TV obsessions—come on, admit it!

[Impenitent]

Wut Al said.

And now I have to subscribe to Prime. *grumbles*

I watched The Expanse S1-S2, but then Marc agreed to watch it so I held myself back and held myself back while he crawled through S1, rewatching some episodes as he got lost (due to crawling pace), and then it was no longer on Netflix!

So Prime, which was never previously on the cards due to my complicated Amazon subscription - Amazon thinks I live in Reistertown, Maryland, which is confusing when I want to stream in Oz. I'll have to figure that out without changing my global subscription.

Sux bigtime.


Sent from a tiny phone keyboard via Tapatalk - typos inevitable.

[Hachimitsu]

Anyone watch HBO X Sky’s production of the miniseries Chernobyl?

I am kind of obsessed.
It’s so good. I had no idea of any of the details. I was shocked by the amount of criminal negligence by the state and the plain disbelief in the early hours of the accident.

They work at a nuclear plant and don’t have multiple high level dosimeters?

I have been following the show creator and writer Craig Mazin for years on his screenwriting podcast that he co-hosts with John August.

I will admit, I had never actually seen any of Craig Mazin’s films that he wrote, as silly comedies are not my cup of tea. (The Hangover 2 & 3, Identity Thief, Scary Movie 3, etc…)

But listening to his podcast, I knew a high level drama was always in him.

The director Johan Renck I had never heard of, but had seen his music video work.

Who knew the music video director of Madonna’s Hung Up, and the writer of The Huntsman: Winter’s War could come together to make something so amazing?


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[Maria]

My husband watched it, but I couldn't stand to. It was too disturbing, and I wasn't that far away at the time.

When I asked him what he'd learned, he said that the children in Frankfurt were not allowed to play outside for a week or so.

I WAS STATIONED AT FRANKFURT at that time and NOBODY told warned us of any danger.

When I did hear about the incident, I assumed that the prevailing winds were west to east like in North America and didn't worry much about it. After hearing about that from the series, though, I looked this up: https://preview.redd.it/5w0ce1mwrd131.g ... 624ca98bad

It shows the fallout swirling all around Western Europe, and it got pretty bad where I was, too.

I am not pleased. This probably explains why both I and my husband have thyroid problems- that being one of the main side effects of being exposed to that sort of radiation.

Oh, yeah, and I started having kids the next year. With irradiated eggs. I'm surprised none of them were born with flipper hands.

[Inanna]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That's horrifying, Maria.

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[Maria]

The downside of being stationed in a country where you don't speak the language back then: if the official US news channel didn't say anything about an incident, we generally didn't hear about it. Well, we heard about Chernobyl, but nothing in the US run news media nor anyone in the chain of command issued any sort of warnings about fallout danger.

[Maria]

We just watched the documentary "Atomic Homefront" and it was appalling. Radioactive waste sitting out in the open for decades, being wind blown and rain washed all over north St. Louis, Missouri. Also it was spilled from the open dump trucks that they carted it around in, trying to decide what to do with it.

My son lives just 14 miles away from the landfill where the tons of stuff was finally illegally dumped. The homes bordering the landfill have radiation levels 1000 times the acceptable levels. Rare, lethal cancers are common and a map shows them clustered around the landfill.

The landfill has been declared an EPA Superfund site, which means they have to contain or clean it up. The EPA will be getting around to that one of these days. Meanwhile, there is no legal requirement for home sellers to disclose that their house is freaking RADIOACTIVE, and people keep buying houses in the hot neighborhoods and then finding out after the fact that they are not safe to live in.

Sure, they are gonna clean up the landfill, but what are they going to do about the surrounding neighborhoods ?

I was upset about the Chernobyl documentary in a vague- "Gee, this kind of/maybe/almost affected me." way. This St. Louis news hits a lot closer to home. I think I'll get my son and his wife a Geiger counter.

Edit: I kind of want one myself. Who knows what we own that was made in a contaminated area or out of contaminated materials.

[Hachimitsu]

My husband watched it, but I couldn't stand to. It was too disturbing, and I wasn't that far away at the time.

When I asked him what he'd learned, he said that the children in Frankfurt were not allowed to play outside for a week or so.

I WAS STATIONED AT FRANKFURT at that time and NOBODY told warned us of any danger.

When I did hear about the incident, I assumed that the prevailing winds were west to east like in North America and didn't worry much about it. After hearing about that from the series, though, I looked this up: https://preview.redd.it/5w0ce1mwrd131.g ... 624ca98bad

It shows the fallout swirling all around Western Europe, and it got pretty bad where I was, too.

I am not pleased. This probably explains why both I and my husband have thyroid problems- that being one of the main side effects of being exposed to that sort of radiation.

Oh, yeah, and I started having kids the next year. With irradiated eggs. I'm surprised none of them were born with flipper hands.

Why didn’t anyone tell you?

I heard that the US was broadcasting a radio advisory in to the Soviet Union, telling people the truth. Schools decided to force the kids to take Iodine, even though the Soviet Union said there was no need to.

