Season 4 of the popular History Channel show takes place back on the Dalton Highway in Alaska. As an additional wrinkle to this year’s hauls, the drivers are forced to travel over frozen rivers and swamps “off-road” in order to reach two remote Alaskan towns, Bettles and Nuiqsut. Veteran truckers Hugh Rowland, Alex Debogorski, Jack Jessee, and Lisa Kelly all return for the fourth season. They are joined by newcomers Greg Boadwine and Ray Vellieux.
Most of the familiar storylines that have sustained the show over the first three years remain intact. There's a "dash for the cash", Lisa's further attempts to be taken seriously, the newbies and their first runs on the ice road, as well as the continuing saga of the nemeses Hugh and Alex. Throw in Lisa's epic journey to recover her horse (yes horse) and a few unexpected scenarios along the way and we have all the makings for a pretty impressive reality television season. All that, and no one gets drunk, falls down and loses their clothing! What a feat!
Each of the characters helps to fill out the show nicely. Even the new guys fit right in and seamlessly integrate themselves into the familiar rhythm of each episode. Lisa Kelly shines in this season, which is welcome given that her first season on the show spent as much time hammering home the “female ice road trucker” angle as it did actually focusing on her time in the truck. There always seemed to be a more compelling storyline there and in season 4 we get more glimpses into it. The situation with her horse (I’m not kidding, there is a real horse) is unique and pretty gripping as a subplot to the story. Plus, in its fourth season the show really needed another driver to come to the forefront rather than just relying on the rivalry between Hugh and Alex.
Beyond the players and the location there isn't too much else to know about Ice Road Truckers.
The producers are nice enough to lay it all out there right in the show's title. I haven’t watched every season religiously. Ice Road Truckers remains one of those shows that if I stumble upon it, I probably won’t change the channel. That being said, it seems to me like season 4 has more crashes, near misses, breakdowns and overall issues than any of the others to this point. Frankly, that’s why any of us watches the show. The long hauls and massive equipment are interesting, but if there isn’t drama then what is the point?
While the formula for the show hasn't changed, the release of the series on the Blu-ray format is a real benefit to the show. The Alaskan vistas look tremendous, and the roaring sound of the trucks rolling down (and sometimes off) the road make the experience better than any television re-run. Fans of the show won't be disappointed in the experience if they pick up this Blu-ray package. When it comes to extras that is another story.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
For a Blu-ray release of a television season, there are surprisingly few special features. There is some additional footage that didn’t air with the episodes, most of which seems to just be filler film that got left on the cutting room floor during editing. For a show like this, some footage of shots or scenes that were messed up in the moment and had to be “re-shot” later with reaction or testimonial footage would have been nice, as would any sort of documentary work on how these shows are made. A feature on the cameramen and the crews and how they film inside the rigs, get cameras mounted everywhere and even do the flyovers would have been fantastic. In some ways, the work of the cameramen and crew is more interesting than some of the driving, but alas we don’t get any insight into that.
"Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season Four" is on sale December 31, 1969 and is rated .
