OK, reality check: It hasn't been that long since Parker and Val won the contest, so there's simply no way the Mars bio-dome could have been suddenly moved to start "next week" in Bolivia. Given their ages, it's entirely possible (even likely) that neither of them has a passport yet. Obtaining a US Passport takes 6-8 weeks, generally. Even assuming Parker and Val both have passports, U.S. citizens require visa approval to enter Bolivia (5-10 business days after applying at any Consulate of Bolivia).
I've seen first-hand the hoops international travel can involve, especially when sponsored by an institution. I went to New Zealand on choir tour when I was about Parker's age, and my nephew went to Spain around the same age. The choir and travel agencies spent months making sure everyone's travel documents were in order, that passports were obtained well in advance (or were valid well past the planned return dates). Since the contest was run by a corporate sponsor, not a government agency, I doubt there's any possibility of diplomatically shortening the lead time necessary to get the kids' travel set up.
This episode is really good, but Parker's part could have been pulled off more believably by moving the dome to Utah's salt flats instead, if they were really set on salt flats. Still away from family (both in California and Wisconsin), similar type of terrain, but not outside the country—thus avoiding the passport & visa conundrum.
Got distracted a bit during Karen's little speech to all the kids because her audio was off sync in the wide shot, whoops.
I also noticed that some of the static shots of the house in California look severely, egregiously enlarged. Like, blown up from a 640x360 (or smaller) thumbnail enlarged. There are obscene amounts of aliasing along all the straight lines, artifacts in the facade pattern… Not sure how long it's been doing that (maybe all of season four?), but it really hit me these last few episodes, maybe because I'm actually paying attention to the show now that there's real emotional content.
Review by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2017-08-17T21:40:35Z
OK, reality check: It hasn't been that long since Parker and Val won the contest, so there's simply no way the Mars bio-dome could have been suddenly moved to start "next week" in Bolivia. Given their ages, it's entirely possible (even likely) that neither of them has a passport yet. Obtaining a US Passport takes 6-8 weeks, generally. Even assuming Parker and Val both have passports, U.S. citizens require visa approval to enter Bolivia (5-10 business days after applying at any Consulate of Bolivia).
I've seen first-hand the hoops international travel can involve, especially when sponsored by an institution. I went to New Zealand on choir tour when I was about Parker's age, and my nephew went to Spain around the same age. The choir and travel agencies spent months making sure everyone's travel documents were in order, that passports were obtained well in advance (or were valid well past the planned return dates). Since the contest was run by a corporate sponsor, not a government agency, I doubt there's any possibility of diplomatically shortening the lead time necessary to get the kids' travel set up.
This episode is really good, but Parker's part could have been pulled off more believably by moving the dome to Utah's salt flats instead, if they were really set on salt flats. Still away from family (both in California and Wisconsin), similar type of terrain, but not outside the country—thus avoiding the passport & visa conundrum.
Got distracted a bit during Karen's little speech to all the kids because her audio was off sync in the wide shot, whoops.
I also noticed that some of the static shots of the house in California look severely, egregiously enlarged. Like, blown up from a 640x360 (or smaller) thumbnail enlarged. There are obscene amounts of aliasing along all the straight lines, artifacts in the facade pattern… Not sure how long it's been doing that (maybe all of season four?), but it really hit me these last few episodes, maybe because I'm actually paying attention to the show now that there's real emotional content.