You guys should do a 7th episode with Johan. Then an 8th with Stellan. Followed by a 9th with Emily...continuing in that order until the final episode with “key grip #3”
Be careful! There is exotic metals in there! When you die from Cadmium poisoning, some guy in China will have a helluva time extracting these metals from your corse.
I can't think of anything comparable to this podcast with any other TV series, in the way that it enhanced my experience of the series itself. Really well done.
Guys PLEASE watch The Terror if you want more awesomeness from Jared Harris. Great show and it kinda reminds me of Chernobyl because of how horrific and dark it is
"Let's put a nuclear reactor in a cruise missile engine. What could go wrong?" Here's to the next season of Chernobyl, Craig! May you win many awards. In all seriousness, thank you for the podcasts. It's been very rewarding to hear these notes over any other behind the scenes stuff i've seen.
radioactive isotope doesn't necessarily mean nuclear reactor. You can irradiate some elements like mercury to give them a higher energy density compared to traditional rocket fuel. So when they say radioactive isotope, it could mean an irradiated element instead of uranium/plutonium.
KingThrillgore you know, during the Cold War the US flirted with the idea of building a nuclear powered missile called SLAM and even they said “hey, this is a really bad idea”
Jared Harris put all his heart and soul into this and became his character, couldn't have done a better job in my opinion. Can see why this show won awards.
Siansonea Orande Soviet regime actually end with death of Lenin and Trotsky. You just mean a bunch of bureaucrats such as Putin who destroyed the whole country for their ambitions.
Don't worry! It will almost certainly be longer, according to the latest estimates! Perhaps 50,000 years? 100,000? There should be lots of room for creative sequels. I can hardly wait! Can you?
Thank you for this podcast...loved listening as much as i loved the show! This was a great surprise today...with the addition of the incredible Jared Harris!!!
Jared's description of the late USSR as portrayed in the show as "a corporate culture" may sound ironic or provocative, but this has been part of the critique of the USSR *from the left* for decades, it relates to the concept of "state capitalism" which I encourage ppl to look up.
Sir, I'm a hug fan of Chernobyl miniseries, i listened to all of the podcasts. They helped me a lot. I also wanted to know how the research on technology and working of the power plant was done. I'm a writer and I've taken a project which demands a research and understanding of a certain automobile factory. In your case, was it really necessary to know the in and out of the power plant (technical aspects such as working principles, processes, equipment and their working etc.)?
Bobo Momo I will never understand why Hong Kong people who were free had to honor some old piece of paper that said they had to go back and be under communist China. I would be like uh, I think not we have been free and we are not going to pay any attention to that old edict. It made me think we were living in crazy land when Hong king went to communist Chinese control because of some old agreement. I have heard the Ukrainian people like Americans. So greetings and I know you have been going through hell. I hope things get better. We Americans want you to be free. We send our love. So freedom to Hong Kong, glory to Ukraine and health to Severodvinsk! And May the American people like me who desire to stay free and other countries that yearn to be free with our same desires for our people, and the many wonderful people I have met from Europe and many countries also be free. May we all try and convince our leaders to do what is best for our world. May we triumph over evil and replace it with good.
It's the apparatchik approach to an "ok boomer" joke, bring back the things that made Russia feel like it was important. Something went wrong between the Autumn of Nations and today to bring this kind of thinking back.
Another comedy moment I loved is when Legasov felt he needed to make sure that Scherebina didn't think that the lunar rover was the same one that had gone to the moon. Pedantic scientific brain just couldn't let him leave it unconfirmed!
The HBO series was very good. I've watched a lot of Chernobyl videos over the years and read a few books about it the HBO series matched up well with what I understood to have happened.
I was hoping to hear why the fatal flaw in the RBMK reactor was altered. You don't have to explain that the control rods are half graphite moderators, and half boron control rods, and why it is designed that way. They could have said that the control rods were too short and too slow, rather than 'graphite tipped'. When the bottom of the control rod approached the bottom of the reactor, it caused a spike in reactivity, and this triggered the disaster. Interestingly, this flaw was known and ignored back in 1983.