I am shocked!!


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[Hachimitsu]

I think getting Geiger counter is a good idea.



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[River]

One of my coworkers grew up in Stuttgart. She was around when Chernobyl happened but she was too young to know about it. Her mother told her it was a huge, scary PITA. Kids had to be kept in and produce had to be scrapped.

In Yugoslavia, they kept it under wraps. No one today understands why as Yugoslavia was not an ally of the USSR and therefore had no reason to try and make them look good. Nor, in hindsight, was there any obvious benefit to the Yugoslav government at the time in keeping the event under wraps. Perhaps they feared a panic?

FYI guys, a Geiger counter doesn't pick up alpha radiation and there are some beta-emitters that are too weak for a Geiger to detect. That does not mean these sources aren't harmful. Maria, I think your son should just move.

ETA: We saw Chernobyl. S actually paid for HBO streaming, which is almost unheard of for him, so we could see it when it was being broadcast. It was extremely well-done. There's a lot I already knew about the disaster, and a lot I learned. Also, even though the end was spoiled by the passage of time (no, Europe did not go up in a thermonuclear fireball and no, the Black Sea did not get contaminated) they still managed to maintain suspense. I was surprised the guys who went down into the water survived, actually. I've long believed that everyone involved in mitigating that disaster died of either acute radiation sickness or of cancer in the following years.

[Maria]

Why didn’t anyone tell you?

I suppose they didn't want to create a panic with the troops stationed there? Or maybe those in charge of the US media didn't think it was important? That the soldiers stationed in the area would need to do whatever they were assigned to do anyway, regardless of radiation levels and why complicate their lives by warning them of a danger they couldn't do anything about?

I just don't know.

There was a willful ignorance among the top brass that I associated with during that time. At one point in 1987 we were running a field exercise. My unit provided communications capability to the headquarters unit for all the troops in Europe, and we had a site set up with dozens of trucks of trucks fitted out with big expensive rigs to create a miniature telephone system with satellite connectivity. (State of the art at the time.) I was second in command of the unit, and at one point my commander sent me in her place to a meeting of the 5th Corps staff while they figured out their war game scenarios. I listened to them decide that nukes had been dropped 20 miles from our position and they asked for input to make the scenario more realistic.

I told them that the EMP (electromagnetic pulse) from the nukes would destroy our electronic equipment and that would disable every phone we'd installed in the building. Did they want me to shut the rigs down to simulate damage from EMP?

They said NO! Don't do that! We need those phones!

I told them that was what would happen in reality. I was basically told to sit down and shut up while they continued with their nuke scenario. My commander was aghast when I told her what I'd said. Apparently you weren't supposed to rock the boat that way in meetings.

So, you know, someone higher up probably decided it wasn't any big deal about the fallout and that no announcements need be made to the troops. Or that it might affect "readiness" if everyone were taking precautions.

[Jude]

I just started watching the series on Queen Victoria starring Jenna Coleman. Anyone else see it?

[Frelga]

I saw a few episodes. It was nice to see a young female character get the treatment usually reserved for big manly heroes. "Of course she prevailed in the end because she's that special and has the Power of Monarchy."

[Sunsilver]

Guilty pleasure - have been watching the TV series, Merlin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(2008_TV_series)

I originally saw most of the first two seasons when it first came out, then Roger's reorganized its channels so that Merlin was on a premium channel. I recently upgraded to Ignite TV (a Roger's premium package) so I was able to watch it again. There were only 65 episodes, and the last two played this week.

I've been quite pleased with the production values of the series so far. The horse tack, locations, etc. appear (at least to my eyes) authentic, though I'm sure a historian would have a few quibbles. But this one scene with Morgana had me shouting at the TV screen.

Morgana has a sword forged in a dragon's breath. This supposedly involves having the dragon breathe fire on the blade of an already completely forged sword, which she was holding in her hand. When I say complete, I mean the sword even had a fancy hilt and fancy engraving on the blade.

She then, IMMEDIATELY after the so-called 'forging', lays the sword blade across the palms of her gloved hands.

Hate to tell the production staff this, but those gloves should have immediately gone up in flames, even if the sword had just come out of the heat of a regular forge. And as most Tolkien fans or Ren-players will tell you, there is much, much more to forging a sword blade than having a dragon breathe fire on it! Arrrgh...how COULD they be so dumb??

Anyway, for the most part, I have enjoyed the series, though some of the plots definitely clunked. And I have to confess that Bradley James (Arthur) just kept getting more and more handsome as the series progressed... It was nice to see the development of his character, too, during the five seasons.

Colin Morgan also did a great job as Merlin, though the whole bit of Arthur continually disrespecting him as 'just a servant' did get tiresome at times. However, there was excellent chemistry between the two actors.

It's been a nice bit of escapism, and the last episode definitely tugged the heartstrings!

[narya]

Hate to tell the production staff this, but those gloves should have immediately gone up in flames, even if the sword had just come out of the heat of a regular forge. And as most Tolkien fans or Ren-players will tell you, there is much, much more to forging a sword blade than having a dragon breathe fire on it! Arrrgh...how COULD they be so dumb??

