History Series / CrocodileHunter

* ArchEnemy: Graham is one of the oldest, meanest, and most territorial crocodiles at Australia Zoo, and he has a long and illustrious history among zoo staff. Steve captured him from the wild in 1988, and the Australia Zoo website posits that Graham still resents Steve for this, and by extension the entire staff of the zoo. Over the coming years, he doubled in size from six feet in length to over eleven and bit Steve's hand, forcing Steve to body-slam his head to get free, and grabbed Wes's leg, Steve's right-hand man, which necessitated surgery and several weeks of recovery. Graham's reputation was played up in the very first episode of ''Crikey! It's the Irwins'', which had a segment about Steve's son Robert's training for his first solo crocodile feed at age fourteen. In a bit of irony, the feeding was to be performed in front of a live audience in the Crocoseum with Graham. Wes was certain Graham could tell Robert is Steve's son, and that Graham would be all too happy to get him, too.

Irwin made several other movies and documentaris with conservationist themes, enlivened by his bubbly Larrikin personality and his {{catch phrase}}, "Crikey!", and he soon became perhaps the world's most visible and charismatic spokesman for the environment, filling a role left empty by the death of Creator/JacquesCousteau. Irwin even produced and starred in TheMovie of his TV show, ''Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course'', in which a crocodile accidentally swallows a top-secret government satellite that falls to earth, and Irwin and his wife Terri are unwittingly caught in the middle as they try to film their TV show.

* ArchEnemy: Graham is one of the oldest, meanest, and most territorial crocodiles at Australia Zoo, and he has a long and illustrious history among zoo staff. He's wild-born and Steve captured him in 1988, and the Australia Zoo website posits that Graham still resents Steve for this. Over the coming years, he doubled in size and bit Steve's hand, forcing Steve to body-slam his head to get free, and grabbed Wes's leg, Steve's right-hand man, which necessitated surgery and several weeks of recovery. Graham's reputation was played up in the very first episode of ''Crikey! It's the Irwins'', which had a segment about Steve's son Robert's training for his first solo crocodile feed at age fourteen, which was to be performed in front of a live audience in the Crocoseum with Graham. Wes was certain Graham could tell Robert is Steve's son, and that Graham would be all too happy to get him, too.

* StrongFamilyResemblance: As Robert's grown, he's started to resemble his father more and more, from looks to mannerisms to speaking styles, both on and off-camera. As early as toddlerhood, he was imitating his dad's croc capture commands as though he'd been catching crocs himself his whole life; by age four, he could stalk small reptiles just like Steve did; and by age thirteen, he was carrying interviews with a similar charisma to his father. As shown on [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BrZzfwAA3F3/ Robert's Instagram]], Terri found a picture of Steve as a child and showed it to Robert, and he legitimately thought it was just a retro-styled picture of himself when he was a kid. The resemblance is truly uncanny, and according to Wes, it's only going to become more striking as Robert gets into his twenties.

** As of ''Crikey! It's the Irwins'', the Irwin family has a pug named Stella who enjoys making her rounds through the zoo, and even has her own small line of merch at the Australia Zoo store.

* StrongFamilyResemblance: As Robert's grown, he's started to resemble his father more and more, from looks to mannerisms to speaking styles, both on and off-camera. As early as toddlerhood, he was imitating his dad's croc capture commands as though he'd been catching crocs himself his whole life, by age four could stalk small reptiles just like Steve did, and by age thirteen, he was carrying interviews with a similar charisma to his father. As shown on [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BrZzfwAA3F3/ Robert's Instagram]], Terri found a picture of Steve as a child and showed it to Robert, and he legitimately thought it was just a retro-styled picture of himself when he was a kid. The resemblance is truly uncanny, and according to Wes, it's only going to become more striking as Robert gets into his twenties.

