Chernobyl HBO Miniseries

Is it just me? I cannot get Capt. Crozier out of my head when I watch Jared Harris. Adam Nagaitis (Mr. Hickey) is also in this.

 

Very much so...…..I lived in Moscow for two years, and it was a difficult adjustment for me.

 

I was impatient and wanted to watch something and didn't feel like waiting the hour for it to come on #21stcenturystreamingproblems

 

When did ALL the people in Chernobyl start speaking with British accents?

 

I would much rather hear British accents than butchered Russian accent attempts or reading subtitles.

 

Uranium can do some strange things to people.....

 

lane pryce for me. crozier a close second.

i also noticed a very buff hickey.

 

Not familiar with the character Lane Pryce. Google tells me that’s “Mad Men” which, obviously, I’ve never seen. I need to rectify that and watch it soon.

I watched the first episode of “Chernobyl” tonight. I thought it was quite good. I’m anxious to see more.

 

It disturbs me much more when I hear folks that are supposed to be Russia speak with British accents. I mean I’m fine with but would it have hurt that much to try?

Powerful first episode knowing that 300 people eventually died to exposure. 28 immediately after and two in the explosion/exposure.

What a horrible way to die. I’d put a gun to my head first.

 

Plus 6,000 confirmed thyroid cancer deaths, and more plenty more on the way...….although the Ukrainian Government won't take credit for those.

 

They coulda ALL sounded like Teddy KGB, and I woulda been ok with it.

 

It puzzles me a bit that people are complaining about the English accents in this. Even if they were to speak with Russian accents, they're still speaking the English language so what difference does it make ultimately? Unless they wanted to do the show in Russian and use subtitles, I don't see the failure here in terms of the choice of accent.

 

bottom line for me:

it just wan't very good at all.

in my best british/russian accent - "i will not not continue."

 

What did you not like about it? I admit it wasn't flawless but I thought it was pretty good. I'm interested in your opinion.

 

it just seemed, almost forced in its presentation.

like it wanted to be 'the china syndrome' and the actors just didn't have the chops to do it.

 

I enjoyed the first episode, very tense ! Well done show

 

It takes you out of the moment. It’s like watching a movie with a character who is supposed to be British and that person has an American Southern accent or watching a movie with someone who is supposed to be from the south and hearing a New Jersey accent. Outside of understanding the language there are going to be noticeable differences. Even if the characters don’t the English but you know the South and the type of accent they would have, you would still expect to hear it.

It’s also why actors take the time with dialog coaches-it creates an air of authenticity that adds to the show or film. You are already accepting one given—that you can understand their language. It’s one of the little things that adds to the reality of a show or film.

The same thing bothers me if you have actors from multiple parts of the country in a film set in England and the character is supposed to be Liverpool but has a Welsh accent without explanation. It’s noticeably different.

Still, it was a very good show.

 

I’m all for doing it in English but that’s why films have dialog coaches to help with accents, etc. it just shows a little more effort was put into it.

As to accepting the actors as others characters, considering that I’ve seen a lot of them in other parts, it doesn’t bother me.

 

I too though the first episode was riveting. Very well-paced, and not overacted, which is key, as emoting/scenery-chewing always is a risk with these high-intensity disaster productions.

I can't rationally argue against the point that their accents don't matter since they're all speaking English. However, I nevertheless did find the English accents distracting and it was my one complaint. Stupidly or not, a British accent - especially the middle-class/upper-class type of accent most or all of the actors use - conjures different connotations and feelings, at least for me as a U.S. viewer, than a Russian accent would.

I don't even necessarily think the British accents were the wrong choice, because I very much doubt that the entire cast could have managed good Russian accents, and it takes only one bad Russian accent by one actor to undermine the entire show. But ideally it would have been cool if they'd done Russian accents, if every single actor with a speaking part could have pulled it off.

EDIT: Just looked at the Guardian's review, which pans it for being too confusing - I could not disagree more. The first episode did a great job of immersing the viewer in the limited information and confusion of the first hours, making you feel the frustration and bafflement that many of the characters and first responders feel. As a viewer, I felt like the show did a great job of balancing the need to inform me of the massive horror that will be unfolding, while still keeping me disoriented.

 

I didn’t find it confusing at all either. It, in fact, did capture their confusion and lack of c9mprehension as to how bad the situation was. I found it ironic that these nuclear engineers would tell another nuclear engineer to go on the room and look to see if the containment unit was intact and sending a guard to make sure he did it. There were other ways todo that than putting lives at further risk and the political officer was an idiot. He should have been made to march up there and check (of course he isn’t an expert).

 

I thought that series of scenes was well done and it wasn’t. The “heavy” nuclear engineer made the other guy do it because he was trying to save his butt as he knew he had screwed up. In this, the frowning main nuclear engineer guy (I can’t remember his name) that was at fault was too severe. Was there even a guy like this or is he a composite character? He was a little too unlikeable (villain like).

The scene I thought was good (among many) was the guy that was told to go look knew he was basically going to his death sentence. The look on his reddened face was like “okay, I did it. Now, I’m dead, happy?”

I didn’t find the episode confusing at all. All I can say is I found it riveting. I’ve always been really interested in the Chernobyl disaster. I kept checking the time on the episode as I didn’t want it to end. In this regard, I hate weekly episodes as I’m not a patient person and usually like to digest the stuff I watch in a few sittings.

Finally, I didn’t mean to imply I cannot see an actor outside of a particular role, but more Jared Harris, who I’ve had limited experience with, is best associated to me as Captain Crozier from “The Terror”. That’s all I meant.

 

Thank you for your well written review.

 

CHERNOBYL

HARRISBURG

SELLAFIELD

HIROSHIMA

 

I agree GodShifter……..the episode seem to end too soon.

 

I do see your point, but I think you either do the thing in an agreed upon accent and keep it uniform or do it in the native language. Obviously, with an all British cast, it was much easier to keep it that way (not wiping away the fact that I realize a Welsh accent is different from an Irish accent or a Scottish one or the regional ones that exist in almost every country there is).