Madventures is a Finnish travel documentary television series that focuses on backpacking in lesser-visited or lesser-known destinations. It follows Finnish journalist Riku Rantala and Tuomas "Tunna" Milonoff. As the show's directors and cameramen, they travel around the world to explore different cultures.
They emphasize that they are on a journey, not a holiday. The show often features local practices that are culturally unacceptable or controversial where the episodes air, to the point where the showmakers have been accused of deliberate, excessive use of shock imagery.
The show premiered in Finland on the channel Sub, on 13 October 2002. Its international premiere was in the United States on the Travel Channel on 21 September 2009. The United Kingdom premiere on Fiver is not yet decided. Originally Internationally, Madventures is distributed by the Target Entertainment Group.
The show includes a "MadCook" section, in which the travellers attempt to eat some of the least favoured dishes around the world (e.g. monkey brains in the Amazon rainforest and dog meat in Bali). Another lighthearted feature is the waking-up scenes, where Milonoff will often shock Rantala while he is still asleep.
Production
The travel documentary is made on a relatively low budget with no major production crew but rather just the two presenters travelling together with the film equipment.
Riku Rantala is the writer, presenter and producer of the program, while Tuomas "Tunna" Milonoff directs and films.
The first two seasons were made in Finnish, but for international audiences, season three of the show was sold to the Travel Channel and Fiver and the language was switched to English. The third series was broadcast starting in Finland in early April 2009 with each episode being ten minutes longer than the international version.
Episodes
The program started as a gonzo documentary about the backpacking culture and the travel stories of the protagonists. The second series added a bit more social criticism to the mix whereas the third series concentrates on cultural and sociological extremes.
The following is a comprehensive list of Madventures episodes, excluding DVD extras. The original runtime of episodes was 50 minutes. For the second series the channel decided to halve the duration of episodes.
Season 1 (2002) Nepal – Kathmandu Nepal – Kathmandu, Chitwan, Annapurna India – Varanasi, Delhi, Rajasthan India – Pushkar, Rishikesh India – Goa / Cambodia – Phnom Penh Cambodia – Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Sihanoukville Thailand – Koh Phangan, Koh Tao Thailand – Koh Tao, Bangkok, Krabi Indonesia – Medan, Lake Toba, Bali / Malesia – Penang / Singapore Indonesia – Bali, Sumba Indonesia – Sumba, Bali Australia – Sydney / New Zealand – Auckland / Tonga Tonga Tonga – Peru Amazonia Peru & Ecuador USA – California USA – Las Vegas USA – Las Vegas – Memphis Finland – Helsinki Mad Cook Special 1 Mad Cook Special 2 Madventures – Pahimmat iskut 1 Madventures – Pahimmat iskut 2
Season 2 (2005) Jamaica Tokyo Japan China Tibet West Papua Cuba Africa 1 Africa 2 Indochina 1 Indochina 2 Mad Cook Special Best of Madventures II Madventures Radalla (Loaded) Madventures Koukussa (Hooked)
Season 3 (2009, Finnish broadcast) Amazonas Ex-CCCP West Africa Felix Arabia Nippon Hindustan China Papua Niugini Philippines Southeast Asia - Burma, Thailand & Vietnam
Season 3 (2009, Travel Channel broadcast) Brazil (21 September) Southeast Asia (21 September) Japan (28 September) Russia/Ukraine (28 September) Philippines (5 October) China (12 October) Papua New Guinea (19 October) India (Re:Releasing in 2010) Togo/Benin (Re:Releasing in 2010) Yemen (Re:Releasing in 2010)
Season 4 (2020 Madventures Suomi) A ten-episode season, filmed in Finland and its in Finnish.
Reception and awards
In 2002, the show received an Anti Animalia award for their MadCook section from , Finland's largest animal rights organization. Rantala and Milonoff strongly opposed Animalia's decision in public, calling it hypocritical and pusillanimous, as one of the story's points was to criticize western industrial farming. According to Madventures production team, they want to provoke and to create discussion about intolerance, neoconservatism and moralism.
In 2005, the second series was awarded with an Entertainment Special-Venla and two Media & Message awards in different categories. In 2008, Rantala was selected as the best male TV-person in the (literally Golden TV) awards. In the same event Madventures won the best television programme of 2008 award. Both awards were decided in a vote by television viewers.
In January 2009, the hosts were selected as the Travel Persons of the Year by the Finnish Guild of Travel Journalists. The award, which has been given out since 1972, was presented in the Matka 2009 Nordic Travel Fair.
Releases
DVD name Ep # Release dates All regions Full series Madventures 112 23 November 2005 Madventures 213 28 September 2006 Madventures 3 (FI-version)10 19 October 2009 Madventures 3 (EN-version)10 6 October 2009
All the seasons have been released on DVD with extras. Series 2 box set includes subtitles in English. Series 3 has two separate DVD boxes for English and Finnish viewers. Both boxes include over four hours of unaired footage.
See also Taboo, a similar show on the National Geographic Channel Departures, a backpacker adventure journal
References
External links Official homepage Madventures Travel Channel page ()