* StrongGamilyResemblance: As Robert's grown, he's started to resemble his father more and more, from looks to mannerisms to speaking styles, both on and off-camera. As early as toddlerhood, he was imitating his dad's croc capture commands as though he'd been catching crocs himself his whole life, by age four could stalk small reptiles just like Steve did, and by age thirteen, he was commanding interviews with a similar charisma to his father. As shown on [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BrZzfwAA3F3/ Robert's Instagram]], Terri found a picture of Steve as a child and showed it to Robert, and he legitimately thought it was just a retro-styled picture of himself when he was a kid. The resemblance is truly uncanny, and according to Wes, it's only going to become more striking as Robert gets into his twenties.

* NamesTheSame: Bindi's given and middle name (Sue) are both derived from favored animals in Steve's life. Bindi is also the name of a MamaBear female crocodile who would later become one of Graham's mates, while Sue is derived from Sui, Steve's beloved dog.
--> '''Terri, while holding the newborn Bindi:''' "How do you feel about being named after a crocodile and a dog?"

* ArchEnemy: Graham is one of the oldest, meanest, and most territorial crocodiles at Australia Zoo, and he has a long and illustrious history among zoo staff. He bit Steve's hand, forcing Steve to body-slam his head to get free, and grabbed Wes's leg, Steve's right-hand man, which necessitated surgery and several weeks of recovery. Graham's reputation was played up in the very first episode of ''Crikey! It's the Irwins'', which had a segment about Steve's son Robert's training for his first solo crocodile feed at age fourteen. Wes was certain Graham could tell Robert is Steve's son, and that Graham would be all too happy to get him, too.

* NamesTheSame: Bindi's given and middle name (Sue) are both derived from favored animals in Steve's life. Bindi is also the name of a female crocodile who would later become one of Graham's mates, while Sue is derived from Sui, Steve's beloved dog.

In October 2018, Terri, Bindi, and Robert started a new show on Animal Planet, ''Crikey! It's the Irwins''. The show follows the family's day-to-day work at Australia Zoo as well as their adventures around the world doing conservation work, intermixed with archive footage of Steve.

* StoutStrength: In addition to giving a BigFun sort of impression on camera, Steve was ''very'' physically strong from his lifetime of wrangling wildlife, camping in the bush, and also surfing. Near the end of his life, after his past injuries prevented him from surfing anymore, he took up MMA fighting and proved to be a natural, holding his own against professionals in the ring. To quote Terri in ''Steve and Me'':

* NotGoodWithPeople: An extremely mild example- Steve always tended to be most comfortable in the bush with animals, and he had an uncommon intuition with wildlife and the wilderness that was showcased in his documentary work. ''Steve and Me'' shows that he was on the shy side whenever he wasn't out in the wilderness or working with animals, but he began to show the "grumpy" side of this trope near the end of his life after several bouts of negative media attention.

* DentedIron: As Steve got older, his work had taken a toll on his body. On top of his many scars and injuries from animals, he also did a lot of construction work around his house and the fledgling Australia Zoo himself, work ranging from building fences and taking trees down, to operating a backhoe, pouring concrete, and milling his own timber. He usually shrugged off his injuries if he didn't think they were serious, pushing through until he finished the job, and would often rig up spotlights so he could work into the night. An accident during a construction project damaged a disc in his neck, and he permanently damaged his knee and a tendon in his shoulder wrangling crocodiles, which actually barred him from his surfing hobby. According to the special "Crikey! What an Adventure", Steve had confessed to his father a few months before his death that he was in constant pain. Despite all this, he kept trucking on, wrangling crocodiles, climbing trees and cliffs, and even took up MMA fighting as a replacement for surfing.

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: Unlike all of Steve's other work, which either focuses on wildlife, Steve himself, or his family, "Ghosts of War" is about him searching for wreckages of warplanes from the Pacific theatre of World War II.

