Television Chernobyl (HBO/Sky drama series)

nimic

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Exactly. "This nicely summed up my issues with something I haven't watched". I think the accompanying podcast really helps, the writer is very clear about the bits that aren't quite accurate and why they did that for obvious TV reasons. Having finished the last episode today I can only agree with the majority of comments in here, this is one of the best TV miniseries (maybe TV shows in general) ever made.
Whenever someone complains about the creation of Khomyuk, I give it a 50/50 chance that they're mostly bothered that she's a woman.
 

ChrisNelson

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Just finished watching this through for a second time. I think it's useful especially after watching the final episode which loops back in to the first, and there's always certain things you miss.

The opening couple of episodes in particular make so much more sense once you have seen the end.
 

MadMike

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Stocked up on popcorn and binge watched it in one evening. I knew I wouldn't be able to tear my eyes off it after I started. What a haunting watch. I can't give enough plaudits to the show directors for the way they reconstructed the atmosphere of 1980s Soviet Union. Extra points for sticking so close to the original story too.

Fun fact, my colleague that sits next to me went to Kiev last year. A few of the English speaking locals take money (bribes) for taking you with them on walking tours of Pripyat. He showed me pictures from inside the abandoned public buildings of Pripyat. He got as far as the perimeter of the plant and took pictures of the Sarcophagus.

They also play a game where you walk in the surrounding fields with a Geiger counter and watch the readings go crazy as you approach scattered debris from the explosion. Showed me a video half an hour ago. Can't be very healthy for the locals doing that every day for money, but you know..
 

Massive Spanner

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Yeah, the animal stuff was tastefully done.

My god, though, the melting dudes in the hospital. Eesh.
I found the animal stuff incredibly upsetting. The fact that these dogs were just harmless pets and most of them were actually running towards those liquidators for affectionate reasons was rough. But as the guy said, it was far less cruel to shoot them instantly than to let them suffer.

And yeah the hospital scenes were horrendous. The make-up was incredible.
 

Pogue Mahone

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I found the animal stuff incredibly upsetting. The fact that these dogs were just harmless pets and most of them were actually running towards those liquidators for affectionate reasons was rough. But as the guy said, it was far less cruel to shoot them instantly than to let them suffer.

And yeah the hospital scenes were horrendous. The make-up was incredible.
What made the dog stuff manageable from my point of view was that it almost all happened off camera. Plus the guys doing the killing were compassionate. I was expecting the worst but it wasn’t as rough as I feared.

Needless to say, the missus found all of those scenes completely unwatchable.
 

robinamicrowave

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Finally watched the first episode last night. Man, that was exhausting TV. I think the portrayal of the Soviet leaders was a little cartoonish, but that's my only real gripe. The rest of it was brilliant. Doom, death, destruction, all those things. I felt like I'd been for a run once it finally cut to the credits.

You know when you watched horror movies as a kid, and they scared you so much that you couldn't shake that lingering feeling that your house needed all of the lights on immediately? And that you couldn't wait to wake up and have it be sunny the next morning? That's how I felt all night after watching this. The amount of body horror, the overwhelming sense of utter dread and hopelessness. It weighed heavy on me.

Not sure I could binge this. Will have to watch it one episode at a time, maybe two days apart. Watching those people on the bridge, knowing they'll eventually succumb to radiation poisoning, horrible. The use of scorched red faces to signify who'd been caught by the dangerous chemicals, nightmare fuel. It's such an intense experience really. The whole show starts with a suicide and goes down from there. feck.
 

pauldyson1uk

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Finally watched the first episode last night. Man, that was exhausting TV. I think the portrayal of the Soviet leaders was a little cartoonish, but that's my only real gripe. The rest of it was brilliant. Doom, death, destruction, all those things. I felt like I'd been for a run once it finally cut to the credits.

You know when you watched horror movies as a kid, and they scared you so much that you couldn't shake that lingering feeling that your house needed all of the lights on immediately? And that you couldn't wait to wake up and have it be sunny the next morning? That's how I felt all night after watching this. The amount of body horror, the overwhelming sense of utter dread and hopelessness. It weighed heavy on me.

