Chernobyl HBO Miniseries

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Dr. Funk, May 6, 2019.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Phil Tate

    Phil Tate Miss you Indy x

    Location:
    South Shields
    Absolutely the right way to do it.
     
    Geoff likes this.
  2. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    I though the phone conversation between the two scientists was fascinating.
    They must've had that system of talking to each other for years.
     
  3. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Anyone else think someone should have gotten some super powers from this?

    No? Okay, poor humor.

    I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. I do find it a bit odd that they decided to go with English for this show and use British accents, but some stuff is in Russian. The text they read is Russian and even the radio broadcast is in Russian (or Ukrainian - is there a difference in terms of language?). Also, Stellan Skarsgård isn't really using a British accent which is a bit curious. You'd think they want to keep things fairly uniform.
     
    GentleSenator and Dr. Funk like this.
  4. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    I thought the guy playing Gorbachev sounded American.... to me, at least.
     
    GodShifter and Dr. Funk like this.
  5. Dr. Funk

    Dr. Funk Vintage Dust Thread Starter

    Location:
    Fort Worth TX
    The last scene in episode 2 is truly terrifying...…….yikes.
     
  6. Phil Tate

    Phil Tate Miss you Indy x

    Location:
    South Shields
    Yes! I loved how it was shot almost like a scene from a monster movie, like something in the water was going to lunge out at them!
     
    Dr. Funk and vince like this.
  7. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    Both the wife and I said,
    "OH, $hi#!", when the second flashlight went out.
     
    Phil Tate and Dr. Funk like this.
  8. I suppose it depends on your expectations. “The China Syndrome” always felt to me like what it is — a theatrical film that dramatizes something that could potentially happen with elements of fact based science. This strikes me as a no nonsense dramatization of a real event. They didn’t want to glamorize it but put us in the shoes of the people as it was occurring which means key information known in retrospect is kept from the viewer (even though many who lived through the time will remember). I like the approach taken here.
    I agree. All the episodes so far are riveting and, knowing what happened to the character played by Jared Harris makes it all the more tragic (it’s shown at the beginning of the first episode without context or fanfare as I recall) especially given all he sacrifices to try and make sure it never happens again.
     
  9. SRC

    SRC That sums up Squatter for me

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Very exciting (and horrifying) to open that way. They've been dropping hints about letting us understand, later in the series, what lead to the explosion. When the two guys were endlessly opening valves down in the water, one of them wept and said that they *had* done something wrong, implying human error was definitely involved (which it was.) Also, the teaser for the upcoming episode suggests that the rest of the series will be a balance between showing the fallout (literal and otherwise) from the accident, while investigating how it happened: "if we don't find out what happened that night, it will happen again" (paraphrasing a quote from the teaser below.)

     
  10. Certainly
    Art of the issue was a design flaw in that type of plant. It’s a small miracle it didn’t happen before it did. After Three Mile Island and it’s accident, this put nuclear power on a faster train out of town as a means to power a nation.ironically, while fuel and other disposal is an issue as well as the outcome of a potential accident, it’s probably one of the few power sources that can help to effectively deal with the Climate Change issues (along with solar and wind). Still, the risk from one major accident is enough to make one pause before going that route again. I distinctly remember having a debate with my brother just before Three Mile Island occurred about the downside of the nuclear industry and power. That was before the extent of the conspiracy to murder Karen Silkwood was also known for her whistle blowing about the falsification of safety reports at the plan where they manufactured steel rods. All of this contributed to the death of the industry.
     
    SandAndGlass and Tokyo Ghost like this.
  11. GentleSenator

    GentleSenator what if

    Location:
    Aloha, OR
    I think the creators of this show must have based the production off of this YouTube video:

     
  12. Dreadnought

    Dreadnought I'm a live wire. Look at me burn.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Being a lazy poster I rarely comment about TV and movies, that is unless my socks are knocked off as they were by this. I loved it from the first minute as the camera slowly moved over the contents of the apartment. "Harrowing" and "riveting" are two words found throughout this thread and they were the very words I used in a text to a buddy who I share recommendations with. After the first five minutes I didn't take notice of the accents. Godshifter nails it with what could possibly be a reasonable alternative? The series is peppered with writing genius as when
    that manager who steadfastly refuses to acknowledge the situation suddenly vomits.
    Brilliant!
    That actually worked for me, to be taken by surprise, as calamities can happen with no warning. :)
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2019
  13. coffeetime

    coffeetime Senior Member

    Location:
    Lancs, UK
    Fantastically well done so far, captures the dawning horror of the event and the fog of confusion of the first minutes and hours after the event.

    Having recently read Serhil Plokhy's book Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy, I highly recommend it. As well an examination of the accident itself both lead up, cause(s) and aftermath it also takes an unflinching look at the Soviet management ethos and their approach to nuclear power plant construction and operation.

    So far the series is capturing the existential horror I felt when reading the book. Incredibly well cast, scripted, acted and produced.
     
    GodShifter likes this.
  14. Borgia

    Borgia Do not speak wisely of this night

    Location:
    Arkansas
    Okay, I gather from the previews that later it does go into what led to the accident. I enjoyed the 2nd episode very much. You could see the air go out of Stelan Skarsgard's character once he realizes the enormity of what has happened.
     
