Current Events > Chernobyl is incredible stuff

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've read about the incident countless times in my life, but to see it actualized was quite something. The human cost, the near-annihilation of eastern Europe, the cascade of errors in judgement, the utter rejection of realpolitik in favor of falling back on the same old Soviet horseshit of the past generation. It was visceral.

My main complaints are ones of detail. The reactor and its byproducts are mostly unseen things. Whether for lack of sufficient CGI or to keep the cinematography consistent, I don't know. We don't get a good look at the core. It's treated like a Medusa head, and it was. There's a room under the reactor that isn't even mentioned that contains an absolute mass of hell on Earth, the Elephant's Foot. The lava pooled here and for a time, you couldn't even look at it without a mirror. Turn the corner, give a pensive stare, dead in hours, not even days.

Give the guy playing Shcherbina an award for that performance. Jesus. Gorbachev's actor also did a nice job and had a surprisingly human and understated presence.

I had been wondering where I had seen Legasov's actor before. That gossip show producer in Mr. Deeds. And now I can't unsee it. It's a mix of that and Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys.
---

It was a pretty amazing miniseries, i'm buying it on bluray as soon as it's available. I watched it through twice.
---

It's the best mini series ever. I'm comfortable saying that now.
---

lol talk about over hyped

Im waiting for the fukishima sequel myself
---

Learning more about it, and understanding it, it's beyond terrifying that humans have the capability of setting off something fifty times as catastrophic with a turn of a key and a push of a button. Humans across the globe have these weapons standing by.
---

MabusIncarnate posted...

Learning more about it, and understanding it, it's beyond terrifying that humans have the capability of setting off something fifty times as catastrophic with a turn of a key and a push of a button. Humans across the globe have these weapons standing by.

yeah, people are too docile and comfortable

and thats by design.

The fact is the same power structure that gave rise to world war 2 atrocities still exists.
---

I also need to drop in the obligatory suggestion to everyone to watch Godless on Netflix, a brilliant Western miniseries, that focuses more on the miserable times like spreading disease and corruption.
---

MabusIncarnate posted...

Learning more about it, and understanding it, it's beyond terrifying that humans have the capability of setting off something fifty times as catastrophic with a turn of a key and a push of a button. Humans across the globe have these weapons standing by.

It doesn't even have to be bomb. Conquering the atom has consequences even at the smallest macro scale.

Imagine two halves of a cantaloupe-sized ball of uranium or plutonium. Put them together and anyone standing in the room suddenly has a death timer.

And this enduring fear is why newer-gen reactors and thorium/molten salt reactors are taking nearly forever to get up and running.
---

the first three episodes are exceptional. the last 2 are weaker. its pretty good, but these folks that are calling it the best ever - or anything close to that - are serious prisoners of the moment lmao
---

solosnake posted...

lol talk about over hyped

Im waiting for the fukishima sequel myself

what's the appropriate hype level iyo
---

MabusIncarnate posted...

Learning more about it, and understanding it, it's beyond terrifying that humans have the capability of setting off something fifty times as catastrophic with a turn of a key and a push of a button. Humans across the globe have these weapons standing by.

The point of the show and the lesson to take from Chernobyl is the infallibility of man, not so much the dangers of nuclear power
---

I actually thought episode 4 was the saddest. Those hunting scenes...

Probably the best miniseries ever
---

EnragedSlith posted...

MabusIncarnate posted...

Learning more about it, and understanding it, it's beyond terrifying that humans have the capability of setting off something fifty times as catastrophic with a turn of a key and a push of a button. Humans across the globe have these weapons standing by.

The point of the show and the lesson to take from Chernobyl is the infallibility of man, not so much the dangers of nuclear power

No I definitely get it, downplaying the entire thing and the publicity holding priority over human life was equally as disturbing. Being somewhat ignorant to the incident going into it, there was a lot of shocking revelations across the series. I always knew OF Chernobyl, and there was a nuclear disaster, but not a lot beyond that.
---

BeantownHero posted...

It's the best mini series ever. I'm comfortable saying that now.

See, it is...and i dont want to take away from that...buuuuuut, most all ''mini-series'' end up being fairly shallow, or low production value, unknown actors that just dont execute, etc...this had all the proper ingredients, but personally, i didnt think it was special. But, thats the thing...because for a mini-series, it had production value, and overall execution and quality on the same level as Game of Thrones IMO...so it definitely IS good.

There just dont appear to be many mini-series out there that are all that great, so this one stands out so much because of that IMO. But still, again, it was top quality, even better than some main-line series.
---

It will forever be difficult to top Lonesome Dove for me
---