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Chernobyl [HBO]

Started by Mobius, May 08, 2019, 03:17:15 AM

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Mobius

First episode is out it's bloody brilliant get on it

imitationleather

Trying to decide whether to watch now or wait until they've all been on and "binge on a box set".

I am ruddy excited about this, either way.

St_Eddie

Ah, good.  I've been looking forward to this.  I'm fascinated by the Chernobyl disaster.

Quote from: imitationleather on May 08, 2019, 03:29:33 AM
Trying to decide whether to watch now or wait until they've all been on and "binge on a box set".

I'll be doing the latter myself.

SteveDave

I read the Guardian's review where they complained that nothing was explained in this first episode of a 5 part drama series.

Absolute dog egg manufacturers.


St_Eddie

Quote from: SteveDave on May 08, 2019, 03:21:55 PM
I read the Guardian's review where they complained that nothing was explained in this first episode of a 5 part drama series.

Absolute dog egg manufacturers.

Quite.  Either way, it's not going to be an issue for people like me, who've spent hours watching documentaries about Chernobyl and reading about the details of the disaster.

bgmnts

Just thinking about it now, Chernobyl hasn't really been milked in terms of film or tv has it? I think there was a shitty low budget horror film recently but thats it I can think of.

They should do a show about the Goiânia incident, which I find a lot more compelling, or Dyatlov's Pass.

chveik

Quote from: St_Eddie on May 08, 2019, 03:43:43 PM
Quite.  Either way, it's not going to be an issue for people like me, who've spent hours watching documentaries about Chernobyl and reading about the details of the disaster.

have you read Svetlana Alexievich's Chernobyl Prayer? I hear it's very good.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: bgmnts on May 08, 2019, 04:01:04 PM
Just thinking about it now, Chernobyl hasn't really been milked in terms of film or tv has it? I think there was a shitty low budget horror film recently but thats it I can think of.

They should do a show about the Goiânia incident, which I find a lot more compelling, or Dyatlov's Pass.

BBC (Four possibly?) did a dramatisation of it I think.

I was going to start a thread about this but haven't gotten around to watching any of it yet. Spotted it on a billboard like.

Quote from: bgmnts on May 08, 2019, 04:01:04 PM
Just thinking about it now, Chernobyl hasn't really been milked in terms of film or tv has it? I think there was a shitty low budget horror film recently but thats it I can think of.

They should do a show about the Goiânia incident, which I find a lot more compelling, or Dyatlov's Pass.

didn't Captain Planet cover that one?

St_Eddie

Quote from: bgmnts on May 08, 2019, 04:01:04 PM
They should do a show about the Goiânia incident, which I find a lot more compelling, or Dyatlov's Pass.

A fascinating case, to be sure.  Of course there's some stupid movie (which I haven't watched, I hasten to add), where it's revealed to be the manifestation of an evil spirit or aliens or some old shit ("based on a true story").  I'm sure that the actual explanation is horribly mundane but that doesn't make it any less fascinating to me; to think of these people's final panic stricken moments and to theorise what led to them, is fuel for the mind's imagination and subsequent rationalisation.  I don't need a stupid monster to make real-life mysteries any more intriguing than they already are.

Quote from: chveik on May 08, 2019, 04:08:09 PM
have you read Svetlana Alexievich's Chernobyl Prayer? I hear it's very good.

I have not.  I must confess that I haven't read any books on the incident (though I have read many extracts from various books).  My research into such things comes mostly from documentaries and online documentations.

Edmonds

Quote from: SteveDave on May 08, 2019, 03:21:55 PM
I read the Guardian's review where they complained that nothing was explained in this first episode of a 5 part drama series.

Absolute dog egg manufacturers.

Why don't you watch it yourself and give your own opinion? Nobody gives a fuck what you think of anyone else's.

mothman

The Golania Incident, it was dramatised in a rather odd series BBC2 did about 20 years ago called - I think - Disaster. The only other episode I recall was one that depicted the likely catastrophic impact of the Millennium Bug (and got it totally wrong).

Uncle TechTip

Quote from: Edmonds on May 08, 2019, 06:21:19 PM
Why don't you watch it yourself and give your own opinion? Nobody gives a fuck what you think of anyone else's.

Nobody decent passes up a chance to shit on the Guardian.

I'm surprised there's much of a story in it, is it worth me trawling articles? Nuclear reactor explodes due to underfunded maintenance, what else?

greenman

Quote from: St_Eddie on May 08, 2019, 04:25:01 PM
A fascinating case, to be sure.  Of course there's some stupid movie (which I haven't watched, I hasten to add), where it's revealed to be the manifestation of an evil spirit or aliens or some old shit ("based on a true story").  I'm sure that the actual explanation is horribly mundane but that doesn't make it any less fascinating to me; to think of these people's final panic stricken moments and to theorise what led to them, is fuel for the mind's imagination and subsequent rationalisation.  I don't need a stupid monster to make real-life mysteries any more intriguing than they already are.

