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Thread: Chernobyl (HBO)

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    Chernobyl (HBO)

    Anyone else been watching this? Currently 3 episodes in on NOW TV and it's getting wild.

    Well worth a watch, another big hit from HBO.

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    I'm excited to watch this at some point cause it looks great, but it looks so dark and horrifying that I'm not sure about watching this in the summer. I don't feel like being that bummed out in June. I'll save it for the winter.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mantra View Post
    I'm excited to watch this at some point cause it looks great, but it looks so dark and horrifying that I'm not sure about watching this in the summer. I don't feel like being that bummed out in June. I'll save it for the winter.
    I can appreciate that! Definitely very dark, and only halfway through right now. I am excited to watch more, just to tide me over till Stranger Things & OITNB return.

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    It's SO dark.

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    its become the highest rated show of ALL TIME on IMDB, reviews are orgasmic, will check it out.

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    Funny seeing all these well known British actors (it's a British production) playing Russian characters and not even attempting the accent.

    Finished episode one yesterday. Intense. The feeling of dread of what's coming is palpable for the viewer b/c we understand but the characters do not.

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    The first 3 episodes are 10/10, amazing. I was both entertained and stressed at the same time. And the best thing is, like 95% of it is actually true.

    Episode 4 is a huge drop in quality compared to the first 3, but it's still decent nonetheless, especially the roof scene. I am hoping for a strong finisher.

    Quote Originally Posted by bobbie solo View Post
    Funny seeing all these well known British actors (it's a British production) playing Russian characters and not even attempting the accent.

    Finished episode one yesterday. Intense. The feeling of dread of what's coming is palpable for the viewer b/c we understand but the characters do not.
    I advise you (and everyone else, for that matter) to listen to the official episode podcasts with the author/creator. He talked in-depth about the lack of russian accent and why they amde that decision. That particular topic is in the episode 1 podcast.

    tl;dw: it sounded comical
    Last edited by Volband; 06-03-2019 at 10:21 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Volband View Post

    Episode 4 is a huge drop in quality compared to the first 3, but it's still decent nonetheless, especially the roof scene. I am hoping for a strong finisher.

    l
    I am surprised by this. What exactly do you feel was not on par with the other episodes?

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    Quote Originally Posted by mfte View Post
    I am surprised by this. What exactly do you feel was not on par with the other episodes?
    I think the problem is twofold.

    First, it portrays an entire different time compared to the first three episodes. Ep 1-3 had a sense of urgency, mystery, and before things got better, they got much worse. In episode 4, it's like an entirely different world. The threat is still there, but the urgency is all but gone. I understand that it is historically accurate, but the switch from episode 3 to 4 is glaring. It feels like an entire episode was cut between them.

    Second, they chose the wrong group to focus on. I am glad they showed the liquidators, but 70% of the episode was about the animal killers, which franky, is nor that interesting, or dramatic. In the podcast, the creator of the show talked numerous times about how they didn't show certain scenes (ie. people without faces), because they did not want to use cheap tactics to lure in the viewers, they did not want to whore out the sad reality for sensationalism. And I applaud them for it, but then in episode 4 it is all about killing dogs. It's cheap, it's overdone, and frankly, after it's the 20th dog they murder, I really can't help but think "okay-okay, I GOT IT, can we move on now?" It is especially saddening to me, because biorobots (the people who cleaned the roofs) are and were my favorite subject about chernobyl, even before this series was in the works, so I was really hyped about them. We've got possibly the best 90 seconds of the series which was about them, but sadly, nothing more. They spent more than half the show about emotionally abusing the viewers with cute doggos, instead of talking about cool (in a morbid sense) things, like how some biorobots went on more than one trip, or how they took the "badges" of some of their comrades, so they didn't have to go to the roof, and they made the trip instead of them. Don't get me wrong, killing cute puppers is not an easy task, and I don't wish it upon anyone, but you just can't compare it with basically killing yourself for your people.

    There were other things in the episode which felt like the quality was dropped, like when they repeated the line "you want to humiliate a nation which is obsessed of not being humiliated". This same exact sentence was said in episode 1, and it was very powerful then. Now it feels like a lame catchphrase from blockbuster.

    The reveal of Legasov knowing about the engineering flaws was also mind-boggling. In the first three episodes he is completely depressed, has no idea how it could have happened, and now he just says "lmao, yeah, I knew" ?????

    tl;dr it was disjointed fro mthe previous writing and focused on the wrong group

    Just to be clear, it was still a good episode, but when the first 3 episodes put the bar at the very top, you have to be this critical. And even if the last episode was 55 minutes of black screen, this series will still be considered one of the greatest for those first 3 episodes. My only complaint about all of those episodes is the cgi bird at the end of ep 1, that's it.

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    Haven't seen this one yet but will definitely do when it's out in full. Gotta be interesting to check how is the event seen from the outside world. (You can guess by my location that I've seen plenty of Chernobyl coverage in domestic media). Also interesting to see how much Klyukva they've got in there.

    Re: the accents. If they aren't using any, then its only for good. I can count with the fingers on one of my hands how many times I've heard believable accent in Western-produced films and TV shows. Unless you have true Russian-speaking people playing the parts (not Czech, Serbian or Polish), you better don't.

