Irwin’s final show paired with tribute

01:00 AM EST on Saturday, January 20, 2007

By Kathy Blumenstock

The Washington Post

Steve Irwin’s daughter, Bindi, reads at a memorial service for her father at the Australia Zoo, in Beerwah, Australia, on Sept. 20, two weeks after he was killed by a stingray barb.
AP / STEVE HOLLAND
In his final documentary, Steve Irwin displays the exuberant passion that was as familiar as his trademark khakis. Cradling a 6-foot sea snake and exclaiming over a massive crocodile called Kennedy, Irwin bubbles with enthusiasm for his critters and their conservation.

“He turned up the energy a little bit on camera, but he really was so excited about all these things,” said Philippe Cousteau, who was working with Irwin on the program when a stingray barb fatally pierced Irwin’s heart on Sept. 4.

Ocean’s Deadliest, a 90-minute documentary featuring some of the most dangerous residents off Australia’s coast, will be simulcast on Animal Planet and Discovery Channel tomorrow at 8 p.m., and will be followed by Crikey! What an Adventure, a half-hour program honoring Irwin.

The tribute will include previously unaired footage but “will be something a little more personal than just the clips from shows,” said Maureen Smith, general manager of Animal Planet. “People will get more of a sense of Steve, the family man.”

Irwin’s widow, Terri; his longtime friend and manager, John Stainton; and other family members and friends contributed their personal remembrances to Crikey!

Cousteau was among those who tried to resuscitate Irwin after he was struck by the stingray. “One knows that this kind of thing can happen, because you’re out in the wild, working with animals in unpredictable circumstances. But it was a shock for us all,” Cousteau said.

After Irwin’s death, tens of thousands of people left mementos and flowers at the Australia Zoo, where Irwin’s “Crocoseum” served as the site of a Sept. 20 memorial service.

Known as the “Crocodile Hunter,” Irwin spent a decade with Animal Planet, essentially putting the network on the map, Smith said.

“He redefined what animal programming could be,” she said. “Prior to Steve, people’s experience with animal programming was sort of the scientific nature documentary with an unseen narrator. And here you had this guy who not only immersed himself with the animals, but had this personality that reached through the TV screen and grabbed you and brought you along.”

Irwin also educated viewers about “the beauty in creatures people would say are ugly or scary,” Smith said. “He’d show the most amazing things about spiders and snakes and sharks. That’s why Ocean’s Deadliest is so special.”

In one segment, Irwin and his team extract venom from sea snakes to provide antidotes to lethal bites. In another, he demonstrates how a stonefish, a dark, craggy creature resembling a rock, can inject venom from its dorsal spines into a human foot. The final segment shows how whale hunting and pollution destroy sea life, and offers stark visual reminders that fishermen’s nets can snare turtles, dolphins and sea birds as well as fish.

Cousteau, whose legendary grandfather Jacques made the family name synonymous with ocean exploration, cited Irwin’s respect for animals and his reluctance to interfere with their routines.

“His camera crew was always spot-on because he refused to do more than one take” in those situations, Cousteau said.

Ocean’s Deadliest does not refer to Irwin’s death until its closing shot: a still photo of Irwin, smiling broadly, and the words “In Memory of Steve Irwin.”

Irwin’s final moments were caught on videotape, and were used in a police investigation and coroner’s examination of the death. The original tape was returned to Irwin’s widow, and all copies were destroyed. Terri Irwin and Stainton, one of few to have seen the footage, have both said it would never be shown publicly.

“Anything to do with the day that he died, that film is not available,” Stainton said.

Finishing the program was especially difficult because of Irwin’s death, he said.

“The documentary was commissioned, we finished it and it’s going to air,” Stainton said. “It’s been a long and arduous saga . . . an emotionally charged time to do an edit on a documentary that did have a deadline, and we did have to honor the deadline.”

“Doing the last few minutes of narration was pretty tough,” said Cousteau, who serves as the on-camera guide and the voice of the project. “It got a little emotional at the end. I kept thinking of all the things Steve and I talked about — how humankind is the deadliest predator in the ocean. The strong conservation message comes through, and that’s a great tribute to him.”