Madventures (Finnish TV program)

Madventures is a Finnish travel documentary television program that concentrates on backpacking in the most off-the-beaten-path destinations on the planet. It is presented by Riku Rantala and Tuomas "Tunna" Milonoff. As the show's director and cameramen, they travel around the world exploring different cultures. They emphasize that they are on a journey, not on 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 — for example, monkey brains in the Amazon Rainforest and dog meat in Bali. Another light hearted feature are the waking up scenes, where Milonoff will often shock Rantala while he is still asleep in bed.

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)

 * 1) Nepal – Kathmandu
 * 2) Nepal – Kathmandu, Chitwan, Annapurna
 * 3) India – Varanasi, Delhi, Rajasthan
 * 4) India – Pushkar, Rishikesh
 * 5) India – Goa / Cambodia – Phnom Penh
 * 6) Cambodia – Phnom Penh, Siam Reap, Sihanoukville
 * 7) Thailand – Koh Phangan, Koh Tao
 * 8) Thailand – Koh Tao, Bangkok, Krabi
 * 9) Indonesia – Medan, Lake Toba, Bali / Malesia – Penang / Singapore
 * 10) Indonesia – Bali, Sumba
 * 11) Indonesia – Sumba, Bali
 * 12) Australia – Sydney / New Zealand – Auckland / Tonga
 * 13) Tonga
 * 14) Tonga – Peru
 * 15) Amazonia
 * 16) Peru & Ecuador
 * 17) USA – California
 * 18) USA – Las Vegas
 * 19) USA – Las Vegas – Memphis
 * 20) Finland – Helsinki
 * 21) Mad Cook Special 1
 * 22) Mad Cook Special 2
 * 23) Madventures – Pahimmat iskut 1
 * 24) Madventures – Pahimmat iskut 2

Season 2 (2005)

 * 1) Jamaica
 * 2) Tokyo
 * 3) Japan
 * 4) China
 * 5) Tibet
 * 6) West Papua
 * 7) Cuba
 * 8) Africa 1
 * 9) Africa 2
 * 10) Indochina 1
 * 11) Indochina 2
 * 12) Mad Cook Special
 * 13) Best of Madventures II
 * 14) Madventures Radalla (Loaded)
 * 15) Madventures Koukussa (Hooked)

Season 3 (2009, Finnish broadcast)

 * 1) Amazonas
 * 2) Ex-CCCP
 * 3) West Africa
 * 4) Felix Arabia
 * 5) Nippon
 * 6) Hindustan
 * 7) China
 * 8) Papua Niugini
 * 9) Philippines
 * 10) Southeast Asia - Burma, Thailand & Vietnam

Season 3 (2009, Travel Channel broadcast)

 * 1) Brazil (September 21)
 * 2) Southeast Asia (September 21)
 * 3) Japan (September 28)
 * 4) Russia/Ukraine (September 28)
 * 5) Philippines (October 5)
 * 6) China (October 12)
 * 7) Papua New Guinea (October 19)
 * 8) India (Re:Releasing in 2010)
 * 9) Togo/Benin (Re:Releasing in 2010)
 * 10) Yemen (Re:Releasing in 2010)

Reception and awards
In 2002, the show received an Anti Animalia award for their MadCook section from Animalia (organization), 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 Kultainen TV (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
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.