National Geographic Explorer (TV Series) The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal (1993) User Reviews

A two-faced documentary

[rolandddd · 6/10 · 1 March 2006]

This could have been so good. That is basically my general impression after watching this documentary. It comprises mostly of two different plot lines, one gives a historical background while the other follows Bob Ballard and his crew as they explore the sunken ships. The problem as I see it is that the quality of the two differ so much. The history part works well, the story of Guadalcanal is told well with pictures, archive footage and interviews with war veterans. However, the underwater footage is hugely disappointing compared to some of the other films I have seen on the subject (like Ballards films on the Titanic and Camerons "Bismarck"-film). For some reason the underwater crew have very little time to explore, locate and film the wrecks, and as if that was not bad enough, they experience equipment failures along the way. As a result, the underwater footage is short and not what I had expected. In the end, when the crew finally locate the Japanese flagship, it has somehow sunken upside down, and as a result the footage does not live up to the initial expectations. That sums it up really...