I live in south-west germany and to this day you can't eat certain boars because they eat mushrooms that absorbed Caesium 137 during the desaster. I think they are allowed to have 500 Bq/kg but sometimes hunters shoot boars with 8000-10000 Bq/kg. I wasn't born back then but my father said they were told to stay inside when it's raining, even during work hours everyone had to get somewhere inside and stop working when it was about to rain. Scary stuff.
Im more scared about the fact that so many of ya, dind't even know the story. I mean it's the worlds worst nuclear diaster ever, and you guys dind't know it happened? Dafuq are they teaching you over there.
@@Orcawhale1 Knowing about it is one thing, seeing it is another. I've been to Hiroshima this year and let me tell me you, I was emotionally drained after visiting the Peace Memorial Museum.
Yes, real life is so much more scary which is why I don't need to see it. I know what happened, I know the overall consequences and how it was involved in politics and so many other issues. I don't need to see a fictional re accounting of it with people in agony and Horror Make-Up, that almost sounds like opportunistic Gore porn. Bring on the spooky aliens and stuff, I'm not going to watch something so horrifying and nonfiction as entertainment just like I wouldn't watch any other disaster historical piece recreated in intricate detail as entertainment ... that's not fun for me.
@@CODA96 probably nothing more serious than any other, those boots weren't much protection to begin with and their biggest danger was breathing radioactive dust.
My favorite aspect of the show was all of the self sacrifice by ordinary people for the greater good though they never caused this problem. That shit really hit home for me.
If you have Netflix, you should watch "The Untold Story of the United States." There is a very real trend among the Russian people to sacrifice for the greater good. Boris even convinced the divers by saying, "The story of Russia is one of sacrifice and every generation must know its own suffering." Some really heavy stuff.
I went from 'I have no idea how any of this works" all the way to 'The plant manager must be fucking incompetent to not have seen this coming' in the span of what could NOT HAVE BEEN LONGER THAN 3 minutes..... Great episode, great scene, loved it.
For me, that line ranks up there with Commander Adama's line "Sooner or later, the day comes when you can’t hide from the things that you’ve done anymore." from the Battlestar Galactica miniseries.
Alexei Ananenko, Valeri Bezpalov, Boris Baranov. The three volunteers who went into the pipes. Ananenko and Bezpalov were alive as of 2018 when they were awarded the Order For Courage in the Third Degree by the Ukranian president in a ceremony held at the nuclear plant. Ananenko was able to accept in person, while Bezpalov was absent due reportedly due to health issues. Boris Baranov died of a heart attack in 2005 and was given the Order posthumously, which his grandson accepted on his behalf.
Also fun fact: Due to the Chernobyl incident, the US government now requires all cities within a 20 mile radius of a nuclear power plant keep a supply of potassium iodine tablets just in case of a nuclear meltdown.
@@cyberdemon1702 False. Iodine 131 tends to affect the thyroid. The thyroid can only absorb a certain amount of Iodine before it can no longer absorb more, therefor the potassium iodide pills make your thyroid "full" for lack of a better word. Iodine 131 has a half life of 8 days, so after a few weeks of taking potassium iodide daily, the threat is gone.
"An informed society might not be the best thing for the government. But an informed society is the best thing for the people the government serves." This is an absolutely true statement. Edit: Thanks for all the likes. 2k woohoo
I think it's more of a "who needs to know what". For example, in the first episode, someone decides that the party council doesn't need to know the full scope of the disaster and somebody else disagrees and that disagreement saves lives. On a smaller scale that is a great example of corporate America. I work for a relatively big company and we constantly see mind-bogglingly stupid decisions made because some manager doesn't want to look bad.
Watched the first episode at around 11 at night. Curious to see how good it was. 5:14am, finished the whole series. Weird thing to explain why I was tired to my boss. Worth it.
Oh, the puppy scene was sad and the trauma that the individual that was entering adulthood. The experienced veteran who is already messed up in the head told him to leave the room. The funniest scene was when the USSR sent "Joker" and it fails when it reaches the radioactive graphite. The guy leading the operations was yelling his head off inside the trailer and cussing like a sailor. HBO should get the same director and do a mini-series on 9/11 and release the series on the 20 year anniversary of 9/11.