    GodShifter and wayneklein like this.
  15. James Slattery

    James Slattery Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Island
    Which accident was more of a catastrophe, this or the one in Japan?
     
  16. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    This is like doom metal on film. What’s not to like?
     
  17. Tokyo Ghost

    Tokyo Ghost Senior Member

    Location:
    Earth
    I hadn't heard of Karen Silkwood before so I just looked this up. That is really scary stuff.
     
  18. Yep. Great movie by the way with Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell and Cher. Well directed by Mike Nichols. the script is pretty accurate as well a rarity in Hollywood 'true" tales.
     
  19. David Dencik - IMDb

    Nope, he's Swedish. The accent is quite another thing.
     
    vince likes this.
  20. Tokyo Ghost

    Tokyo Ghost Senior Member

    Location:
    Earth
    On the International Nuclear Event Scale, they are both classified as Level 7, which is the highest.

    International Nuclear Event Scale - Wikipedia
     
    tommy-thewho and GodShifter like this.
  21. Dreadnought

    Dreadnought I'm a live wire. Look at me burn.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I was also curious and just reading about various radioactive accidents.
    Fukushima Vs. Chernobyl: Still Not Equal

    "Though Fukushima and Chernobyl are both level 7 nuclear accidents, the health consequences in Japan to date are much less severe. In part, that's because far more radiation was released at Chernobyl. So far, Fukushima Dai-ichi has released about one-tenth of the amount of radioactive material that escaped Chernobyl"

    "At Chernobyl, an entire reactor exploded, sending up a massive fire and radioactive plume that dispersed radiation over a wide area. The reactor at the Soviet plant was not surrounded by any containment structure, so radiation escaped freely."

    "Fukushima has also experienced explosions and fires, and some of the reactors' containment vessels may be damaged, but the highly radioactive cores remain largely protected. Much of the radioactive material already released in Japan has been carried out to sea away from populated areas, thanks to prevailing winds."

    Comparison of Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear accidents - Wikipedia

    In browsing all things radioactive I did inevitably come across other fatalities, some being downright bizarre in a truth is stranger than fiction way such as these very determined petty thieves.
    "Alves succeeded in puncturing the capsule's aperture window with a screwdriver, allowing him to see a deep blue light coming from the tiny opening he had created. He inserted the screwdriver and successfully scooped out some of the glowing substance. Thinking it was perhaps a type of gunpowder, he tried to light it, but the powder would not ignite."

    "(the owner of the scrapyard) noticed the blue glow from the punctured capsule. Thinking the capsule's contents were valuable or even supernatural, he immediately brought it into his house. Over the next three days, he invited friends and family to view the strange glowing substance."
    Goiânia accident - Wikipedia

    You almost want to laugh but people did die and I'm pretty sure if I dropped some mysterious object with a blue glow just about anywhere someone would pick it up and play with it.
     
    SandAndGlass, vince and Rufus McDufus like this.
  22. dougotte

    dougotte Petty, Annoying Dilettante

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    There's an excellent Nova episode about nuclear power. I learned a lot from it. Two very important points:
    1) As you hinted above, other clean energy methods (solar, wind, hydro, etc.) can't possibly produce enough energy for all the humans on this planet. We have to start building nuclear plants again.
    2) The Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima disasters were due to 60-year-old designs. There are much safer designs being created by startups now. Even back in the 60s and 70s, there was a huge US government project that tested a safer design over several years. Unfortunately, in the wake of Three Mile Island, its funding was cut.
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  23. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    I vaguely remember an old SNL sketch where the 'bit' was;
    One person said, "Don't Worry. You can never put too much water in a nuclear power plant."
    And, then, the other person said, "NO! You can NEVER put too much water in a nuclear power plant!"
    This goes back and forth for a while, until you see the supervisor, who was on vacation ( I wanna say, it was Ed Asner) wondering why the sun was so bright.
     
    Dr. Funk likes this.
  24. Cronverc

    Cronverc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn,NY
    Great show, really well done! As for British accents, I noticed in the titles that it's partly SKY production, As far as I know, SKY is one of UK TV channels so it's safe to assume that some actors are British.
    I grew up in Soviet Union and at the time of that accident was 18 so I pretty much remember how it was back then. The attention to details in the show is amazing, everything looks almost completely authentic, how did they do that? For example, in the last scene of first episode some school kids wearing certain kind of soviet made sneakers, which were popular back then - they sure put a lot of work into that.
     
    Last edited: May 16, 2019
  25. duneman

    duneman Forum Resident

    I too think its a very well done production. My wife and I are hooked.

    Thanks for the heads up on soviet sneakers - would have never known that! I thought the evacuation scenes in ep. 2 were riveting. The automobiles look totally authentic, but I wouldn't really know. Co-worker of mine grew up in Kiev, 90km from the plant. Haven't had a chance to discuss the event with him yet but I shall.

    As for British actors - yes SKY is a British company. With all due respect to our British cousins across the pond British actors do good Nazis too.
     
    coffeetime and wayneklein like this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine