Mayday (TV series)

Mayday
Also known as 'Air Crash Investigation
Air Emergency
(National Geographic Channel)
Air Disasters
(Smithsonian Channel)
Genre Documentary
Docudrama
Created by André Barro
Narrated by Stephen Bogaert for Canada and the US
Bill Ratner for the US (Smithsonian Channel)
Jonathan Aris for Australia, Asia and Europe[notes 1]
David Bamber (Season 1 Narrator for Channel Five in UK only)
Country of origin Canada
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 16
No. of episodes 140 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time 45–90 minutes
Production company(s) Cineflix Productions
Release
Original network Discovery Channel Canada
National Geographic Channel
Original release 3 September 2003 (2003-09-03) – present
External links
Website
Production website

Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation in Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Asia and some European countries, and Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the United States, is a Canadian documentary television program investigating air crashes, near-crashes, hijackings, bombings and other disasters. Mayday uses re-enactments and computer-generated imagery to reconstruct for its audiences the sequence of events leading up to each disaster. In addition, aviation experts, retired pilots and crash investigators are interviewed explaining how these emergencies came about, how they were investigated and how they could have been prevented.

Cineflix started production on 13 August 2002 (2002-08-13), with a CDN$2.5 million budget. Cineflix secured deals with France 5, the Discovery Channel, Canal D, TVNZ, the Seven Network, the Holland Media Group and the National Geographic Channel, to take Mayday to 144 countries and 26 languages. The series was received well by critics and nominated for a number of awards. Sharon Zupancic won a Gemini Award for her work on the Mayday episode, "Lockerbie Disaster". A UNSW senior lecturer, Raymond Lewis, conducted a study on teaching strategy loosely based on the series. Lewis's results indicated using the strategy had "a positive effect on learning outcomes."

Hallmarks

The series features re-enactments, interviews, eyewitness testimony, computer-generated imagery, and in nearly all of the episodes, cockpit voice recordings to reconstruct the sequence of events to the audiences. Several passengers and crew members (whether they survived the incident or not) are picked and actors/actresses play the role of those passengers and crews throughout the flight, usually starting from boarding of the flight. The flight routines in the air traffic control, cockpit and cabin are recreated on screen starting from departure up to the moment of the emergency. At the moment of the emergency, external views of the aircraft from different angles are recreated to show the effect and what had happened to the aircraft. The responses and reactions of the passengers, crews and air traffic control personnel leading up to the eventual crash or emergency landing are then recreated. All the scenes in cockpit and air traffic control centres are recreated using the actual script obtained from the cockpit voice recorder of the aircraft and other recordings made at the time.

Throughout the episodes, the victims or relatives and friends of victims are interviewed adding some more information about the cases with their relatives.[1][2] In addition, aviation experts, retired pilots and investigators are interviewed on the evidence and explain how these emergencies came about and how they could have been prevented.[2]

Production and distribution

Cineflix started production for Mayday on 13 August 2002 (2002-08-13), with a CDN$2.5 million budget, after Channel Five commissioned the six-part one-hour series.[3] To keep the costs down, most of the production was kept at Cineflix's offices in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[4] While in production, the series was sold to France 5, Discovery Channel and Canal D.[5] On 2 June 2003 (2003-06-02), Cineflix announced that it had sold the series to TVNZ, the Seven Network and the Holland Media Group.[5] Later that year on October 10 (10-22), a month before the airing of the first season, Cineflix announced that it had secured a major international deal with National Geographic Channel to take Mayday to 144 countries and 26 languages.[6]

In 2011, Smithsonian Networks aired Season 5 renamed to Air Disasters, making it the first time in the USA that Mayday had aired on a channel other than National Geographic. On 25 January 2012, Cineflix Rights announced that it would be selling Seasons 8, 9 and 11 (23 episodes) to Smithsonian Networks.[7] On 28 March 2014, Cineflix Rights announced a deal with Smithsonian Networks to air seasons 3, 4 and 13 (34 episodes).[8]

Episodes

As of 17 February 2016, a total of 130 episodes of Mayday have aired, including 5 Science of Disaster specials and 3 Crash Scene Investigation spin-offs, which do not examine aircraft crashes. As of August 2016, the "series breakdown" page on Cineflix's website lists a 17th season consisting of ten 60-minute episodes scheduled for release in 2017.[9]

