Monty Halls......RANT

[Scubanut]

Or should we say Molesting Halls?

I thought that this guy was quite good and informative.

I am however finding it rather disturbing that he finds it informative to grab and touch underwater fish and the like to describe how they live and survive, in what he thinks may be a better way.

Does he not think that the little old turtle was petrified by this big thing chasing it through the water?

The case against Monty is increasing week on week.

What happened to look and don't touch?

If someone sees him in the near future just remind him, look don't touch and leave only footprints etc etc

Rant over

Gary

Bring back Tanya Streeter..................................

[Lou]

Ah-hah! Well, funny you should say that. I criticised him on another forum (UKD) for that very thing ...... and here is his response!

I'm sure this is probably not the most sensible thing to do, but having read the comments on the forum I thought I'd just take a moment to reply on behalf of the Great Ocean Adventures team.

Everyone who watches TV is aware of course that what is actually filmed, and what appears on screen can be very different.

Although the series is being watched to a large extent by divers, it is actually aimed at the general public. Although it would be terrific to produce a diving programme purely for divers, unfortunately the vast majority of viewers would switch off, and in the world of television, that is not a good thing! During the editing and post production stages, certain dives were built up as part of the narrative of the particular episode in an attempt to create a feeling of excitement and anticipation. This is not an attempt to be macho, and the overwhelming feedback from divers reflects this, with many noting that non-diving friends (who will hopefully soon become divers!) are being swept along with the plot of each show.

In terms of touching animals, there is foundation in that criticism. Many of the dives we have done have been created through the active efforts of local dive operators, and the animals in question anticipate and in some cases (the mantas in Mexico for example) seek out divers for physical contact. Needless to say, in every dive we undertook, we were accompanied by local experts and guides who instructed us on the level of interaction permitted. This did create a few dilemmas for us as a filming team, and on reflection perhaps we should (or I should) have been less active in some of the exhanges with these animals.

In terms of the topside activities and exploration, unfortunately this was insisted upon by all of the broadcasting networks who bought the show.

I promise I will stop waving my arms around! (even my mum told off about that after she saw the first show!)

In summary, I have been a passionate diver for twenty years, and have (obviously) loved every second of making this series. We have tried to communicate the excitement and wonder of diving to non-divers, as well as slipping in as many conservation messages as the broadcasters will allow (Mexico being a good example, where we managed to highlight the decimation of shark populations around the world). The support of the networks in making this show has been great, and we hope we can make even more to show just how good diving really is, and how extraordinary the marine environment is.

The response from both divers and (particularly) non-divers has been overwhelming in their positive support of the series. This (very lengthy!) reply to your posts is a measure of how little negative feedback there has been - this is the first such post I've done on any site or forum about the show.

For those enjoying the show, I hope you enjoy the remainder of the series. For those who are not, I understand Eastenders has some cracking plot lines at the moment.

All the best, Monty Halls

and a later one after I blushed for slating him

Just a swift reply to thank you again for the comments. Don't worry about the negative feedback, it's obviously something we will try to hoist on board to make the next series even better. Many of the criticisms were justified anyway, particularly the touching animals comments which - as I mentioned - we did spend some time agonising about as a production team. We do consistently try to slip in conservation messages, but many of them end up on the cutting room floor I'm afraid. Hopefully we can be stronger on this in future series.

Anyway, enough said. As I mentioned, email access on this project is very limited so this will be all from me for a wee while, but I look forward to getting stuck in to more exchanges on the forum in the near future - it's addicitive stuff!

Best, Monty

[Paul Oliver]

Well he's an ex Royal Marine as well so at least we should be glad he's not doing this dressed in womens clothes

He is a YD're so maybe he will respond on here.

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by Scubanut

Or should we say Molesting Halls?


Does he not think that the little old turtle was petrified by this big thing chasing it through the water?

Rant over

Gary

At this point I turned off

[Scubanut]

Lou, thanks for that!!!!!

I can't blame the chap for his passion and enthusiasm, in fact it's perfect for what he's doing.
I can't wait until he does the 'as big as a bus' with his arms!!!

There is some pics of him wearing a frock on some weird website, do a search and let me know what you find

If Monty replies to this then I'll donate a tenner to the RNLI............

Gary

[JohnK]

Interesting. I think Monty is doing a fine job in making diving attractive to non divers. I find the programmes entertaining, if not a little too "twee" and contrived - "and on the very last dive we finally sae a manta/shark/etc...."

Should he touch the fish ? - have to say Im not too bothered by it. I`ve been on some dives where the fish actually come and touch me !!

[Scubanut]

Originally Posted by JohnK

Interesting. I think Monty is doing a fine job in making diving attractive to non divers. I find the programmes entertaining, if not a little too "twee" and contrived - "and on the very last dive we finally sae a manta/shark/etc...."

Should he touch the fish ? - have to say Im not too bothered by it. I`ve been on some dives where the fish actually come and touch me !!

John, I can't knock him overall, as I said earlier his passion is brilliant and not one to be knocked. It's the interaction between himself and underwater life that does want me to start asking questions.

As for the fish interacting with us, then that is their choice, they have no choice if we decide the other way, no matter how small or how big!!!

[Fiona]

Originally Posted by JohnK

Should he touch the fish ? - have to say Im not too bothered by it. I`ve been on some dives where the fish actually come and touch me !!

John he didn't just touch the fish, he grabbed a small snapping turtle and held on to it while he described the little fellas shell and jaws.

[zepp]

I know exactly what Monty means about much of the 'diver related' stuff getting cut. I spent a week diving with him in Scapa in '03 in which he was making a film. Like he says, the material shown has to be interesting for the general public. We all know the first thing people ask when you say you saw that turtle or whale shark etc., is "Did you manage to touch it?"
He can get a bit over active with his arms, but that's Monty. I think the way he describes things can be quite ammusing.

[Juz]

I haven't been watching this program but I have met Monty. I ran an event a couple of years ago and we hired monty as our motivational speaker. Blanaid even had to look after him between him arriving and going on stage - didn't sound like much of a chore!

I found him to be a thoroughly nice guy and I think this is shown by his reply to Lou.

Good on him, both for taking the time to reply and for the honesty and candour.

Juz