"Long Way Round" brings star power and surprises

Miranda Kimball A&E Editor

With TV programs like “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “Inside the Actors Studio” and even “Celebrity Poker Showdown,” it’s clear that BRAVO has found a lucrative and popular niche in entertainment television. BRAVO can now add another show to this engaging list of television programming: “Long Way Round.”

“Long Way Round” is a six part series that chronicles Ewan McGregor, arguably the most talented Scottish actor gracing the silver-screen these days, and his close friend and fellow actor, Charley Boorman’s four month, 20,000 mile, motorcycle trek around the world that took place early this year.

The first part of the series premiered on Oct. 28. While the first hour only highlighted McGregor and Boorman’s preparation process, it’s clear that these motorcycle junkies have the experience of their lives ahead of them; McGregor claimed within the first few minutes of the episode that motorcycles were his passion and Boorman has been riding bikes since he was six years old.Thankfully, these showmen thought to bring a video camera along for the ride.

While it was easy for McGregor and Boorman to brainstorm this bike odyssey, the actual preparations for this journey were incredibly demanding. The first episode did a great job of editing 12 weeks of preparations down to an hour-long television program. It was clear that once the guys had their maps in front of them this journey was more than just a biker’s fantasy. The trip’s route begins in London and passes through: France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada, finally culminating in New York City. McGregor and Boorman, while pioneer-like in spirit, were quite aware that they were going to be traveling through virtually uncharted territory, particularly in parts of Russia and Kazakhstan. The guys wisely took a crash course in Russian in preparation for the journey. In addition to cultural orientation, both McGregor and Boorman went through first aid training, met with a physical trainer throughout the 12 weeks, and even took a Hostile Environment Training Course, which was essentially to teach the guys what to do if they are shot at in unfriendly territories.

During the first episode, the two most interesting challenges McGregor and Boorman faced were finding just the right bike for this monumental journey and a cameraman to film them in action. While it was clear McGregor and Boorman are passionate about bikes, the episode captured the difficulties that even the most experienced riders would face along the way. Not only are their bikes weighed down with all their gear, but much of the journey was going to be through off-road territory, where one has to truly expect the unexpected.

The first episode did a terrific job during their two-day training course in Wales of highlighting the adversity the two riders were sure to face en-route. McGregor struggled throughout this session and fell off his BMW bike on a number of occasions, but like a resilient warrior he picked himself up and got back on course.

Perhaps the most nail-biting moments of the first episode revolved around McGregor and Boorman’s cameraman, Claudio Von Planta. As a native of Switzerland, Claudio’s bike liscence was not vaild in the United Kingdom. So, the day before the guys were to set out on their trip, Claudio had to take his road test. He failed and arranged to meet McGregor and Boorman in Prauge. To add to Claudio’s drama, his passport was in Switzerland with his mother!

Throughout the episode the emotions that the riders, their families, and the production staff faced during the preparation stage was captured with sensitivity and provided the viewer with some truly insightful moments. From our voyeuristic viewpoint, we forget that these guys have families, who they will be away from for three months. We deny that they might fail and have to turn around. We are simply left sitting on the edge of our seats eager to see what Ewan and Charley will face behind the next bend in the road.

“Long Way Round” airs on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. on BRAVO.