I just finished watching The History Channel's "Life After People," a show I've been looking forward to for a while now. I have a feeling that it was more interesting than accurate - in the way that History/TLC/Discovery programs are these days - and it was no doubt intended to exploit the interest generated by the recent glut of apocalyptic movies such as "Cloverfield", "I Am Legend," and "The Mist." But for all of that it did provide some interesting ideas that I'll be processing in the days to come.
The premise of the show is this: every human being on the planet disappears, simultaneously, overnight. Various experts, researchers, and theorists consider the fate of the planet from 1 day after the event to 10,000 years out. The visuals are a combination of documentary footage of actual abandoned structures and cities - including a fantastic segment inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone - and CGI effects of some of the world's best-known structures and cities collapsing into decay.Overall, I think the producers were pretty optimistic about how quickly Nature will reclaim even large urban centers like Chicago and Manhattan, and pretty pessimistic about how much of human civilization will survive even the first 100 or so years.
The History Channel will air an encore presentation of "Life After People" this Wednesday.
**SPOILERS**
The first fifteen minute segment of the show (covering from the first day without people to a year or so out) were pretty hard for me to watch. I have two small dogs, and all of the experts agreed that those guys will be the first to go. The ones that don't starve to death, locked inside our houses, will most likely be unable to compete successfully for food in the wild. The video for this segment kept cutting back to a family dog trapped in a suburban house, looking hopefully out the front window, drinking the meltwater from the freezer after the power shuts off, and finally tearing open a package of bread for food because, as one expert felt obliged to point out, "dogs can't open cans."
Personally, I think my favorite years are a few hundred years after people: skyscrapers are still standing, but they have been transformed into high-rise forests, with abundant wildlife including, possibly, flying cats. Yes. Flying cats. For me, that thought alone was worth the cost of admission.
**EXTRA SPOILER** About two-thirds through the first segment that dog miraculously escapes from the house. Just in time for the experts to start explaining how he won't be able to survive in the wild.
4 comments:
actually, this show is eerily similar to alan weisman's the world without us, which goes into far more detail than life after people (and is crazy good). if you're into this stuff, i'd also recommend george martin's earth abides, one of my favorite novels. it's apocalypse fiction, and sixty years old at that, but martin pays as much attention to how the natural world reacts to our near-extinction as we do.
(found your blog through flickr, by the way)
I haven't read The World Without Us but have seen several reviews of this program that reference that work. The comments seem to be either: (a) "Life After People must have been based on this book." or (b) "History Channel just ripped off that book, and didn't do a good job of it, either.
I may get around to reading The World Without Us but I'm more intrigued by your other recommendation, Earth Abides , which, Internet tells me, was written in 1949 by George Stewart. I'll have to hit the library later this week and see if they have a copy.
Thanks for the comments!
i couldn't find an "official" connection in my brief search, so i'll have to go with B.
earth abides is classified as science-fiction, but it is so thoughtful and real (to me) that i'd sooner call it alternate or historical fiction. rarely has a book gotten into my head so much, but this might say more about me than the book. hope you're able to find and enjoy it.
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