* FishOutOfWater: The first two episodes of ''The Crocodile Hunter'' showcase both Steve and Terri out of their respective elements. For the pilot, Terri caught and relocated crocodiles for the first time out in the bush, rather than going on their honeymoon in the Pacific northwest, no less. She spent most of the trip some level of terrified and afraid either she or Steve was going to get killed, and the first time she tried using the dunny in the bush (read: squatting over a bush), she found a highly aggressive snake and needed Steve's help getting it out of their campsite. The first proper episode of the series, "Wild in the USA", had the couple flying out to the United States, with Steve navigating the big city for the first time and getting dragged around by his wife shopping. He looked perpetually wide-eyed and uncomfortable whenever he was in the city (or around mammalian predators), and when he found some fancy work boots in Saks Fifth Avenue that he liked, he kept sniff-testing them in case they were secondhand. And of course, he wore his khakis everywhere, including to a fancy filmmakers' party, sticking out even more.

* LoveAtFirstSight: Both Steve ''and'' Terri say they felt this the instant their eyes met. Terri relates that her first thought was, "He's ''got'' to be taken," and Steve- who was in the middle of ''feeding a crocodile'' at the time -was so spellbound by her he [[LoveMakesYouDumb almost got eaten himself]]. Terri was visiting the Australia Zoo (then called Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park) with a friend, and a photo was taken of Terri and Steve together shortly after this first encounter. [[FourthDateMarriage Steve proposed to her on their third meeting, only four months after they first met.]] They were married four months later.

* LoveAtFirstSight: Both Steve ''and'' Terri say they felt this the instant their eyes met. Terri relates that her first thought was, "He's ''got'' to be taken," and Steve- who was in the middle of ''feeding a crocodile'' at the time -was so spellbound by her he [[LoveMakesYouDumb almost got eaten himself]]. Terri was visiting the Australia Zoo (then called Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park) with a friend, and a photo was taken of Terri and Steve together shortly after this first encounter. Steve proposed to her on their third meeting, only four months after they first met. They were married four months later.

* LoveAtFirstSight: Both Steve ''and'' Terri say they felt this the instant their eyes met. Terri relates that her first thought was, "He's ''got'' to be taken," and Steve- who was in the middle of ''feeding a crocodile'' at the time -was so spellbound by her he [[LoveMakesYouDumb almost got eaten himself]]. Terri was visiting the Australia Zoo (then called Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park) with a friend, and a photo was taken of Terri and Steve together shortly after this first encounter. They married only eight months later, [[FourthDateMarriage on their third meeting]].

* LoveAtFirstSight: Both Steve ''and'' Terri say they felt this the instant their eyes met. Terri relates that her first thought was, "He's ''got'' to be taken," and Steve- who was in the middle of ''feeding a crocodile'' at the time -was so spellbound by her he [[LoveMakesYouDumb almost got eaten himself]]. Terri was visiting the Australia Zoo (then called Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park) with a friend, and a photo was taken of Terri and Steve together shortly after this first encounter. They married eight months later.

* BigFun: Steve was slightly overweight, which lent this element to his enthusiastic personality.

* FishOutOfWater: The first two episodes of ''The Crocodile Hunter'' showcase both Steve and Terri out of their respective elements. For the pilot, Terri caught and relocated crocodiles for the first time out in the bush, rather than going on their honeymoon in the Pacific northwest, no less. She spent most of the trip some level of terrified and afraid she was going to get killed, and the first time she tried using the dunny in the bush (read: squatting over a bush), she found a highly aggressive snake and needed Steve's help getting it out of their campsite. The first proper episode of the series, "Wild in the USA", had the couple flying out to the United States, with Steve navigating the big city for the first time and getting dragged around by his wife shopping. He looked perpetually wide-eyed and uncomfortable whenever he was in the city (or around mammalian predators), and when he found some fancy work boots in Saks Fifth Avenue that he liked, he kept sniff-testing them in case they were secondhand. And of course, he wore his khakis everywhere, including to a fancy filmmakers' party, sticking out even more.