I think the problem with making films about this kind of thing though is that what makes it fascinating is the unknown and fractured nature of our knowledge about it, you actually show events and it becomes just about horror/sci fi film. The way to go would probably be something more X-files like involving the investigation of events.

Zetetic

Quote from: Uncle TechTip on May 08, 2019, 06:32:01 PMNuclear reactor explodes due to underfunded maintenance, what else?

That's not really it at all.

My - broad - understanding is that safe operating procedure for the plant was extremely poorly specified and, consequently, under unusual conditions it was easy to operate the reactor unsafely. (Parts of the reactor design itself exacerbated this, making it relatively easy to get it in a state that you couldn't recover from or where you could make things worse by doing sensible things.)

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Zetetic on May 08, 2019, 09:11:44 PM
That's not really it at all.

My - broad - understanding is that safe operating procedure for the plant was extremely poorly specified and, consequently, under unusual conditions it was easy to operate the reactor unsafely. (Parts of the reactor design itself exacerbated this, making it relatively easy to get it in a state that you couldn't recover from or where you could make things worse by doing sensible things.)

To add some situational context:

They were conducting a test to see if the kinetic energy of the turbines when shutting down the reactor could provide power to the cooling pumps while the emergency generators spun up. In order to do it they disabled lots of automatic safety features (such as the functionality that automatically scrammed). It was also supposed to be the day shift that conducted these tests, but due to problems elsewhere in the grid it was delayed and pushed back to the night shift, who weren't properly briefed (secrecy was a general problem anyway - don't tell the operators more than they need to do the job was the mentality).

They basically poisoned the reactor then manually pulled out the control rods to get the power back up. Ignoring lots of alarms in the process.

Twit 2

A binturong got in a pipe and the shift supervisor hit the CHERNOBYL button by mistake with a cheap Soviet broom.

Bazooka

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on May 08, 2019, 04:15:23 PM
BBC (Four possibly?) did a dramatisation of it I think.

I was going to start a thread about this but haven't gotten around to watching any of it yet. Spotted it on a billboard like.

BBC4 In 2017 showed a film with the score done by Mogwai, called atomic, or the album was called Atomic or something, absolutely captivating.

EDIT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b065y1dx Atomic Living in Dread and Promise, really worth a watch if you can find it.

Mobius

If you were a fan of recent excellent drama 'The Terror' this has a similar feel, and some of the same actors.

NoSleep

Are there any radioactive polar bears, then?

Bazooka

Quote from: Mobius on May 09, 2019, 03:57:20 AM
If you were a fan of recent excellent drama 'The Terror' this has a similar feel, and some of the same actors.

Good to know, The Terror was excellent.

NoSleep

Is this series just using Chernobyl as a springboard for a horror fiction like The Terror did with the disappearance of the ships at the North Pole?

Mobius

Quote from: NoSleep on May 09, 2019, 09:10:39 AM
Is this series just using Chernobyl as a springboard for a horror fiction like The Terror did with the disappearance of the ships at the North Pole?

No this is entirely based on the true events. The Terror was based on a novel based on a true event which it then took liberties with

Chollis

Oh what Chernobyl isn't SCARY ENOUGH now?

You people.

Terror was fantastic though and probably the weakest bit was when you actually saw the polar bear. So no radioactive polar bear is good and I will be watching.

Alberon

Of course the Soviet media tried to deny anything was going on

https://youtu.be/XwHkmfWJCAo

Harpo Speaks

Quote from: St_Eddie on May 08, 2019, 03:43:43 PM
Either way, it's not going to be an issue for people like me, who've spent hours watching documentaries about Chernobyl and reading about the details of the disaster.

Turns out the McCanns were responsible.

Bad Ambassador

There was another BBC One one in 2006, as part of a series called Surviving Disaster. I remember it most for the distressing sight of cheery comedy actor Alex Lowe playing the head of Chernobyl night shift, crying in his hospital bed as his own body rotted away. Quite upsetting.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: St_Eddie on May 08, 2019, 04:25:01 PM
A fascinating case, to be sure.  Of course there's some stupid movie (which I haven't watched, I hasten to add), where it's revealed to be the manifestation of an evil spirit or aliens or some old shit ("based on a true story").

Another shit Renny Harlin film.  It's mutants and wormholes/time travelling.  Dreadful.  There is more than enough evidence to suggest - as you said - the reality being very mundane.


Typical that this bastard comes on just after I canned off our TalkTalk sub cos it was costing too much...

I hope it gets a terrestrial airing at some point in future.  Or Netflix.

Bad Ambassador

It's HBO, so expect it to be locked up tight by Sky forever.

Bazooka

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on May 09, 2019, 12:48:32 PM
Another shit Renny Harlin film.  It's mutants and wormholes/time travelling.  Dreadful.  There is more than enough evidence to suggest - as you said - the reality being very mundane.


Typical that this bastard comes on just after I canned off our TalkTalk sub cos it was costing too much...

I hope it gets a terrestrial airing at some point in future.  Or Netflix.

Da internet mate