Only a true megalomaniac would put a flying nuclear reactor on a missile. Theres a story about the Tzar who drew up the route for the trans-Siberian railway, and when he put the ruler down to draw a line he hit the tops of his fingers with the pen so now theres a section of the railway that has bends in it instead of being straight - Different time and technology, same mindset
the only disappointment i had with the whole series is i would have liked it to have been longer, and include the construction of the sarcophagus. it was epic though
@Achilleskneel As Craig Mazin clearly tells at the beginning of this podcast, there was a nuclear explosion involving a missile in Russia last year and the manner in which the Russian government handled this is eerily familiar to what happened in Chernobyl 34 years ago. Hence, history repeating itself.
The only thing that bums me out about the Emmy love this show has gotten is that When They See Us is up for a lot of the same categories. Both of those limited series were among the best media of the year for me, so it is going to be a real Sophie's choice in every category that they're competing in. But as long as one of them takes the prize in each category, I will be happy.
Such a shocking mini series and so educational. What is so scary is that what happened at Chernobyl happened again at Wuhan. What I mean is the crisis was covered up and communications restricted until the crisis blew up and was unstoppable. Almost the same story, but different crisis. That is what is so scary. What's next, I regret to ask.
couldnt agree more. i watched Chernobyl before covid was a thing, then covid nightmare years happened. i revisited randomly Chernobyl mini series just recently.... to realize we lived what they lived thru with Chernobyl, we had the same mechanism of lies in place with covid
I understand where the writer is coming from however, I would've thought he should know better being hired by big companies like HBO & Sky, woe betide telling the reader or viewer in this case, what they should take away from the product. The fact they discuss your product at all, is a blessing in itself. Bit of cheating involved as Chernobyl was there for the taking for the right person to realise it needed a modern version for a modern audience.
All throughout this interesting podcast I've been getting the feeling that Peter Sagal and Craig Mazin are one and the same voice, because to me they sound really similar. Without CCs I couldn't distinguish them. But if, by any chance, Peter does not make a perfect Jared Harris' impersonation, this podcast is actually a dialogue and not a Peter Sagal monologue - or an imaginary dialogue that took place in his head - LOL.
it's so hard for all of us who don't agree with the use of nuclear energy to keep our spirits high when all we see is history repeating itself and it is bloody radio-active history...it's difficult not to have a feeling of hopelessness...
Considering the half-life of some of that radioactive material there,... YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED! In fact, there is enough material for 47,600 seasons!
Someone should hold up a mirror. Someone has to gain from this new feud. Someone needs a new visible villain. This is The Cold War Part 2 and it will sell like hotcakes.
Djatlov was just a terrible fool. Legasov on the other hand was a threat to the system, because he found out and named the systematic errors that led to Chernobyl.
tanchella Because he was contracting the official narrative which was to blame everything on Dyatlov (the old Show Trial principle) and ignore the real problem.
There was a joke that Ronald Reagan used to tell. A man goes to buy a car in the Soviet Union, but there’s a ten-year wait list. He gives the money to the dealer, and the dealer says to come back in ten years. “Morning or afternoon?” “What do you mean, it’s ten years from now.” “Well, the plumber is coming in the morning.”
I think they should just be banned from doing anything to do with nuclear anything. And by they... Russia. They're obviously not responsible enough! If you can't learn from your mistakes then what can teach you?
Amazing show.... deserves all 19 emmies! Man, these Putinies, eh? I can't believe that shit with the missile exploding. I've been following that situation closely and am mind-blown that the same type of old guard politics is still at play! As for the explosion itself; yeah, right? Pfff. Who would have thought that shit would happen? What would they expect to happen to it on a successful deployment? What, would the reactor just pop out at mk7 and parachute to the ground, as a nuclear warhead explodes beneath it? Lol. These fuckin gopniks can't stop putting nuclear reactors on shit! Subs, planes, ice-breakers, Missiles? Their nuclear track record *EATS ASS* but they just can't stop themselves! Just slapping nuclear power on everything; Porta potty? Add a reactor. Golf cart? Add a reactor. Broom handle? Add a reactor! Jesus Fuck!