Season Episodes Originally aired DVD release dates
Season premiere Season finale Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
1 6 3 September 2003 (2003-09-03)[10] 22 October 2003 (2003-10-22)[10] 9 April 2009 (2009-04-09)[11] TBA 7 March 2013 (2013-03-07)[12]
2 6 23 January 2005 (2005-01-23)[13] 27 February 2005 (2005-02-27) TBA TBA 7 March 2013 (2013-03-07)[12]
3 13 14 September 2005 (2005-09-14)[14] 7 December 2005 (2005-12-07)[14] 15 May 2012 (2012-05-15)[15] TBA 7 March 2013 (2013-03-07)[12]
4 10 15 April 2007 (2007-04-15)[16] 17 June 2007 (2007-06-17)[14] 15 May 2012 (2012-05-15)[15] 5 October 2015 (2015-10-05)[17] 7 March 2013 (2013-03-07)[12]
5 10 9 April 2008 (2008-04-09)[14] 11 June 2008 (2008-06-11)[14] TBA 5 October 2015 (2015-10-05)[18] 7 March 2013 (2013-03-07)[12]
6 3 16 December 2007 (2007-12-16)[14] 2 March 2008 (2008-03-02)[14] TBA TBA 7 March 2013 (2013-03-07)[12]
7 8 4 November 2009 (2009-11-04)[19] 17 December 2009 (2009-12-17) TBA TBA 6 May 2010 (2010-05-06)[20]
8 2 10 June 2009 (2009-06-10)[21] 17 June 2009 (2009-06-17)[21] TBA TBA 7 March 2013 (2013-03-07)[12]
9 8 8 September 2010 (2010-09-08)[22] 27 October 2010 (2010-10-27) TBA TBA 7 March 2013 (2013-03-07)[12]
10 6 27 February 2011 (2011-02-27) 28 March 2011 (2011-03-28)[23] TBA TBA 7 March 2013 (2013-03-07)[12]
11 13 12 August 2011 (2011-08-12) 13 April 2012 (2012-04-13) TBA TBA 5 September 2012 (2012-09-05)[24]
12 13 3 August 2012 (2012-08-03) 15 April 2013 (2013-04-15) TBA TBA 14 August 2013 (2013-08-14)[25]
13 11 16 December 2013 (2013-12-16) 9 May 2014 (2014-05-09) TBA TBA 2 December 2015 (2015-12-02)[26]
14 11 5 January 2015 (2015-01-05) 2 March 2015 (2015-03-02) TBA TBA 1 June 2016 (2016-06-01)[27]
15 10 4 January 2016 (2016-01-04) 17 February 2016 (2016-02-17) TBA TBA TBA
16 10 7 June 2016 (2016-06-07) TBA (TBA) TBA TBA TBA

Reception

The series has been received well by critics.[1][2] Paul Mavis from DVD Talk recommends Mayday as "Harrowing and surprisingly emotional" and continues with "Never exploitative, [Mayday] not only ratchets up the suspense with its well-done action scenes, it validates them by showing us the human side of these horrific air disasters."[1] Franck Tabouring from DVD Verdict said "It's a well-produced show with plenty of compelling information about tragic accidents, telling how some people survived and others didn't."[2]

University of New South Wales's senior lecturer, Raymond Lewis, conducted a study on teaching strategy loosely based on the series. The study was done with prospective pilots studying the "Aircraft Systems for Aviators" undergraduate course by including "study of air accidents and incidents associated with aircraft systems." The results of the study showed "the use of air accidents and incident scenarios had a positive effect on learning outcomes."[28]

Awards and nominations

Overall, the series was nominated for nine awards. It won two, both for film editing.

