployment in the US Navy.
(1:53)
Willie Sings
Airman Willie Johnson sings his way through chores on the USS Nimitz.
(1:22)
Jack Linthicum
wrote:
"Maro Chermayeff, the “Carrier” series co-creator, director and one of
its executive producers said that about 30 seconds of the series was
cut after the military’s national security review of the finished
project, the only ceding of editorial control that the producers
agreed to. The cuts, she said, excised an inaccurate statement someone
made about one of the ship’s two nuclear reactors and too-specific
details about the infrared system used by the ship’s fighter jets. A
third scene was cut because a screen in the background contained
classified information."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/arts/television/20jens.html?ref=television
April 20, 2008
Television
Life Topside: Six Months on a Flight Deck
By ELIZABETH JENSEN
STICK around for a full six-month tour on an American aircraft carrier
and plenty is bound to happen. Numerous news crews have documented the
slightly surreal self-contained floating world of a military ship at
sea, but not with the depth of the team behind “Carrier,” a 10-hour
PBS series shot on the U.S.S. Nimitz.
Aboard from the time this nuclear-powered aircraft carrier left port
in May 2005 to its return in November of that year, a 17-member
production team, including three camera crews, was there for
unexpected twists in the story. A flight deck supervisor the team was
profiling because he was a rising star on board got involved in an
inappropriate sexual encounter with a lower-ranking female sailor
while on shore leave and found his career derailed. Relationships with
those back on land imploded via e-mail. The tour ended with not a
single bomb dropped, leaving some participants proud of their military
role as a deterrent and others deflated, questioning the value of
their considerable effort.
“This is not a boys-and-toys show,” said Maro Chermayeff, the
“Carrier” series co-creator, director and one of its executive
producers. “We were not there to tell you what this bomb cost. This is
a show about people: where are they, what are they doing, how do they
feel about it.”
The series will be broadcast on most PBS stations for five consecutive
nights beginning April 27, with many stations planning weekend
rebroadcasts. It will be rerun as a weekly series in the summer.
The men and women aboard the carrier, their average age 19, tell the
story of their voyage themselves, without a narrator. They model their
tattoos and let cameras and microphones sit in on their wistful
telephone calls home. Selections from their iPods, solicited by the
filmmakers via a shipwide e-mail request, form the series soundtrack.
“We wanted to get the pulse, because it’s such a big thing when you’re
on the ship,” said Ms. Chermayeff, whose credits include the PBS
series “Frontier House.”
The 41 songs in the film include obvious thematic choices — Bob
Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time,” Loudon Wainwright III’s “Missing
You” — and the Killers’ “All These Things That I’ve Done,” and “Over
My Head” by the alternative indie rock group the Last Conservatives.
It took a year before the Nimitz’s departure from San Diego to the
Persian Gulf for the filmmakers to negotiate what amounted to the run
of the ship and an all-access pass to its 5,300 crew members. No
minders sat in as crew members and officers spoke of the complicated
childhoods that led them to choose military service, their boredom in
scouring the same tiny piece of metal over and over, their life
ambitions and their pride in their work, whatever their wide-ranging
political views.
Humorous rites of passage were countered by tense moments when an
escort ship searched unsuccessfully for a man overboard and a
returning pilot, low on fuel, had to land his F-18 in Baghdad.
The process wasn’t always easy. The Navy “needed a lot of assurance
along the way that we were being straight up with them about our
intentions,” said Deborah Dickson, a producer on the program.
PBS almost missed out on the series. Just as the Navy was finally
getting comfortable with letting the producers aboard, financing of
the project bogged down in delays. The carrier was “leaving at a
certain date, and they weren’t waiting for us,” said Ms. Chermayeff.
The producers withdrew the project from PBS; Mel Gibson’s Icon
Productions stepped in with full financing. The semicompleted project
was later shopped around to a number of cable networks. But when David
Thompson, vice president for cultural programming at the Washington
public station WETA, spotted “Carrier” at an international TV festival
in La Rochelle, France, in June 2006, PBS quickly licensed North
American rights.
Some 1,600 hours of footage were shot on the ship. In an unusual move
Ms. Dickson directed a separate 90-minute film, “Another Day in
Paradise,” that was culled from the same footage. That film was
originally tracked for festival and theatrical release, but PBS
accelerated its scheduling of “Carrier.” Instead the film is expected
to have its premiere on PBS in June.
The two projects are different in pace and focus. “By virtue of being
compressed, I think my film seems a lot more political,” Ms. Dickson
said, if only because fewer individuals and perspectives are profiled.
Ms. Chermayeff said that about 30 seconds of the series was cut after
the military’s national security review of the finished project, the
only ceding of editorial control that the producers agreed to. The
cuts, she said, excised an inaccurate statement someone made about one
of the ship’s two nuclear reactors and too-specific details about the
infrared system used by the ship’s fighter jets. A third scene was cut
because a screen in the background contained classified information.
Other material, particularly scenes of drunken sailors carousing
during shore leave in foreign countries, was hard for the Navy to
accept, several people involved with the production said. Rear Admiral
Ted N. Branch, then the Nimitz’s commanding officer, said in a recent
interview: “All along, if I had any concern, it was just that it would
be a balanced story with the right context. If that was the case, I
wasn’t worried about it. I’m very confident in our sailors, and I knew
they would represent themselves very well.”
Based on the footage he had seen so far, he said he was “cautiously
optimistic” that the message would get through that “the Navy can be a
place of great opportunity for people of all kinds of backgrounds.” He
also acknowledged he would have preferred some scenes had been left
out, though he didn’t say which.
But the scenes remain in the film, for viewers to judge for
themselves. “I give the Navy credit,” John Wilson, the PBS chief
programmer, said, “for making a leap of faith.”