About Harris comment about people who liked "Soviet Union". He didn't get the reason. Let me quote a person born in 1925 in USSR (living in USA for 40 years now) "Some like life under Obama, some hated it. Who was right? The ones who hated or liked? If you want to start your own business and have lots of employees you would hate the Soviet Union. If you wanted to study hard and become top engineer at best schools and work on space technology, then Soviet Union was good for you because school was free and you get stipend. Even child of simple worker could do this. In Soviet Union you had guarantees. No risk of unemployment. This is big source of reduced anxiety. You would have reliance on this. Some people want more and more. Others want to live reflective life, be with family, community, slower pace, and be in solidarity with others.People say “Soviet Union had long lines.” There are worse things. Or “I had to wait 7 years for own flat.” ..It was free. " About Mazin Comment about "Cranberry". There was a lot.. just less pronounced or hateful than in most other western movies about SU: Namely. 1. Constant vodka - appears in the memoirs "from under the floor", because in the zone was banned 2. Minister of coal industry - was a stern person / former miner, no talking with miners at gunpoint 3. "Cut off all telephone lines in honor of the party" "prohibit evacuation" - this did not happen, the evacuation was carried out with the guidance of the party, carried out logistically flawlessly, in a super-short time and is a labor feat of all involved (including KGB who helped a ton). The decision was made quickly. 4. Send the engineer to the roof with a machine gunner - he went there himself. 5. To persuade people with bonuses and so on - the employees did everything themselves, were volunteers, according to the memoirs, it did not occur to them that this was not their job. 6. Legasov did not hide his cassettes, openly praised the KGB in them for really and effectively helping with communications,, resources, etc., and striving to help with everyone. He hanged himself rather because he was physically in agony due to illnesses related to his "term in the zone", could not eat, sleep, etc. 7. The evil Russian KGB did not steal secret documents stating that “our reactors are the most reactive in the world” - just a **** in the correspondence among the senior staff of the ministries / designers of RBMK after the 1975 accident and the lack of coordination between the ministries / departments, which I Ipersonally observe in ANY large organization. See Boeing falling planes, the story of the creation of Bradley, etc., etc. I can go on.. That is, a bureaucratic administrative system where people are afraid of "leaning out" (now in Russia it is the same because the same command-administrative system rules) was turned into the series "in the Soviet Union gloomy eternal 1937" in spirit, which is really not the case. I think Mazin sincerely thinks so, i.e. did not understand "from within" in the USSR having a typical-cold-war-induced look "from there" P.S. Also Chernobyl and Documentary induced global radiophobia is killing a LOT more people than any "atoms" themselves - due to inherent coal/solar farms etc. pollution en masse. See TEDx talk / research on the subject. Love to everyone from Russia.
The soviet union was the "yes-man's paradise". Just like China. Fall in line and you'll have a secure life in every aspect. Not great, but not bad either. But speak up against social injustices, corruption, chain of command and you'll be in big trouble. The government would squash you like an insect. And therefore it was not that much of an improvement over the absolutist monarchy that was in place before the 1917 revolution.
Reffering to this shock of knowing people who miss the soviet system, I would add, that it's not like countries gave up socialism one day and the next day people woke up in some wealthy capitalist paradise. System transformation was a difficult process which influenced many lives, often in a very harsh way. I'm from Poland which was a little different that USSR but also a socialist country and while being a kid I saw it here, especially in the 90', when the transformation caused a huge unemployment rates in various regions, followed by poverty, inadequately low pays and rise of crime and corruption rates. You may also notice that probably in every society there is a significant amount of people who does not care at all about politics, freedom of media, independent justice system and so on. They miss the 'old times' and the simple life they were used to, it's a psychological thing I guess.