In the podcast the writer of the show said there is a deleted scene where one of the puppies wasn’t dead when they buried them in concrete. The soldier wanted to put it out of its misery but they didn’t have anymore bullets. That shit is downright depressing.
"An informed society might not be the best thing for the government. But an informed society is the best thing for the people the government serves." We should print this on our money.
Politics sends yang to deth for own profit politics whu use own people to fix prablems witch they cryiejted you think KOMUNIST KOREAN CHAJNA? HEEEHHE HE
Whats the hype all about? First episode was very good, rest was painful filler and lots of senseless talking. Clip it together and show it to a school class, thats a good use for it. I didnt find it THAT interesting. It was more like a documentary.
@The Wraith The reason they survived was because the radiation was quite mild in the water, IIRC because it contained a lot of groundwater, and there was actually only 1 spot with very bad radiation, which they either went around or effectively sprinted through (I can't remember which). The show's depiction is inaccurate, in that regard.
Don't forget the plant workers. They don't get enough justice. They rescued their colleagues, helped to put out fires, emptied hydrogen and oil tanks so no bigger fires and explosion would happened. Secured the reactor number 3, and so on. They are heroes too.
Ronin5B that one part that bugged me. Because they never follow up on it. Was that one guy that tripped alright? Did they get the roof clear in the end. Did any of them die?
@@bucwhovian8305 I think that was intentional. The person was nameless and he probably was just someone who represented all of the people who suffered bad radiation sickness due to their exposure on the roof for that cleanup. Similar to how Khomyuk was not a real person, but she represented the hundreds of scientists who studied the disaster to figure out what happened.
After watching the series go and look up the director and writer for this masterpiece. The series is entirely directed by 90's pop musician Stakka Bo, and is written by the writer of Scary Movie 3-4 and Hangover 2-3. Let that sink in for a minute..
People told me I should watch this, I was like "Why? I already know what happends. Where's the suspence in that?" Then I watched the first episode, and I was like "F--k me... I need to know how this plays out!" Awesome production.
What I can’t believe is that the make up shown in ep3 was ACTUALLY TONED down for the show and yet still so horrifying, like that speaks volumes to how terrible a way to go that is (and I’m forever grateful they never showed us the ‘he had no face’ guy, that’s just horrifying to imagine) 10/10 show, captivating and I couldn’t look away (also highly recommend the podcast they put out with each episode released where they go in depth on choices and what they had to leave out)
Yeah, the real one was even more gruesome. He coughs out parts of his internal organs, as his body liquifies, decaying while he is still clinging for life. Even in one instance, another victim tears out his own organs due to unbearable pain.
Yes! Some quick shots were close to the true horrific nature of radiation burns but some of the pics of the Chernobyl victims are absolutely terrifying. And apparently long suffering.. just very sad
Do it. I just watched it a second time in its entirety the day after and I feel like I picked up more than I did before. This miniseries is my greatest of all time. Perfection. 10/10
Scarywesley4 lol I know right? I knew about it because of all the videos here on RU-vid. Like before this series came out there were videos of people visiting the exclusion zone etc
I knew about it when I was 13, in the year 2000, when my PC was fucked up by a virus called chernobyl (so I looked it up) :D I still remember that godamn blue floppy disk my friend gave me !! I still hate that guy !
I don't know about you, but I was a kid here in the states, and trust me on this, we were worried. We were tracking the radiation cloud to see which way it would go. With this disaster and our Three Mile Island incident, public opinion towards nuclear power soured for decades.
And now amazingly there are people who are now experts on everything Chernobyl parroting stuff said on the series on older documentaries here on RU-vid, like all of Europe being uninhabitable, or posting that 3.6 roentgen line everywhere.
After every episode they released Chernobyl podcast. They are available on youtube as well under hbo channel. Incredible to hear the director share more stories.
5 episodes. Hard to watch at moments. A masterpiece. Super investing and engaging. It feels a super realistic horror movie. That scene in the "Snow" in the first episode, super chilling.