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    I wasn't saying it was a bad choice to avoid the accents.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Volband View Post
    I advise you (and everyone else, for that matter) to listen to the official episode podcasts with the author/creator. He talked in-depth about the lack of russian accent and why they amde that decision. That particular topic is in the episode 1 podcast.

    tl;dw: it sounded comical
    Yes, the podcast is an excellent companion piece to the show and it's very entertaining on its own right.

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    God, what an amazingly bleak show. That was really incredibly gut wrenching film making, and I think this show will stick with me for quite some time.

    Are there any documentaries out there about Chernobyl that are on par with this show?

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    Quote Originally Posted by bobbie solo View Post
    Funny seeing all these well known British actors (it's a British production) playing Russian characters and not even attempting the accent.

    Finished episode one yesterday. Intense. The feeling of dread of what's coming is palpable for the viewer b/c we understand but the characters do not.
    I actually prefer it this way, not doing that false Russian accent, the film, The Death of Stalin came out last year, they all spoke in British and American accents, its aimed at an Anglo audience.

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    Quote Originally Posted by richardp View Post
    God, what an amazingly bleak show. That was really incredibly gut wrenching film making, and I think this show will stick with me for quite some time.

    Are there any documentaries out there about Chernobyl that are on par with this show?


    This one for sure.
    Last edited by Volband; 06-04-2019 at 05:19 AM.

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    Okay, great last episode, I'm happy.

    And I have to tell you, this show is 10/10 because everything is so amazing. Like, give me an interesting story and I am already entertained, but we have amazing actors, amazing script, amazing (and faithful) costume designs, amazing cinematography, amazing (non-intrusive) ost, etc.
    Last edited by Volband; 06-04-2019 at 07:02 AM.

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    I watched this show in real time each week and loved it. It was hard for me to remember the characters names but did it matter? I don't think so. Acting, cinematography, music, all great. I've also always had a fascination with the Chernobyl disaster so I was interested going in. Great mini series.

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    It's bleak, it's dark and it's hard to watch. And it's perfect.

    And it will stay with you for a very long time.

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    That ending was amazing. I loved how they told how everything went, and the part about Ulana Khomyuk was so well done.

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    Told you this is going to be great! And I was right here in the same system... :-/ Tears and anger at the same time.

    Btw I was surprised to find out that director Johan Renck made also Bowie's Blackstar and Lazarus videos. http://www.johanrenck.com/

    (Now, what will be the cost of my lies...?)

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    I thought this was an interesting read.

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    Oh God... if there's one thing Craig can be criticized for, it is his political twitter charade. The guy was so collected and impartial during the podcasts, even while giving a nod to the current US administration, but twitter just poisons everyone, though some (J.K. Rowling) more than others.

    It is beyond me why he wishes to affiliate such a brilliant piece of art with the cancer that is US politics. The underlying message ("what is the cost of lies") is so powerful and true on its own, that it doesn't and shouldn't need any commentary. You can find numerous examples to the cost of lies since the beginning of our civilization, some ~5000 years ago, but he had to go ahead and make it about Trump. I understand that he is American, and has strong feelings towards his own nation, but it undervalues this message, when you turn it into another feces to throw in the general direction of the political side you happen to hate.

    The world is bigger, than America, and Chernobyl was bigger, than the Soviet Union. Let the people think for themselves and figure out what it means to them. Let it be a message that stands true for a thousand years instead of another forgettable, throwaway #fucktrump.

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    This show definitely holds up. I grabbed the UHD version and dug in for a re-viewing at full 4k quality... worth revisiting, hard though it is to take in. Many layers of resonance within, not just to the era we're living through, but also the greater theme of human hubris writ large across history.
    Last edited by botley; 02-24-2021 at 05:32 PM.

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    It was the last thing I watched in 2019. I'm glad I saw it then because I'm not sure I would have for at least most of 2020 post-Covid.

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    Just FYI, of course this HBO series was mega great.



    There's also interesting documentary "Ch5 Inside Chernobyl with Ben Fogle" if you can watch it.

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    ^ Seems like he didn't even watch the show, just took one clip out of context? @27:10 "unless there's a sealed system, you're not gonna get a pressure explosion" ...WELL, that is exactly why they risked the lives of those three men: Valeri Bespalov, Alexei Ananenko, and Boris Baranov waded through contaminated water up to their knees in complete darkness on May 4th, 1986. They unsealed the valves under the reactor to prevent that radioactive lava which was melting down from reaching 20 million litres of water IN SEALED TANKS. This isn't something HBO made up, it really happened. Has the story been exaggerated in years since? Sure, but not by this show, in my assessment.

    But okay, let's watch a 37-minute video mostly just wanking over thermonuclear explosion blasts, which have absolutely nothing to do with this event. It would probably have been more like a dirty bomb than an H-bomb, had the water vaporized and blew apart all those tanks sitting directly underneath a destroyed reactor core and right next to three other still-active ones (not to mention all the spent fuel nearby in storage). Was the multi-megaton blast estimate way, way off? Probably, but the scientists calculating that figure (not HBO writers, Soviet scientists) were right to over-estimate its deadliness — at last — in order to get the powers that be to take seriously drastic measures and prevent it. Yeah, it probably wouldn't have 'leveled Minsk', but that wasn't even dialogue in the show. 'Rendered a large part of Europe uninhabitable' is pretty bang-on in terms of the devastation that kind of explosion — not an H-bomb air blast, a subterranean dirty bomb potentially wiping out the rest of the power station and throwing all of its fuel into the air — might have wrought.
    Last edited by botley; 03-25-2021 at 10:28 AM.

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