Chernobyl - HBO/Sky *Spoilers*

CatInABox

For some reason, I couldn't sleep last night, so knocked this on at around 11. Regretted that soon after, as now I couldn't go asleep without watching just another 5 minutes, just to find out what happens next...... I went to bed at 3. Had to finish it when I got up in the morning then.

Shattered tired, but also shattered emotionally after that, and I'd consider myself pretty jaded when it comes to the tricks that tv shows use to elicit emotions.

Wonderful show.

Penn

loyatemu wrote: »

the Ulana Khomyuk character was a fictional composite of many other scientists.

If anything, the only thing approaching a complaint I'd have with the show is I would have preferred her role to be split into two characters, especially since she's a composite of so many real scientists. Maybe one character chasing what happened that night and interviewing the engineers (the human side), and another trying to find out what actually caused the explosion (the scientific side). It just felt like she almost single-handed solved the entire thing, which I kinda assumed must have been correct before finding out at the end she was a composite character.

Yurt2

I've read a lot on Soviet history so I have a couple of minor gripes, but it more or less captures the fragility of the late-Soviet system and self-deception of that era quite well - 8/10.

I hope the Exclusion zone doesn't become a tourist zoo after this, on YouTube you can already find American college bros racing drones around Pripyat.

sneaklem

Due to it being so popular in the UK and US, Sky have renewed it for a Second Season.

Mickeroo

sneaklem wrote: »

Due to it being so popular in the UK and US, Sky have renewed it for a Second Season.

Valery Legasov awakens 300 years in the future to find he's humanity's last hope against a malevalent race of mutants emerging from the exclusion zone.

is_that_so

sneaklem wrote: »

Due to it being so popular in the UK and US, Sky have renewed it for a Second Season.

Someone thinks so. :rolleyes:

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1136106/Chernobyl-season-2-Will-there-be-another-series-renewed-cancelled-HBO-Sky-Atlantic

BobMc

Larbre34 wrote: »

The offender here was the Soviet system. All across the USSR, mid level grunts cut corners and portrayed themselves as superior to those around them and indeed to their actual talent, in order to progress; to get a bigger flat, get their kids into a better level of school, get a few luxuries for Mrs Comrade - only problem was Dyatlov's job was to control a big old bomb.

Any ambitious Soviet would have done the same and the quote from Gorbachev at the end was very telling, that he believed it was actually Chernobyl that lit the fuse of the end of the Soviet Union.

This systemic corner cutting was rife, if you read the book Midnight in Chernobyl, the author goes into some detail about how the general soviet system worked. He gave an example I cant remember the exact details about what product but it was about getting numbers out. No recognising the fact the same part then spent a further time being completely rebuilt as the item that was recording as being shipped was a piece of **** in another factory

But as to the series, best television I've seen in a long long time. The court while a stitch up to scapegoat somebody. It did show the arrogance of Dyatlov. The fear of the others, imagine, if they'd stopped the test, disaster may have been averted for now. Legasov (harris) was so well played and portrayed. It is much believed it was the beginning of the end of the USSR and you can see why.

Must catch up on the podcast as I'm an episode behind

bnt

In reading about the incident before the show, I was wondering how they would cover the question of reactor poisoning - which was central to why the reactor didn't behave as it was supposed to that night. I just watched that part again to check whether Dyatlov (in the show) was aware of this possibility.

Akimov: We did everything right. I think that maybe the core is poisoned.

Dyatlov: Well, if you thought the core was poisoned, then you didn't do everything right, because you're choking my reactor. Get it back up!

Akimov: Uhh, if we turn off LAC, it may be possible to get more control.

Dyatlov: Do it, go. Switch off local automatic control, go to global.

So Dyatlov thought that if there was reactor poisoning, it was the fault of his controllers when they reduced the power further ... and he didn't realise or remember that the reactor had already been at half power for over ten hours prior to that - which pretty much guaranteed that there would be some reactor poisoning.