When I saw all those people playing in the "snow" on the bridge, saying, "Isn't it pretty?" I was screaming at them to GET INSIDE. I mean, if you see weird light effects at a NUCLEAR power plant, and then see strange stuff falling from the sky, GET OUT, FOR GOD'S SAKE. In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the U.S. propaganda was, "Oh, the Soviet citizens are taught ALL ABOUT nuclear issues. THEY know how to deal with fallout, and how to get to shelters, etc. Every Soviet town has a fallout shelter in place. They're so prepared, and we don't teach out citizens anything about the dangers of radioactivity." All governments lie. Some governments just lie more than others.
@@solus48 It bugged me when I saw that final credit crawl, that "everyone on the bridge is reported to have died." I remember thinking, "Wait. Not everyone at the POWER PLANT died." It turns out people DID go to that bridge. Some of them are known to have survived. As to the fate of the rest -- the USSR kept no records. I'm sure many got sick, but as to how many died ... that has become the stuff of legends. I was disappointed that the series promoted an urban legend as the truth.
My favorite shot in the entire miniseries was that shot panning from the Chernobyl plant to Pripyat seeing the trees already turning red from the radiation.
The Podcast about each episode where the writer is talking about why he choose to show and didn't show things are also amazing. Gives you so much information and makes the experience even better. To all the people looking for it, it's on RU-vid.
HBO has been making quality content like Chernobyl for YEARS! Their subscription is worth every penny solely for their library of shows and movies. Not to mention shows that they are still creating, like Chernobyl. They are still the gold standard for original programming
My god! 😱 I never knew how close we were in Europe to a MUCH larger disaster than it already was. I want to send flowers, hugs, thank you-notes and big awards to all those heroes that saved Europe whilst risking/sacrifying their own lives. My heart is just overflowing of gratitude, respect and admiration for what they did. A trully important TV-series, very well made.
Definitely! Them 3 men who opened the water pumps or closed them deserve every award possible. They without doubt saved millions of peoples then and probably now!
It may sound terrible but it would be interesting to see, how the fallout would affect a great part of Europe. Would the whole economy/ society collapse? Where would all the radiation refugees go? Scary fact: there were actually hundreds of trains in Kiev ready to evacuate if the worst case scenario would happen, if those three guys would have failed
One of my favourite things about the sound design in this miniseries is how they chose to portray radiation outside of the use of Geiger-Muller tubes. The use of hollow metallic endless tones that just permeate the entire scene, growing louder with higher radiation levels, even if the characters weren't themselves aware. It's like they adapted they usual horror movie trope of the deep rumble or shrieking violins as your invisible monster inches closer to the characters on screen. Absolutely amazing work.
I think one of the most beautifully terrifying moments in the first episode is when the building is in flames and all the folks in the city gather round to watch the spectacle, and you see all the radioactive ash fall on them all, and the kids start playing around with it as if it was snow. They didn't know what it was for so long. This mini series showed me one thing for sure, how scary high amounts of radiation can be. When one of the firefighters picks up graphite and it immediately penetrates his glove and hand severely, that was wild. Also, when one of the reactor workers looks from the roof straight down and comes back all messed up so quickly, that was wild too. I agree that they made the scope of the movie feel massive. They made it feel like SO many people were effected. Living in the USSR during this disaster... Makes me feel like the "Direct/Indirect Death" count is much higher. Sure enough, speculation is anywhere from 4,000 - 93,000 deaths, according the end of episode 5. Insane. Worth a watch for sure
I thought to myself "this is a horror movie" while I was watching that scene on the bridge, with that eerie music playing. It was disturbing. Great series.
What really stood out for me was how authentic everything looked - actors, costumes, locations, how people behaved and reacted. Western shows/movies rarely get that right, but here its spot on! Bravo!
thedarkestdawn1 yet it’s still the best source of energy ( obviously now after this disaster) and yes we need to do better, but a real energy source needs to found and expand on it.
@@kellym3810 I think the best way to look at it is less of a monster, and more of a power that should be treated with respect. The consequences come from being negligent.
