My YouTube algorithm has suggested a string of Chernobyl clips. I knew that show was good, but damn, it's better than I remember. The tone, the music, the sound effects, the acting, are all just fantastic.

Take this one for example:



When Sitnikov is on the roof - the music and sound are perfect. They capture the menacing nature of the reactor - almost as if it's a living thing. When he looks back at the guard, he knows he's a dead man. The producers perfectly built suspense into every moment.

And the progression of Legasov and Shcherbina over the series from enemies to brothers-in-arms is spectacular. Shcherbina is a guy that you root against in the beginning, but respect by the end.



I think this is one of those series that is worth re-watch on the regular.

Probably the best mini-series ever made.

Shut the **** up and do your job

Chernobyl management supercut


We still reference Dyatlov and not great…not terrible regularly at work

In reply to Brian Earl Spilner

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Probably the best mini-series ever made.

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Band of Brothers vs. Chernobyl?



Just personally, I have a hard time putting Band of Brothers above or below Chernobyl for all-time greatest spot, but that's a compliment to both of them. I think you'd find way more people that would vote BoB.

You did not see graphite on the ground

In reply to BenTheGoodAg Lonesome Dove is better than both.

Fantastic show that surprisingly didn't pull too many punches in highlighting the failures of communism and its impact on this disaster. Everyone needs to watch it.

In reply to YouBet To be fair, that's just because they didn't do communism right. Next time it'll be different.

I have rewatched Chernobyl several times. It's as good as it gets.

In reply to Brian Earl Spilner

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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They're currently #4 and 5 on the IMDb top TV list.

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It made me angry watching that. I was in high school when it happened and we were already doing fall out drills in case of nuclear war.
Then this happened and we were doing drills at school putting tape on windows in case that stuff got into the atmosphere.

The way they covered that up until they couldn't was the epitome of how evil the Soviet Union was.

They didn't care what damage they were doing as long as they saved face.

Their arrogance almost killed millions.

In reply to Brian Earl Spilner

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Probably the best mini-series ever made.

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Band of Brothers
The Pacific
From The Earth To The Moon <--- my favorite, in truth


But yes, I'd say it's squarely in contention. This thread inspired me to do a complete rewatch.

I was 1 in 1986, but the profound impact that this event had on all of our future's....it just cant be underscored.

What life would be like today in 2024, with no chernobyl event and no three mile island....

Okay, it might be like Fallout's wasteland, but it might not be.

Or maybe not, if not for Chernobyl, maybe the CCCP doesnt collapse 5-6 years later. It's just one of those moments in history that is frozen in time and I love this mini-series for preserving the history forever.

In reply to BadMoonRisin Fellow nerd, here - From the Earth to the Moon is also a personal favorite. But when I compare it to, say, Apollo 13, I think it falls short as an entertainment product and is weak in some respects. (Also, we got Bryan Cranston as Buzz Aldrin, so that's cool).

But Chernobyl is a straight up masterpiece. I don't think there's a bad or weak moment in the show.

In reply to BenTheGoodAg

BenTheGoodAg said:

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Fellow nerd, here - From the Earth to the Moon is also a personal favorite. But when I compare it to, say, Apollo 13, I think it falls short as an entertainment product and is weak in some respects. (Also, we got Bryan Cranston as Buzz Aldrin, so that's cool).

But Chernobyl is a straight up masterpiece. I don't think there's a bad or weak moment in the show.

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I give respect.

Saving Private Ryan (my personal favorite movie of all time) (1998) gave us Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010).

Apollo 13 (in my top 5 movies of all time) (1995) gave us From The Earth To The Moon (1998).

Both passion projects of Tom Hanks that lead to more in-depth "content" that was just A+ tier.

In reply to BadMoonRisin Good point. Maybe one day we'll get the opposite - a movie that builds on this to show the collapse of the Soviet Union.

As you mentioned earlier, there's a lot that Chernobyl did to contribute to that. Gorbechev has even mentioned how this event shaped his views on the Soviet Union's policies. All of which further speaks to how incredible Legasov and Scherbina were, and how important this story was to tell.

In reply to BenTheGoodAg

BenTheGoodAg said:

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Good point. Maybe one day we'll get the opposite - a movie that builds on this to show the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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Wow, that would be amazing. We see what happened from a Western perspective (propaganda), but certainly there is one from the Soviet as well.

The last episode should be required viewing in engineering ethics classes.

In reply to jbanda

jbanda said:

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The last episode should be required viewing in engineering ethics classes.

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The entire thing should be. While no where near the level of catastrophe, the entire Boeing thing is just another case of those without technical knowledge being in positions to make final decisions and bullying the engineers into keeping their mouths shut. Whether a government official or a corporate executive, it's amazing what they will try.

For my work, I started traveling to the former Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) often in the mid 90s and that movie was eerie at how it captured everything from the cloths, to the offices/housing, hospitals, and basically extreme poverty to the people. They sold out entirely into making a huge army of junk.

Communism ethics class

Story time: A friend of mine worked for a company that build large material testing equipment. The one he was working on would take a crucible full of metals and stuff, heat it up to melting temp, and run tests on it. They had a failure condition that would destroy the multi-million dollar machine. If they didn't do that, then it would likely kill the operator. They had an engineer from Russia, who said (seriously) "but you can always replace the operator." They had to explain to him how in America, we don't do that. The concept was foreign to him.

In reply to aTmAg

aTmAg said:

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Communism ethics class

Story time: A friend of mine worked for a company that build large material testing equipment. The one he was working on would take a crucible full of metals and stuff, heat it up to melting temp, and run tests on it. They had a failure condition that would destroy the multi-million dollar machine. If they didn't do that, then it would likely kill the operator. They had an engineer from Russia, who said (seriously) "but you can always replace the operator." They had to explain to him how in America, we don't do that. The concept was foreign to him.

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A plant I visited had workers with heavy hand held tools. The tools did have not plugs on the cords but instead had two clamps exactly like jumper cables. The plant had parallel uninsulated 240v wires running all over the plant. Instead of plugs/terminals, the worker would just clamp on his cord to the wires in order to power it. I asked about safety and they just said "workers know not to touch or fall into wires." When I asked how to prevent accidents, they said "worker should pay better attention"

jared harris was so fantastic in this. re-watching mad men at the moment and he's just as good in that as well.

In reply to ac04

ac04 said:

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jared harris was so fantastic in this. re-watching mad men at the moment and he's just as good in that as well.

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His high point in Med Men was when he called Pete Campbell a "grimy little pimp" just before they fought.