The test should have been cancelled, since lowering the power further was only going to make it worse; instead, they should have gone back to normal power levels - carefully - to reverse the reactor poisoning. Legasov's explanation was excellent. The control rod design problem was just the icing on the uranium cake. :eek:

errlloyd

Craig Mazin was on a podcast called The Big Picture.

He says he's working on another HBO Mini about another Dark topic but "much closer to home" - I think he means set in the USA.

is_that_so

BobMc wrote: »

This systemic corner cutting was rife, if you read the book Midnight in Chernobyl, the author goes into some detail about how the general soviet system worked. He gave an example I cant remember the exact details about what product but it was about getting numbers out. No recognising the fact the same part then spent a further time being completely rebuilt as the item that was recording as being shipped was a piece of **** in another factory

I was told, while on a wander of the Russian post-war reconstructed Warsaw, that the reason it looked so old is because the Soviets had used such poor materials.

is_that_so

Mr.S wrote: »

It's a joke!

Ri_Nollaig

That was some show!
Loved every minute of it.

Thought it was brilliant how it was only in episode 5 you actually see the build up and explosion and not as an opening scene.

errlloyd

errlloyd wrote: »

Craig Mazin was on a podcast called The Big Picture.

He says he's working on another HBO Mini about another Dark topic but "much closer to home" - I think he means set in the USA.

3 mile island?

errlloyd

Batrachotox wrote: »

3 mile island?

I don't think it'll be anything to do with Nuclear Energy, but I guess it could be.

GooglePlus

errlloyd wrote: »

I don't think it'll be anything to do with Nuclear Energy, but I guess it could be.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster

The Texas City Disaster always fascinated me, such a massive blast radius for a non nuclear explosion.

is_that_so

Batrachotox wrote: »

3 mile island?

Nah, as dramatic as it was , it was "not much to see" as a story. It did, however serve to focus a spotlight on the whole question of the safety of nuclear power.

boccy23

is_that_so wrote: »

Nah, as dramatic as it was , it was "not much to see" as a story. It did, however serve to focus a spotlight on the whole question of the safety of nuclear power.

Space shuttle "Challenger" would be the one for me.

is_that_so

boccy23 wrote: »

Space shuttle "Challenger" would be the one for me.

Maybe. It certainly has some of the elements, especially with the O rings, and the NASA decision-making process.

Itssoeasy

I’ve now watched three of the five episodes and have two more to go. Jesus even though I’ve had an interest in Chernobyl and the aftermath because of the work my family was involved in, and I’ve researched it and watched documentaries on it, but after only three episodes I’m not in the better of it and going on what people are saying it doesn’t ease off.

The Actors speaking English hasn’t bothered me as there is Russian writing shown and at the end of the third episode there appears to Russian been spoken. I see it as all of the viewers being given the ability to understand Russian for five hours of TV.

Itssoeasy

is_that_so wrote: »

boccy23 wrote: »

Space shuttle "Challenger" would be the one for me.

Maybe. It certainly has some of the elements, especially with the O rings, and the NASA decision-making process.

Challenger and the O rings have been talked about. The one he should look at is Columbia. Challenger is the one people saw live for themselves. Columbia broke apart in the early morning sky over Texas and just never arrived at the cape in Florida. There some monumental **** ups and management issues with Columbia.

Itssoeasy

is_that_so wrote: »

Batrachotox wrote: »

3 mile island?

Nah, as dramatic as it was , it was "not much to see" as a story. It did, however serve to focus a spotlight on the whole question of the safety of nuclear power.

If Chernobyl had had the containment structure that three mile Island had then it would still have happened but I don’t believe it would have had such a devastating lasting effect as Chernobyl has had.

