Sharks up close and personal

It’s been nearly 30 years since director Steven Spielberg unleashed the underwater terror known as “Jaws” on the moviegoing public, manipulating viewers’ fright and fascination buttons with uncommon skill and making a bundle in the process.

Since 1988, the Discovery Channel has attempted to strike its own kind of briny balance, baiting shark-hungry audiences with an annual block of programming aimed at goosing the fear factor while feeding them a good chunk of education as well. And so it is that we find ourselves smack in the middle of another “Shark Week” promotion, continuing tonight at 9 with “Robo Shark,” an effort to unlock creature secrets with an idea that could have been lifted from Spielberg himself.

“Robo” is a 6-foot-long mechanical creation similar to the virtual villain in “Jaws.” It looks like a shark and swims like one too, but this radio-controlled model comes camera-equipped, enabling it to infiltrate packs of sharks while filming away.

At least that was the plan. As it works out, there’s more footage watching Robo film his finny friends than of what he’s actually shooting, mainly because Robo’s camerawork has a murky, fish-eye quality that can’t stand up to that of the two-legged pros.

Fortunately, there’s just enough of the latter to make this a worthwhile if occasionally somewhat gruesome hour. The crunching sounds accompanying scenes of tiger sharks biting off mouthfuls of big green turtles, for example, may stay with you a while.

The other sharks never really warm up to Robo tonight in a program geared to illustrate the intelligence of the various species. In fact, some seem to treat him more like a green turtle than a fellow shark, and that doesn’t bode well for poor old Robo.