Not sure I could binge this. Will have to watch it one episode at a time, maybe two days apart. Watching those people on the bridge, knowing they'll eventually succumb to radiation poisoning, horrible. The use of scorched red faces to signify who'd been caught by the dangerous chemicals, nightmare fuel. It's such an intense experience really. The whole show starts with a suicide and goes down from there. feck.
I binge watched this over a night shift and for me is the way to watch it, while the horror of the previous ep is still fresh and raw.
Spent most of it open mouthed , there was some well place light humor in keeping with the situation.
The suicide at the start was essential to the story.
The guy in charge OMG what a complete dick.
The Firemen got to me, they went and did their job , with no thought of their own safety , with not a clue they were going to their certain death.
 

robinamicrowave

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The Firemen got to me, they went and did their job , with no thought of their own safety , with not a clue they were going to their certain death.
It's this that got to me the most. Innocent people not running away from certain death because they had no idea. It's heartbreaking.
 

Green_Red

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This is powerful. I think nuclear disaster is probably the scariest thing known to us.

I hope they donate the money they make from this to some charities that help the survivors or something.
 

United Hobbit

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Thought it was brilliant, very well done to keep it gripping without trying to make it overly entertaining and end up making light of it. I think the fact it was so dark and powerful made it so very watchable and compelling

I really liked how they did the last episode where they were going over the events that led to the disaster and mixing them with the flashbacks you could feel the tension

Also how how true to real life the appearance of the characters were to the real people, the sentences the people involved got were a joke especially when you hear about all the health implications caused years on and all the deaths they tried to "hush up"

Hope they get plenty of awards as the show was so well done
 

United Hobbit

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Also being lazy, I hate subtitles and it actually puts me off watching films etc with them in, if I want to read I'll read a book so I was glad they spoke in English, I didn't really feel it detracted or was weird at all, in fact I'd almost be inclined to say it would have detracted more if you were having to read subtitles the whole time it would take away from the events unfolding
 

UncleBob

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Whenever someone complains about the creation of Khomyuk, I give it a 50/50 chance that they're mostly bothered that she's a woman.
Are you Swedish ?

I've seen the first 3 episodes now, still don't think it's all that good, will obviously finish it (Just as I will with Billions, even though it's turned shit). Fair enough, if I hadn't read books about the disaster I'd probably be more positive towards the show.

In terms of Khomyuk, there's plenty of things I disagree with. This instant "Sherlock Holmes" I know what's going on Character, sodding off from Minsk to Pripyat, suddenly sitting and participating in debates with Gorbachev, arguing with people. It's absurd on so many different levels, and miles away from being related to the truth and/or possible at the time. Why not create a character that's related to what actually happened, why this simplification of the insane amount of work they had to do at a time where they had no resources for simulating theories, and their access to information on the reactor was limited. The work related to the theory of the "China syndrome" for instance.

The Chernobyl disaster, the reactor itself, the political situation in the country and how much of a part that played in making Chernobyl a bigger disaster, it's part in the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there's so much too choose from.
 

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I'm not saying that he wasn't guilty, he was, of many things. It's just that I wondered whenever his image in Legasov's testimony was supposed to be true or was it also a comment by the creators of the show on the way that Soviet authorities blamed him for everything.

Fomin went back to work at another nuclear facility after some time in prison and mental hospital. Dyatlov was released earlier because of his health issues and died in 1995, I think.

If you read the results of other investigations (1991 and 1993), conducted by Russian and international organisations, they pretty much put all of the blame for the accident on the system. Instructions were off, and the reactor's construction meant that there would be a similar disaster sooner rather than later — and there were a few mini-Chernobyls in previous years where the same constructive flaws were exposed, but the explosions didn't happen, so everything was classified and nothing was done about it.

And Dyatlov, however reckless and power-hungry he was, knew that he's had a fail-safe for this — the AZ-5 button that stops the reaction completely and instantly. He's had no reason to believe that it won't work — or that it would stimulate the reaction instead of killing it.
I find it absolutely terrifying that, even after the Chernobyl, the government were not going to do anything about all the other stations dotted around the USSR with the exact same fault.

Also with the redaction on the design; why weren't the government doing something to fix these issues, even silently, whilst toeing the official line that these stations were faultless wonders?

The fail-safe issue you mention is, of course, valid, but at the same time when watching, one cannot help but think this guy is dicing with nuclear energy, ffs. To even push to the point where the button has to be pushed, is then insane.