I love the human brain's ability to say "hey, that defies the laws of physics" about something in a scene that also includes dragons. I do it all the time.

[Frelga]

I watch the Fast and Furious movies just to practice turning my brain off. They are set in a parallel dimension with different universal constants, so everything from physics to anatomy works differently.

[Sunsilver]

Forgot to mention, there was lots of sword fighting in the series, and it was very well done. Obviously the actors had a good coach. And Brad James got quite buff while working on the series. There's a few scenes that show him bare chested...umm...having a moment here...

The worst fault of the series was the unbelievability of some of the plot lines. Morgana turns evil very early on, but it takes quite awhile for Merlin and Gaius to catch on to her. Then they hold off telling Arthur for several SEASONS, because he won't believe them, and she's his sister. And it might potentially reveal Merlin's abilities as a sorcerer if they tell him, and THAT would get him hanged, because both Arthur and his father hate magic.

Then, when her perfidy is revealed, Arthur's uncle, Agravaine becomes the chief villain/spy and the same thing happens with him. I managed to ignore it, but sometimes I had to grit my teeth, and just enjoy the handsome men on their handsome horses. Those Pendragon cloaks were REALLY eye catching, as you can see from the above photo!

Oh, and if anyone's interested, the series is being repeated on IFC channel, beginning on Monday. It runs 5 days a week, during the daytime, so better turn on your PVR!

[narya]

Not on IFC here, but on demand on tubi. Which I'd never heard of till now, because I watch TV so little. Watching now....

[Impenitent]

Marc and I just finished watching 3 seasons of the British series No Offence - set in Manchester, featuring a team of cops, all dysfunctional individuals led by a deeply flawed but brilliant inspector. A fabulous cast makes this work even when the storylines seem implausible (who sends in s black undercover cop to infiltrate a white supremacist group?) and the dramatic impact is there even with the strong thread of irreverent humour.
Loved every compelling moment.

[Sunsilver]

Hope you enjoy it, Narya! I am looking forward to catching up on the first few episodes of the series, which I missed when it first came out.

It turns out I missed much MORE than the first few episodes of the series. I saw only a couple of episodes from Season 1 before the series was moved to the SyFi channel, which required a subscription.

The most recent episode, Excalibur, just blew me away. Anthony Head, who also played Rupert Giles in Buffy, plays Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon. He is a very handsome older man, and has a beautiful voice. It's quite obvious from their voices that both he and the actor who plays Gauis, the court physician (Richard Wilson, O.B.E.) have considerable experience in the theater. Both men have serious acting chops, and could easily carry the series on their own.

At Arthur's coming of age ceremony, a mysterious black knight bursts into the throne room, and throws down his gauntlet, challenging the knights to a duel to the death.

It turns out he is the brother of Uther's dead wife, Ygraine. He himself was slain by Uther 20 years before, and has been summoned back from the dead by the scorceress, Nimueh to destroy Camelot and its king. The problem is, as a wraith, he cannot be killed by any ordinary weapons - two of the Pendragon knights die finding that out.

Merlin has the dragon enchant a sword with his breath. (if I'd seen this episode before the one I was complaining about earlier, I would have understood it much better!) He then gives the sword to Arthur, who, over his father's protests, has challenged the Black Knight.

Uther can't allow his only son and heir to be killed, so he has Gauis give Arthur a sleeping potion, and challenges the knight himself. Prior to the fight, he sees the new sword Merlin has given Arthur, and being the king, he demands that Merlin give it to him.

Being a fan of heroic fantasty, Robin Hood, etc. etc, I've seen many movie sword fights, from the superb (Douglas Fairbanks) to the comically bad (my memory has mercifully blanked those out.) The fighting scenes in this series are extremely well done, and although there are some scenes where the knights are wearing helmets, and could easily be trained stunt men, there are many others where they are not wearing helmets, and the fighting is being done by the actor himself, or possibly a stunt double. I've seen enough closeups of the sword fighting to know Arthur (Bradley James) is particularly good with a sword, and now, this episode gave me my first chance to see Uther (Anthony Head) fight. It turns out stage fighting is one of the skills listed in his IMDB biography. He does a wonderful job, and, of course, slays the Black Knight.

He then has to confront a VERY angry Arthur. There is not an inch of give to Uther Pendragon, as he is portrayed in this series. He rules his kingdom with an iron fist. That end scene between father and son, and the affection shown to him by his very stern, strict father was what made the episode really shine.

Definitely one of the best things I've seen on T.V. in quite awhile! Very much looking forward to catching up on the rest of the episodes!

Coming up soon - an episode where there's a jousting competition. The cast and crew went to France, where they were able to film professional jousters doing the jousting. As one of the cast members commented, "These guys are nutters...absolute NUTTERS!" It shows one of the jousters somersaulting off the back of the horse after being hit, and another being dragged by his horse. Then, they get back up, and do it all again! Nothing faked, no C.G.I., no green screens...