Year Nominated work Recipient(s) Category Result
Canadian Society of Cinematographers
2004 "Flying Blind" Michael Boland Best Cinematography in Docudrama Nominated
2008 "Final Approach" Damir I Chytil Nominated
"Gimli Glider" D. Gregor Hagey Nominated
2009 "Air India: Explosive Evidence" Paul Tolton Nominated
"Fatal Distraction" D. Gregor Hagey Nominated
Gemini Awards
2009 Mayday: Season 5 Simon Lloyd • Larry Bambrick • Katherine Buck • Alex Bystram •
Greg Lanning • Samantha Linton •
Glen Salzman • John Vandervelde		 Best General/Human Interest Series Nominated
2010 "Lockerbie Disaster" Sharon Zupancic Best Picture Editing in a Documentary Program or Series Won
Canadian Screen Awards
2014 "Focused on Failure" Brian Eimer • Jessica Moniz •
Josh Vamos • Matt Vandersluys •
Michael Bonini • Nadia Awad 		Best Sound in an Information/ Documentary or Lifestyle Program or Series Nominated
2015 "Into the Eye of the Storm" Dan Hawkes Best Picture Editing in a Factual Program or Series Won

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mavis, Paul (15 April 2009). "Mayday — Air Disasters". DVD Talk.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Mavis, Tabouring (23 April 2009). "Mayday — Air Disasters". DVD Verdict.
  3. ↑ "New Cineflix science series Mayday starts production" (Press release). Cineflix. 13 August 2002.
  4. ↑ Luke, Donna (1 January 2003). "No Borders" (Interview). Interview with Susan Zeller for Realscreen.
  5. 1 2 "Cineflix goes global with popular science series Mayday. Germany's Prosieben latest channel to acquire the show" (Press release). Cineflix. 2 June 2003.
  6. ↑ "Cineflix International strikes NATGEO deal for new popular science series Mayday" (Press release). Cineflix. 22 October 2003.
  7. ↑ "Cineflix Rights seals North and Latin American deals" (Press release). Cineflix. 25 January 2012.
  8. ↑ "Cineflix Rights seals multiple deals in advance of MIPTV 2014" (Press release). Cineflix. 28 March 2014.
  9. ↑ "Series Breakdown". Cineflix. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  10. 1 2 "Mayday premieres on Discovery, Wednesday, September 3 at 10 p.m." (Press release). Cineflix. 14 August 2003.
  11. ↑ "Mayday: Air Disasters". Amazon R1 S1. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Air Crash Investigations: Season 1-12 Collection (Limited Edition Box Set) (DVD)". EzyDVD.com.au. EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  13. ↑ "Mayday – Popular Cineflix series returns to Discovery Channel with two new back-to-back episodes, Sunday, January 23, 2005, at 8 pm ET" (Press release). Cineflix. 1 December 2004.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mayday (a Titles & Air Dates guide), epguides, 14 July 2013
  15. 1 2 "Mayday!". Amazon R1 S34. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  16. ↑ "A New Season of Mayday Takes Flight, April 15 on Discovery Channel" (Press release). Discovery Channel Canada. 30 March 2007.
  17. ↑ "Mayday Air Disaster - Complete Series 4 DVD". Zavvi.com. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  18. ↑ "Mayday Air Disaster - Complete Series 5 DVD". Zavvi.com2. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  19. ↑ "Never Take a Safe Landing For Granted Again – Discovery Channel Presents Season 7 of MAYDAY and DAILY PLANET's "Flying Things Week" in November" (Press release). Discovery Channel Canada. 15 October 2009.
  20. ↑ http://www.sanity.com.au/products/2144867/Air_Crash_Investigation_S7
  21. 1 2 TV.com. "Air Emergency - Episode Guide". TV.com. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  22. ↑ "Buckled In and Cabin Baggage Safely Stowed, MAYDAY returns to Discovery Channel for a 9th Season, Sept. 8" (Press release). Discovery Channel Canada. 13 August 2010.
  23. ↑ "Air Crash Investigation TV Listing (UK)". National Geographic Channel. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
  24. ↑ "Air Crash Investigations - Season 11". JB Hi-Fi.
  25. ↑ "Air Crash Investigations - Season 12". JB Hi-Fi.
  26. ↑ "Air Crash Investigations - Season 13 DVD". Shock Records.
  27. ↑ "Air Crash Investigations – Season 14 DVD". Shock Records.
  28. ↑ Lewis, Raymond (December 2009). "Air Crash Investigators — comments on a pedagogical strategy to increase intrinsic motivation in order to enhance student learning." (PDF).

Notes

  1. ↑ The UK broadcast of Season 1 was hosted on Channel Five and narrated by David Bamber
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