Tim Ward nah agree not even in the same ball park aye. Chernobyl is top tier. The terror was good but I didn’t really like the monster (would have preferred it to be about the men and their sanity etc)
Yea totally agree about the monster, I honestly thought there would be a twist that the monster would turn out to be an hallucination brought on by the lead poisoning but nope, kinda soured it tbh
Tim Ward yea I honesty thought it was lead poisoning + polar bear = monster because of the the hallucinations but obviously the Eskimo chick saw the same thing so yea kinda sucked. Would have preferred it to be ambiguous
I loved it since episode 1 . The poor firefighters😔 so harrowing. Great lines from the explaining of nuclear reactors to the enormity of the event “nothing like this has ever happened on this planet ever!”
And the miners- Legasov asks “Are they all like that?” “Yes, there’re all like that.” Chilling testament to the sense of duty the common Russians felt toward the state, and how the state threw their lives away.
Dude, I have not experienced as much stress as I did while watching the first three episodes of this series. And it genuinely scared me knowing people experienced this. I need to watch the last two episodes
Honestly i don't even remember the individual episodes in between. I watched it in one sitting and it felt like one captivating ass movie. 10/10 for sure one of the greatest productions ive ever seen🔥🔥🔥
same! was 3am when I was done with ep4, and 5 started, and I was like, maybe I should leave the last one for tomorrow, then they started showing what actually happened before the explosion lol .. so of course I didn't sleep !
The trebute in the end of episode 5... I almost started crying. This series is what televison is about, to call it a masterpiece is not really doing it justice. You might prefer other miniseries like Bands of brothers or the pacific, you might prefer light entertienment... But this is the must-watch series or the decade. The best part... That it shows the decentcy of the soviet people... They were not/are not slave robots to be used by a brutal regime (as some bad television series would perhaps have gone for), instead it shows how they lived and had to scarifice to make sure that their families survieved. The show is both a near perfect telling of a system not able to work rational, because it was build on a lie, and of what lies results in... Without going to much into politics, it has to be said that we in the west, are at a point, where people in charge needs to be held accountable, and their lies needs to be taken to heart, otherwise we will live with the consequences and risk another Chernobyl.
I'm in no way undermining the sacrifice those men made, but the hard truth is that the socialist state of Russia literally threw those bodies at the problem. This wasn't voluntary. This wasn't 911, where firefighters and emergency workers willingly marched into danger and ended up sacrificing their lives in a tragedy situation. These people didn't have a choice in the matter. They were forced to give their lives due to a gross oversight by the communist state, while they and the rest of the world were given false information regarding the severity of the disaster. If anything, this is a grim warning of the trappings of socialism.
@@brianjones8432 The real tragedy there, is that a case could be made, that only the soviet union could solve the problem. At those levels of radiation, we don't really have robots (even today I am told) that could cope with it. And it had to be contained and cleaned up. Chernobyl was a clusterfuck, both on a state, ideological and personal level for those in leadership positions and an utterly tragic result for the people. Now was it "socialisme" or bolsivisme at fault? In some ways absolutely, though the personal responsability of those in charge of the powerplant should not be ignored! But very similar ways of thinking, and lack of safety is in the capitalistic systems 2008 is a pretty good example of that, as are the climate change problems.
@@MrBandholm "The real tragedy there, is that a case could be made, that only the soviet union could solve the problem." I totally disagree..... 911 is a great comparison. We have millions in our country who would willingly sacrifice their lives knowing full well the dangers of the situation. We have them in every line of work from the firefighters, to police officers, to medical workers. These people do this on a daily basis voluntarily, knowing full well what they are walking into. That's a stark comparison to the people that were continuously lied to during the Chernobyl incident. "though the personal responsability of those in charge of the powerplant should not be ignored!" It wasn't ignored at all.... But as the series points out very clearly, the state was too cheap to build the reactors properly, not to mention putting in the same safety measures and containment barriers the rest of the world was using at the time. Those things come from cooperation, global councils, and the meetings of the minds of multiple countries that agree that the dollar shouldn't be the bottom line, but that safety should. This is FAR less likely to happen in a free and open society than in a closed socialistic regime. "But very similar ways of thinking, and lack of safety is in the capitalistic systems 2008 is a pretty good example of that, as are the climate change problems." 2008 was a financial bubble, and actually caused by government and it's donors, not free market capitalism..... They happen, and will continue to happen as long as there is an economy. Recessions happen in every economy regardless of the governmental type. While they are painful, capitalism causes these things to rebound quickly as we are currently seeing in the US market, and free markets eventually always rally back. But this pales in comparison to a disaster such as Chernobyl. The "climate change" problems are up for debate. And again, if you really want to go down that rabbit hole, who's the biggest contributor to that problem? China....... I rest my case........