You said you did a lot of research after watching the show - what did you know of it, or what were you allowed to inform yourself of, prior? Was it a case of feeling in the blanks, or was whole swathes of it news to you?
 

UncleBob

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I find it absolutely terrifying that, even after the Chernobyl, the government were not going to do anything about all the other stations dotted around the USSR with the exact same fault.

Also with the redaction on the design; why weren't the government doing something to fix these issues, even silently, whilst toeing the official line that these stations were faultless wonders?

The fail-safe issue you mention is, of course, valid, but at the same time when watching, one cannot help but think this guy is dicing with nuclear energy, ffs. To even push to the point where the button has to be pushed, is then insane.

You said you did a lot of research after watching the show - what did you know of it, or what were you allowed to inform yourself of, prior? Was it a case of feeling in the blanks, or was whole swathes of it news to you?
They did.
 

harms

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You said you did a lot of research after watching the show - what did you know of it, or what were you allowed to inform yourself of, prior? Was it a case of feeling in the blanks, or was whole swathes of it news to you?
Well, I knew some of it, of course — it's a significant event, but I never went in depth in my research. So nothing groundbreaking, but I've managed to understand so many things better as well as learning about some new parts (I knew about the divers, for example, but I don't think that I knew about the roof cleaners and about that German robot especially). Chernobyl is a big part of our history and every year on an anniversary there are some insightful articles about the matter.
 

12OunceEpilogue

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Whenever someone complains about the creation of Khomyuk, I give it a 50/50 chance that they're mostly bothered that she's a woman.
Probably. I think she's maybe a bit too brilliant and flawless, compared to the likes of Boris and obviously Valery whose flaws and conflictions make the series, but what was the alternative other than creating a composite character out of the 15 or so scientists who worked with Valery? It was the only way to keep the drama taut, and I'd guess making the character less complex, more of a voice of morality and reason, helped to do justice to the voices of the real scientists than trying to tie all their faults and missteps into one character.

People who are genuinely annoyed that it's a woman keeping Valery on track aren't worth bothering with; Emily Blunt was great, dramatically it worked superbly and the shout-out to the real inspiration for the character at the end was lovely.
 

Massive Spanner

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Probably. I think she's maybe a bit too brilliant and flawless, compared to the likes of Boris and obviously Valery whose flaws and conflictions make the series, but what was the alternative other than creating a composite character out of the 15 or so scientists who worked with Valery? It was the only way to keep the drama taut, and I'd guess making the character less complex, more of a voice of morality and reason, helped to do justice to the voices of the real scientists than trying to tie all their faults and missteps into one character.

People who are genuinely annoyed that it's a woman keeping Valery on track aren't worth bothering with; Emily Blunt was great, dramatically it worked superbly and the shout-out to the real inspiration for the character at the end was lovely.
Jaysus what happened her in the last few years? Looks around 50!
 

Fortitude

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Well, I knew some of it, of course — it's a significant event, but I never went in depth in my research. So nothing groundbreaking, but I've managed to understand so many things better as well as learning about some new parts (I knew about the divers, for example, but I don't think that I knew about the roof cleaners and about that German robot especially). Chernobyl is a big part of our history and every year on an anniversary there are some insightful articles about the matter.
Did wonder what your take on this would be from the outside in, so to speak. It's [very] good and important that it isn't swept under the rug and that it is brought up and remembered every year. Seems like it's not being refuted by most that were there, except the final episode, which does add more poignancy to what is already a very chilling miniseries.
 

harms

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By the way, you can now watch Dyatlov's interview with English subtitles.

 

Sarni

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The bit at the end about all people from the bridge dying was not true.
 

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@harms I read that the upcoming Russian production about this is going to pin blame on an undercover US spy.

Will many Russians really swallow this?
 

harms

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@harms I read that the upcoming Russian production about this is going to pin blame on an undercover US spy.

Will many Russians really swallow this?
I don't think that many will. But there's a huge difference between the young, mostly urban generation that use internet as their main source of information and the older generation that only has radio/TV, it's hard for me to speak for them. This is why the current regime still stands. Still, they aren't shooting a documentary (although, of course, they're going to put the "based on actual events" everywhere), and this is such an outlandish notion that I doubt many will take it seriously.