National Geographic Channel Collapse:Based on the Book by Jared Diamond

[bignickel]

I tivo'ed this the other night. The overarching 'eyeball-grabber' is footage of people '200 years in the future' digging up the pieces of our vanished civilization, trying to determine why we collapsed.

In between the program is looking at past civilizations that either collapsed or didn't. So far, they've covered the Anasazi. I'm about a half hour in, with another 1.5 to go.

Anyone seen it? Any thoughts? They've got more talking heads in the program, besides Jared himself. Haven't found anything that made me grimace yet. Nice scenes recreating societies past.

 

[bignickel]

bleh, the program title didn't copy right, and looks stupid.

Can some mod get the "NGC channel:" out of the title?

 

[Marduk]

I tivo'ed this the other night. The overarching 'eyeball-grabber' is footage of people '200 years in the future' digging up the pieces of our vanished civilization, trying to determine why we collapsed.

It was the AK47 wasn't it ?
bit of a clue there with that future archeologist digging one up next to some skulls

 

[bignickel]

Thanks, Lisa for fixing the title.

Watched some more last night. The constant images of them looking at our civ ("keyboards on the wall... it must be THE FUTURE!") gets old, because you want them to get back to the storylines of past civs. Some of the footage of divers going past roller coasters on the ocean floor, rusting in place, is kinda cool I guess.

But I really want them to get to the Vikings in Greenland, which was my fave bit from the book. Easter Island would be nifty too.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I blame Darwin.

And the Simpsons.

And MTV.

And WWE.

And bad cholesterol.

And Darwin.

 

[smellincoffee]

I'm pretty sure we survived because Gary Seven meddled in things.

 

[bignickel]

Finished watching it. It was a 'special' and not a 'series'.

No Norse, no Easter Island. Just 3 societies in the past, and 30 minutes of footage of actors digging up shopping carts and computers cases while a voiceover asked "did (X) lead to our undoing, as it had to the (Y)?"

Disappointing.

 

[ingoa]

I blame Darwin.

And the Simpsons.

And MTV.

And WWE.

And bad cholesterol.

And Darwin.

 

[The True Scotsman]

To the OP:

I'm actually reading "Collapse" right now. I'm only on pages 127, so I have a bit to go, but it is an interesting read. I didn't know they made a special on it, but since you say it was disappointing, I probably won't go out of my way to see it.

 

[The True Scotsman]

It was the AK47 wasn't it ?
bit of a clue there with that future archeologist digging one up next to some skulls

I think it had something to do with guns and I'm remembering germs being in there too, oh, and some mention of steel.

 

[Jim_MDP]

I'm pretty sure we survived because Gary Seven meddled in things.

They'll never know unless they can crack his office wall.

Probably in some office low-rise in Cocoa.

 

[Skeptical Greg]

I'm reminded of a cartoon I saw a while back, where these cave men were up on a scaffolding drawing pictures on the wall, and one was saying:

" There will be all kinds of theories; like we were ten feet tall, or that the floor sank. "

 

[Vic Vega]

I tivo'ed this the other night. The overarching 'eyeball-grabber' is footage of people '200 years in the future' digging up the pieces of our vanished civilization, trying to determine why we collapsed.

Two hundred years or two thousand years?

Two hundred years doesn't seem like much time when you're talking about the collapse of a civilization.

 

[bignickel]

It was indeed 2 hundred years. That's why all the open exposed metal was still in relatively good condition (even with the rust).