Chernobyl - HBO Mini Series

[tinker683]

Hello all,

So I started watching this and have found this to be an extremely interesting show. I also found this twitter thread by someone who lived in and around that area during the time and their Twitter feed has been incredibly interesting to follow.

Since watching the show I have found myself incredibly fascinated by what happened there and have been gorging myself on articles/books/photos, etc about it (Yay Aspergian obsessiveness!)

What do you guys think?

 

[Totenkindly]

I have been considering watching it. It seems to be getting solid reviews/comments from people.

I haven't kept up on it recently and don't know much of the political end of things involving the details of how it was handled, but I periodically would end up reading and looking at pictures from Pripyat in terms of short and long-term impact on that city. (I mean, the city emptied out pretty quick, but it's interesting to look at the reclamation of the urban by the natural as well as how the environment has responded over the years.)

I also was kind of interested because Three-Mile Island was semi-local to me when that disaster happened, basically due to a string of cascading failures (and in fact I ended up moving to Harrisburg later in life and would occasionally drive right by the towers, weird huh?) -- I remember when central PA folks were bused south as far as the MD border where I lived to spend some nights in local school gymnasiums. (Weirdly, my now-ex FIL was a boiler engineer for nuclear power plants ... a pretty select job... and actually was ordered in from NJ to inspect the premises after that disaster happened.)

Anyway, as a really weird aside, it's triggering memories of the movie "Stalker" by the famed Tarkovsky (of Solaris fame, etc). He ended up dying from lung cancer and some other people who ended up on the shoot for Stalker (filmed in the Estonia wilds downstream from a chemical plant) -- it's highly speculated those deaths over the next decade occurred from the chemical exposure into the environment there. How did my mind jump there? because one of the abandoned indoor swimming pools from pripyat immediately reminded me of the abandoned complex w/ infamous empty swimming pool scene from the movie "Annihilation" last year, which has a marked similarity to "Stalker" in concept. Human beings played with fabricated substances via tech and ending up screwing themselves over... although maybe the earth recovers even after we wipe ourselves out?

 

[ceecee]

I read the book Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham and I really recommend it to anyone watching the series - It's no less terrifying and bleak. I also read that Twitter thread and I'm glad someone that lived it feels the series is getting it right. Down to the little trash buckets used by residents.

But this weeks' episode has to be the most depressing so far. You can watch the innocence literally stripped away from anyone that had any remaining.

I came across a show about the Chernobyl Shelter Fund and the cleanup on Discovery Science. Very interesting and glad to see so many nations participating. As they should be.

 

[tinker683]

I have been considering watching it. It seems to be getting solid reviews/comments from people.

I would, it's a very grim and dark show but very compelling as well. I was 3 years old when the accident happened so I only remember my parents and the adults around me talking about it in short hand being linked with the dangers of working with nuclear power. I had never really given it much thought until this show.

I haven't kept up on it recently and don't know much of the political end of things involving the details of how it was handled, but I periodically would end up reading and looking at pictures from Pripyat in terms of short and long-term impact on that city. (I mean, the city emptied out pretty quick, but it's interesting to look at the reclamation of the urban by the natural as well as how the environment has responded over the years.)

Same, and it's FASCINATING! The show also provides a good insight as to just how corrupt and ass-backwards the Soviet state was.

I've been bouncing around Youtube, apparently people video recording themselves in Chernobyl is a thing in spite of the radiation in some places. I found a few videos which I thought were really good

This one is a collection of news reels from the time of the accident, including the Russian broadcast to the fire stations which I think the show used verbatim

This one is done by a group called Abandoned Explorers and has a pretty good production value and was done earlier this year. It's a three part series where they go all over the Exclusion Zone and even to the sight of the reactor (where the New Confinement Dome has been completed)

This one is a tour of Control Room for Reactor 4 and inside the Sarcophagus. It's funny to me because her Geigor Counter is constantly chirping at her and she's like, "Lets go look for some hot spots" as if she's not already walking through a bunch.

I also was kind of interested because Three-Mile Island was semi-local to me when that disaster happened, basically due to a string of cascading failures (and in fact I ended up moving to Harrisburg later in life and would occasionally drive right by the towers, weird huh?) -- I remember when central PA folks were bused south as far as the MD border where I lived to spend some nights in local school gymnasiums. (Weirdly, my now-ex FIL was a boiler engineer for nuclear power plants ... a pretty select job... and actually was ordered in from NJ to inspect the premises after that disaster happened.)

I bet your friend has some interesting stories! I just finished reading 'Mightnight in Chernobyl' and I'm on a book now about the Fukishima Reactor but I plan on reading about the 3 Mile Island incident. From what I understand, as scary as it was, we (America) lucked out because no one got hurt.

Anyway, as a really weird aside, it's triggering memories of the movie "Stalker" by the famed Tarkovsky (of Solaris fame, etc). He ended up dying from lung cancer and some other people who ended up on the shoot for Stalker (filmed in the Estonia wilds downstream from a chemical plant) -- it's highly speculated those deaths over the next decade occurred from the chemical exposure into the environment there. How did my mind jump there? because one of the abandoned indoor swimming pools from pripyat immediately reminded me of the abandoned complex w/ infamous empty swimming pool scene from the movie "Annihilation" last year, which has a marked similarity to "Stalker" in concept. Human beings played with fabricated substances via tech and ending up screwing themselves over... although maybe the earth recovers even after we wipe ourselves out?

I never saw the movies, though I think I'll need to now, but I know the video game "S.T.A.L.K.E.R - Shadow of Chernobyl" was based on that movie. It was...not a good game.

The book that CeeCee and I read lists about how its incalculable just how many people have died of cancer or have gotten cancer as a result of the accident but it does provide some statistics and the numbers are in the 100,000's. It's terrifying.

I read the book Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham and I really recommend it to anyone watching the series - It's no less terrifying and bleak. I also read that Twitter thread and I'm glad someone that lived it feels the series is getting it right. Down to the little trash buckets used by residents.

Same. Excellent book.

But this weeks' episode has to be the most depressing so far. You can watch the innocence literally stripped away from anyone that had any remaining.

Yeah, I told my wife (who is a dog lover) that she really wouldn't like this episode. She asked me why and I told her I didn't want to spoil it. At the end of the episode I look over at her and she's just GLARING at me and she asked, "Why did you do this to me?"

LOL.