@@brianjones8432 Well you can rest you case, but on several points you are objectively wrong. 911 isn't a great comparison, for one thing the US was attacked, helping the idea of community, second, while not given, after the buildings had collapsed, the workers could be equiped with protection gear, so they would be safer. That was not the case with Chernobyl. Also while the first responders in New York did one hell of a job, their job ultimately wasn't as serious as a nuklear meltdown. Where the comparison might have some ground was the level of bravery put up by those that had to solve it, and the incompetence on some levels leading up to the cases (although the US intelligence service in no way was as bad as the leadership at Chernobyl). "This is FAR less likely to happen in a free and open society than in a closed socialistic regime."... That we can agree on. "and actually caused by government and it's donors, not free market capitalism"... It was primarily caused by the banks finding a gap and speculating in the housing market... How you makes that to a government intervention problem is a bit far streched... It was caused by gready men, working in an inperfect system, with the safety features removed... Where Chernobyl could litterally have killed a 6th of Europe, the 2008 crisis could have wiped out the entire finance system of the US... One is far more serious, but both have similar buildups. "Recessions happen in every economy regardless of the governmental type"... Recessions sure, but 2008 was not just a recession, but a near collaps, prevented by the governments... "The "climate change" problems are up for debate" No its not. The problems are there, there might be solutions, but that doesn't change that there are a problem. "China"... Sure, and India are up there as well... Both countries have more than 1 billion people... Who are second on that list? The US with a 3th of the population of China but with more than half of the same emmisions. Yet so far the only major nation that does not accept that there is a problem is the US. And btw, this is not a US or western-bashing thing, but only the point, that the USSR wasn't uniquely bad... Those traits were enhanced in the USSR system, but the west has it share as well.
Amazing television, was absolutely riveting. No exaggeration to say it was one of the most compelling things I've ever watched. This show better not get snubbed come awards time.
the best part for me as a person who lives in kyiv and who’s parents actually witnessed all of this is how much attention to the details was paid by the show makers. soviet clothes, streets, the overall feeling of the soviet life was incredibly accurate. the saddest part was that this show for the first time explained to me why the reactor blew up. and this is considering that for 8 years on the 26th of april i saw a chernobyl documentary because all of the students in ukraine are shown the documentaries about chernobyl on that day. soviet propaganda worked so well even 27 years of freedom couldn’t wash it fully off
Years of research into how good, nuclear power could be for society “Yeah but did you see the Chernobyl HBO miniseries movie.” Edit: I am not saying that the miniseries is at fault for this as many people seem to think, I’m just saying that people are misinterpreting the message of the series.
Actually if anything those who watched Chernobyl should become much more aware WHY the accident happened in the first place and thus come to realize that it didnt happen completely by accident, but because of severe issues in the Soviet system itself, all the lying, cover up, secrecy, ignorance for safety... I think Chernobyl could in fact have the opposite effect than what you are fearing.
One of the most phenomenal series I've ever seen. Studied Chernobyl closely, and it was EXACTLY what I was hoping it would be. The finale where they recount everything in court made me feel sick throughout and then the explosion, my god, my hair stood on end. That first episode had a massive job to do. But my god, it worked. I'm so happy that the show happened so that the true heroes are now immortalised and provided with a brilliant platform to tell their story!
@the missing link dramatised a bit, the female scientist didn't actually exist and was an amalgamation of loads of scientists studying it. But every major event, including the bridge over the railway, that just stunned me. Everything followed exactly as it could!
HBO must be thanked for bringuing such level of quality to the actual "entertainment" world. Despite the Got mess. This show is very important. And should be shown everywhere.
