Cal State Long Beach history professor Andrew Jenks is one of the brains behind Russia’s czar Ivan the Terrible on Spike TV’s “Deadliest Warrior” last night.
Jenks’ focus on Russian history gave him an opportunity to show Spike TV audiences one aspect of Ivan the Terrible.
The studio called Jenks for an audition after one of his colleagues turned down the offer and referred him.
Jenks later found himself among technical specialists, medical professionals, weapons experts and a truckload of pig carcasses.
Most of the filming took place at a field in Santa Clarita, where the teams were filmed testing many of the weapons.
One test consisted of shooting at three dummy torsos suspended on a clothesline-like apparatus moving back and forth. At one point, all three dummies lined up toward the marksman.
“Our brawn [marksman] is supposed to shoot and, hopefully, get all three targets,” Jenks said. “The musket, this 16th century technology, is amazing if you can even get close [in aim.] Our guy, on the first shot, as soon as they lined up … [shot] right through the heart of all three. That was an amazing shot!”
The show is geared for young male audiences. Almost everything in the show is filled to the brim with a red viscous liquid meant to represent blood, which spews forth from the punctures and slashes. Due to the focus on gore, not all of Jenks’ knowledge was used.
“Whenever I would say things like, ‘Well, it’s not really that way,’ they didn’t want to hear about it.” Jenks said. “They just want the blood, the guts, the torture.”
As an academic professor, Jenks pointed out a strange difference in what the academic world wants and what the television world wants. The academic tendency is to make everything complex, whereas the television tendency is to entertain.
“It really has to be simple and comprehensive so that a thirteen-year-old male, driven by hormones, will understand and be entertained by this.” Jenks said. “They would ask, ‘Just keep on telling us more about the torture, give us more instances.’ That grew tiresome after a while.”
The ever-present camera and about 2.5 million viewers did little to unnerve Jenks.
“It was a lot of fun.” Jenks said. “It was doing the same stuff that I do with my class, but dumbing it down even more and then emphasizing the ridiculous. So it wasn’t really so nerve-wracking. What is nerve-wracking is f–king up your lines and having to do it again and it only gets worse.”
Jenks said that casting a part on the show has given him a nice break from his normal routine and will command the respect of his 13-year-old son.
He still has reservations about whether “Deadliest Warrior” did Ivan any justice, but Jenks pointed out that the show has merit in getting viewers interested and hopefully that interest leads to further study of those featured on the show.
“It’s like a gateway drug,” Jenks said.
Jenks will also be a part of an online segment titled “The Aftermath” that helps answer questions about the episode and bring closure to the viewers.
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