‘Whale’ worth watching
The most exciting unscripted series of 2008 returns for a second year looking much like a rerun of the first.

Animal Planet’s “Whale Wars” opens with shocking, graphic footage of a Japanese crew harpooning and killing a whale.

Stunned crew members of the vessel Steve Irwin, operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, look on in grief and horror. We are told it’s the first time a whale has ever died on their watch.

The series jumps back to last December, in which 36 volunteers joined up in Australia for the two-month mission to confront Japanese whalers who exploit a loophole in international law and slaughter approximately 1,000 whales a year.

Viewers are once again reminded that Captain Paul Watson co-founded and was later thrown out of Greenpeace for his confrontational tactics.

Watson tells the camera, “I don’t like protesting. It’s such a submissive sort of thing.”

He thinks of his crew as “pirates of passion in pursuit of pirates of greed.”

But the editors, curiously, seem to suffer from selective amnesia. There’s no mention of the incident that served as the climax for last season in which Watson was allegedly shot by Japanese whalers. Japanese authoritities claim Watson staged a stunt and no shots were fired.

Tonight the ship’s gyroscope malfunctions, and the ship suffers dangerous turbulence at sea. Later, it gets lucky when it locates the Nisshin Maru, the factory ship that processes whale carcasses. If the crew can shut that vessel down, it can end the whaling season.

The Japanese, however, seem to have learned a few things in the last year. Perhaps they watched the first season on DVD?

The Nisshin Maru remains on the other side of a large ice sheet; the Steve Irwin is not equipped to withstand sailing through ice.

The series’ reliance on voice-over is annoying, but it might be a concession because of how Watson obviously keeps the camera crew at arm’s length.

The Steve Irwin’s mission is just as important this year, but there’s no indication “Whale Wars” will top last season. Sometimes the work of good soldiers doesn’t translate into the best TV.

That doesn’t diminish in the least what they do, but it may limit your interest.

Season premiere tonight at 9 on Animal Planet.