This mini series was absolutely brilliant in every way. The acting, the information, the visual stimulants, and the music blended so well together. I think the thing they did the best with this mini series was the authenticity.
One thing I loved about this miniseries is that it did often delve into the horror genre, but not in a "Boogeyman" sort of way. It feels tangible, call it "historical horror" if you will-something morbid that has actually happened in our world, but something that (if we're not careful) could definitely happen again. I don't get scared by film too easily, but there were several moments in this series that were hard to watch because of how realistic they were; the pipe maze scene, the hospital scene, the burial scene, even a lot of the political stuff... All of it was harrowing. This is easily my favorite miniseries since The Pacific.
It can't be stressed enough HOW MUCH the music adds to the tension and tone of the series. Absolutely incredible compositions with so much love for detail and atmosphere!! There's really a lesson to be learned for TV creators or filmmakers in general: GIVE YOUR COMPOSERS ROOM TO BREATHE AND OPPORTUNITIES TO SHINE AND THE MUSIC WILL ABSOLUTELY ELEVATE THE SERIES TO A NEW LEVEL!
I don’t ever say this, because perfect shows don’t exist but.... This is a perfect tv series. Not a single bad scene or episode. All gripping, horrifying, and so realistic.
Loved this, if u look closely, thos series wasn't just to show Chernobyl disaster, but also commentary on mankind. A reminder of lies we tell ourselves to hide our mistakes and their cost. Truly beautiful.
The bridge scene in the first episode........ I mean I was just sitting there like STOPPPPP while the guy picks up his baby and starts swinging her around.....
This show should be watched by every European citizen. Watch creator's speech (forgot his name), how he sees the show and message it represents. Brilliant! One of best stories ever told on tv/big screen even!
DEADWOOD, The Wire, Rome. Band of Brothers was also great but what happened to The Pacific, I knew the story already but still couldn't follow it in the mini series
The scene that scared me the most was those people and their kids standing on the bridge to get a better look at the fire, and then the ash starts falling on them, and they all catch it like snowflakes, and the children play in it. They don't think for a second that it's radioactive, and in the moment, it's beautiful to them. In the end credits it says that all the people who watched from the bridge that night died, and now the place is called the Bridge of Death.
The scene on the bridge is one of the most horrifying scenes I have ever witnessed in my entire life. Watching people dancing in graphite ash from the most heavily irradiated nuclear disaster of all time without having any idea what they're doing.
Particularly loved how they visually presented the radiation, if that's even possible. The subtle increases in brightness and contrast made the radiation almost come alive. I know ... I'm not doing a good job of explaining it :)
No you're not and guess what - it doesnt matter. We know EXACTLY what you mean because we all saw it too. Lol. That shit was creepy. I was at work trying to explain that ill feeling I got from those scenes and i just ain't have the words. The added effects of the Geiger counter just took it over the top. Brilliant direction in every episode.
*sees episode 3* okey the worst has happened *sees episode 4* you lied to me Jeremy! Also this is the first i cried out of pure frustration and anger. The moment, at the very end, i read "31 deaths" it all came back at once and felt so much anger. Also whoever made the soundtrack need a pat in the back and a kick on the nuts. That huming sound, that makes you think about the power plant, made me so fucking tense.
The plant workers that saw the exploded core reactor received as much toxicity as binge watching the entire season 8 of GOT. What a horrible way to die.
They played the Geiger counter scenes like Cameron did the motion trackers in Aliens. In daylight or darkness or water, it didn't matter, the shit was terrifying.
Even though it sound terrible, Nuclear power is the only stable clean energy source we have in the foreseeable future. In fact with only about 640 reactors world wide, it generated 10% of the entire power usage of the globe.
It is a high risk high reward for us right now. It produces way less pollution than conventional fire power plants but if it is not carefully maintained then the disaster it can bring is also very severe. With that said, I do support nuclear power but it has to be carefully monitored at all times.
Chernobyl was absolutely amazing! I have always wanted a series on Chernobyl! And it deserve it's rating. Also you hit the nail on the head it balance info with entertainment.
