This 2017 miniseries of "killer" natural phenomena surprisingly does not have an episode on earthquakes.
Rehashed versions of the three episodes were screened in season 44 of the US documentary series Nova.
The episodes on hurricanes and volcanoes were interesting as far as they went, but there is so much more evidence that could have been covered about the enormous influence volcanoes have had on the shaping of the earth and on life upon it.
The episode on floods was most fascinating, but I have seen criticism by geologists that it was misleading and somewhat inaccurate. The impression was given that only recently had the formation of the Washington scablands by a massive flood been explained. In fact, however, the water source had been identified in 1910 by J T Pardee. The way the flood happened was deduced in the 1920s by J Harlan Bretz. Neither person was mentioned in this production. The description provided was actually less accurate than Bretz's.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the presentation and recommend it. 7 out of 10.
3 Reviews
Really a Series About Geology and Meteorology and Scientific Analysis
zaphodb112 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I watched the episode about Volcanoes and realised that the series was actually about major geological and meteorological upheavals in our recent past (ie. thousands of years). And it was not about volcanoes (or floods or hurricanes) and all the people that died in the last few years.
The Volcanoes episode uses evidence to date and identify the massive volcanic eruption that caused thousands of deaths in London in 1250AD due to starvation.
The Floods episode looks at the cause of the Scablands (100 miles east of Seattle in the USA) - shear gorges, rock islands and huge depressions in the middle of an area consisting of flat plains. It also looks at what caused Britain to become an island and separate from France.
The Hurricanes episode looks at the 1780 Caribbean hurricane and whether hurricanes are becoming more frequent using analysis of recent sediments to find hurricane impacts over time vs ocean temperature estimates.
The series should be renamed:Geological and Meteorological Upheavals - An Analysis of Recent Volcanoes, Floods and Hurricanes
The Volcanoes episode uses evidence to date and identify the massive volcanic eruption that caused thousands of deaths in London in 1250AD due to starvation.
The Floods episode looks at the cause of the Scablands (100 miles east of Seattle in the USA) - shear gorges, rock islands and huge depressions in the middle of an area consisting of flat plains. It also looks at what caused Britain to become an island and separate from France.
The Hurricanes episode looks at the 1780 Caribbean hurricane and whether hurricanes are becoming more frequent using analysis of recent sediments to find hurricane impacts over time vs ocean temperature estimates.
The series should be renamed:Geological and Meteorological Upheavals - An Analysis of Recent Volcanoes, Floods and Hurricanes
Documentary editors take us for fools once again
Jlundm2 November 2019
The subjects are interesting and the footage is really good. I think they had a good choice of people to follow throughout the episodes but I'm not sure. Sadly it follows the very American standard of injecting ridiculously short fragments of sentences from the people being interviewed, as a sort of confirmation to the shallow and dramatic statements from the blockbuster trailer narration.
A good documentary build the storyline and serve the information through interviews, while the narration ties them together by, for example, telling us why this person is interviewed or what the mountain being depicted is called and located.
You probably had the material to do a good documentary, and destroyed it all in the editing room. Please end this.
A good documentary build the storyline and serve the information through interviews, while the narration ties them together by, for example, telling us why this person is interviewed or what the mountain being depicted is called and located.
You probably had the material to do a good documentary, and destroyed it all in the editing room. Please end this.
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