DVD Corner

Ice Road Truckers Season 4 Blu-ray Review

The fourth season of “Ice Road Truckers” is more of the same, but there are still some interesting episodes to be found here. 

“Ice Road Truckers” returns with 16 episodes focusing on truckers Jack, Lisa, Hugh, Alex and newbies Greg and Ray. In these episodes, they are back in Alaska (more specifically Dalton Highway) transporting everthing from pipes and fuel to trailer flatbeds and modular buildings to towns such as Bettles, Nuiqsut, etc. Of course, there’s plenty of complications for the truckers such as accidents, slippery roads, ice, sun glare, whiteoust, wind, truck issues, snow etc. Who will deliver the most loads? That’s the big question.

By now, I’m sure viewers know what to expect from“Ice Road Truckers”. It’s essentially a one note show about truckers taking on high risk jobs. With that said, season 4 actually has a few interesting episodes that are different from the usual affair. I was particularly fascinated by the episodes “Danger At 55 Below,” “Lisa’s Monster Megahaul,” and “Blood On The Dalton”. It might be a brief sequence, but I find the strange, talkative hitchiker that rode with Alex to be utterly fascinating. It was a rather throwaway sequence in the grand scheme of things, but the guy was certainly a unique individual that was more interesing than most of the truckers. ‘Monster’ proved to be a cool episode in that viewers got to see 3 trucks involved in transporting a modular building. Not only was this different from the usual one truck transportation, but it was visually engaging to boot. Lastly, ‘Blood’ was far and away the best episode of the season because it played more like an episode of “COPS”. Basically, the episode partially involved an overturned truck, injured people, and a person who fled the scene. It was gripping television to say the least.

On the downside, 16 episodes is way too much for a show like this. 10-12 episodes is sufficient because there’s only so much truckin’ a person can watch without getting tired of the show.

Summary: If you’re a fan of “Ice Road Truckers,” by all means check out this fourth season set.

The widescreen picture quality is definitely an improvement on this Blu-ray set. From the blinding white snow to the trucks themselves, everything looks as sharp as can be hee.

The DTS-HD 2.0 audio track isn’t going to blow anyone away, but the dialogue from the truckers, the music, and the sounds of trucks sound solid on this particular track.

Extras include bonus scenes titled “Rayy Veilleux Bio,” “Greg Boadwine Bio,” “TAPS,” “Close Calls,” “Truckers In The Morning,” “Trucker Pranks,” “Truckers vs. The Road,” “Trucker Competition,” “Trucker Speak,” and “Truckers And Their Trucks”. There are some good scenes here if you want to learn more about the truckers on the show. It should be noted that these deleted scenes do not have the same quality as the episodes on this Blu-ray set.

March 1, 2011 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Alaska, Dalton Highway, Ice Road Truckers Season 4 Blu-ray Review, Truckers