* FishOutOfWater: The first two episodes of ''The Crocodile Hunter'' showcase both Steve and Terri out of their respective elements. Terri caught and relocated crocodiles for the first time out in the bush in the pilot, rather than going on the honeymoon she and Steve planned, no less. She spent most of the trip some level of terrified and afraid she was going to get killed, and the first time she tried using the dunny in the bush (read: squatting over a bush), she found a highly aggressive snake and needed Steve's help getting it out of their campsite. The first proper episode of the series, "Wild in the USA", had the couple flying out to the United States, with Steve navigating the big city for the first time and getting dragged around by his wife shopping. He looked perpetually wide-eyed and uncomfortable whenever he was in the city (or around mammalian predators), and when he found some fancy work boots in Saks Fifth Avenue that he liked, he kept sniff-testing them in case they were secondhand. And of course, he wore his khakis everywhere, including to a fancy filmmakers' party, sticking out even more.

* {{Keet}}: Steve was excitable and jovial both on and off-camera. He frequently got bored and ran off to find wildlife during lulls in shooting, and was dreaming up new projects for both his conservation and filming careers even before he finished the ones he was already working on. To the surprise of no one, Steve's parents said in "The Steve Irwin Story" that he bordered on hyperactive, was never where he was supposed to be, and was always running off to climb trees or catch snakes and lizards.

** In an episode of ''The Crocodile Hunter Diaries'', Steve and his team were dispatched to relocate a large number of very large, aggressive crocodiles in a relatively short amount of time. One crocodile lashed out during release, injuring Steve's finger. He at first thought it was just dislocated and ''yanked on his finger'' to try and put it back in place, the finger making cracking sounds that will set your teeth on edge, only for him to then realize that it was actually straight-up broken. Since the team still had a lot of crocodiles to deal with and there was no time to stop, Steve just had the broken finger taped to a nearby one and went on his merry way. And that's not even the worst thing that happened in that episode!

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: Unlike all of Steve's other work, which either focuses on wildlife, Steve himself, or his family, "Ghosts of War" is about Steve searching for wreckages of warplanes from the Pacific theatre of World War II.

** The Irwins' beloved Staffordshire bull terrier Sui regularly accompanied the family on their adventures and was a common sight in many ''Crocodile Hunter'' shows until her death from cancer at age 15.
** Before Sui, Steve had a dog in his early twenties that he named Chili, a stray he met while living out in the bush catching crocodiles. Chili loved to help Steve hunt feral pigs as bait for the crocodile traps, but she was accidentally shot by a local while she was taking a pig down. Steve talked about her a bit in "The Steve Irwin Story", and you can see him holding back tears the whole time.

* DentedIron: As Steve got older, his work had taken a toll on his body. On top of his many scars and injuries from animals, he also did a lot of construction work around his house and the fledgling Australia Zoo himself, work ranging from building fences and taking trees down, to operating a backhoe and milling his own timber. He usually shrugged off his injuries if he didn't think they were serious, pushing through until he finished the job. An accident during a construction project damaged a disc in his neck, and he permanently damaged his knee and a tendon in his shoulder wrangling crocodiles, which actually barred him from his surfing hobby. According to the special "Crikey! What an Adventure", Steve had confessed to his father a few months before his death that he was in constant pain. Despite all this, he kept trucking on, wrangling crocodiles, climbing trees and cliffs, and even took up MMA fighting as a replacement for surfing.

* BadassFamily: Terri's as much of an activist as Steve was- before they met, she ran her own wildlife rescue in her home state of Oregon, with a focus on cougars. Bindi, rather than face traumatization, went right to work in her late father's footsteps as an activist and a animal-related TV show host. Robert's taken an interest in animal photography and has been working his way up to getting down and dirty with the crocodiles and other heavy-hitters of the zoo, under the guidance of Wes Mannion, Steve's oldest friend. To this day, the family still traps and wrangles crocodiles for research, just like Steve did.

** Before Sui, Steve had a dog in his early twenties that he named Chili, a stray he met while living out in the bush catching crocodiles. Chili loved to help Steve hunt feral pigs as bait for the crocodile traps, but she was accidentally shot by a local while she was taking a pig down.