Polarprisca's Blog

My national broadcaster launched a new television series three weeks ago: Arctic Air. The premise is simple. A small commercial airline based in Yellowknife, NWT, serves the Far North, moving people and cargo. The stories revolve around a core set of characters, meant to represent Canadians in the 21st Century. There are people of our First Nations and people of other nations – India, Germany and the Republic of Petroleum and Natural Resources. There are northern lifers of mixed ancestry, with an irascible eccentric or two for humour.

The protagonist changes every week, although there just might be a recurring one, who represents evil businessmen from the South, a staple of Canadian myths. We have a great deal of South,  about 80% of our population lives in the South. We have a great deal more North, however.

Episode Three introduced our first policeman – a Mountie I believe, although that was played down. Mounties expect to get paid royalties these days for the use of their image, name and uniforms. [That fact is not a myth.] I’m waiting for the politician to appear – as the bad or good guy or gal, because The North is a favourite stop for photo shoots and glad handing by our Federal politicians.

There are two more uncredited recurring characters – a DC3 and a float plane – iconic symbols of the North to a woman of my generation. I don’t know what the younger folk who might watch Arctic Air make of the machines, held together by refurbished parts and hope. There is nothing high tech about Arctic Air‘s fleet. Flying those birds inevitably leads to nail biting, as they touch down on choppy lakes or rocky runways built on erupting permafrost.

Arctic Air delivers beautiful women, handsome leading men, the expected eye candy for the jaded TV viewer. The landscape, however, is the real beauty and star of this series. The producers invested in aerial and ground shoots in and around Yellowknife. Ethereal, aloof, and seductive, she’s got me hooked. Bring on Episode 4.