Shoes and Boots

I am from Lithuania,was born in USSR.Before speak about Russia and Ukraine you have live there I remember when russian communist newspaper Pravda ( Truth ) was writing about UK soldiers who was firing rubber bullets to children on streets of Ulster,USA called this PROPAGANDA Could you call this propaganda ??? Or truth ? What you know about Chernobyl ??? Did you been there when this happened ? Do you believe UK Propaganda ? What about kids on streets of Ulster then ?

alchemist33

Between this and The Americans (RTE pace) finishing in the same week, I'll miss my Tuesday night Russians. Two great (but very different of course) programmes.

bingbong500

Shoes and Boots wrote: »

I am from Lithuania,was born in USSR.Before speak about Russia and Ukraine you have live there I remember when russian communist newspaper Pravda ( Truth ) was writing about UK soldiers who was firing rubber bullets to children on streets of Ulster,USA called this PROPAGANDA Could you call this propaganda ??? Or truth ? What you know about Chernobyl ??? Did you been there when this happened ? Do you believe UK Propaganda ? What about kids on streets of Ulster then ?

We don't need to live there or have been there at the time, we have the accounts of those who did and were.......

gauralordon

gauralordon wrote: »

On the subject of whether to visit places like this or not. I know it’s not even in the same league, but having been a bit of a history nerd at school, one of the most enriching experiences I ever had was going to Auschwitz & Birkenau while on a trip to Krakow 2 years ago.

From the outset as soon as you board the coach to make the hour or more long journey to the camps, it’s clear that this isn’t a tourist attraction. It’s a memorial site, and a fierce reminder of the horrors humans are capable of under oppressive and propaganda-driven rule. A reminder that something like that can never happen again in the future.

Before I watched Chernobyl I had a vague interest in its history, and almost a fear of diving into it because nuclear science is such a specialised and hard to grasp subject. After watching it I can safely say I would be highly interested in taking a trip there. I would imagine going to Chernobyl is somewhat similar to the experience of visiting a historic site like a WWII prisoner of war/forced labour camp. In the sense that a general idea of what happened there is widely known, but it’s easy for it to seem abstract and almost unknowable because of the amount of very general and broad information out there about it. In short it would only serve to drive home the real reality of what happened if you did take a trip to see it in the flesh.

The site is also a memorial. An eternal reminder of the horrors humans are capable of, and that it can never happen again in the future.

This is exactly what I thought of when I said i don't get the desire to go to Chernobyl. I went a school trip to Germany when I was 16 or so. We visited a concentration camp whose name escapes me. I don't see the point in visiting these places or preserving them. There are some dreadful and heartbreaking images burnt into my memory but I didn't need to see any of it first hand to know that such places should have never been built. I'll respectfully disagree with their continuing existence.

Purely for aesthetic reasons though, I would love to wander around a town that has been reclaimed by nature like Pripryat.

TheValeyard

Really enjoyed that show. Fantastic to watch.

Mad_maxx

Shoes and Boots wrote: »

I am from Lithuania,was born in USSR.Before speak about Russia and Ukraine you have live there I remember when russian communist newspaper Pravda ( Truth ) was writing about UK soldiers who was firing rubber bullets to children on streets of Ulster,USA called this PROPAGANDA Could you call this propaganda ??? Or truth ? What you know about Chernobyl ??? Did you been there when this happened ? Do you believe UK Propaganda ? What about kids on streets of Ulster then ?

Propoganda was an intrinsic part of every aspect of the Soviet union, without it, the thing would collapse but as Jared Harris charecter said at the end, the truth eventually comes out

Birneybau

Stayed up until 2 a.m. this morning, watching the final 3 episodes (bottle of red may have been an influence). Fantastic. Jared Harris is one of the best actors around, though there was nary a weak link.

GrumPy

Only negative I've personally taken away from the show is that it's over
Another vote for the excellent podcast. It really compliments the show.

Now I need to find a new show to watch. Although my new found fascination with Chernobyl led me to purchase the game Metro 2033 redux. A lot more violent mutants than I expected, but maybe their role will be explained when season 2 launches...

KilOit

GrumPy wrote: »

Now I need to find a new show to watch. Although my new found fascination with Chernobyl led me to purchase the game Metro 2033 redux. A lot more violent mutants than I expected, but maybe their role will be explained when season 2 launches...

S. T. A. L. K. E. R is a great game as well but little dated now I'd imagine