BURNUP - eco thriller on BBC2 this Weds & Fr at 9PM

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 23 Jul 2008, 22:35

Wow!

Good first episode .. although the mandatory love/sex scene wasn't really necessary.

It made me nervous ... even tho' I visited LATOC today.

Shame its on BBC2 ... the proles need to see this stuff too.

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 23 Jul 2008, 22:40

PS Was that methane hydrate scene real? If so ... eeek ...

leroy · Post by **leroy** » 23 Jul 2008, 22:48

I've seen them do that for real on telly before in a CC documentary in Siberia a few months ago, don't know if it can be done in Northern Canada.

Post by **clv101** » 23 Jul 2008, 23:01

Vortex wrote:PS Was that methane hydrate scene real? If so ... eeek ...

Could well have been. You need to watch Dr Iain Stewart's "Earth: The Power of the Planet"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/program ... age1.shtml

Good show tonight. Friday's looks likely to be the peak oil plot, Saudi ain't got no oil left?

energy-village · Post by **energy-village** » 24 Jul 2008, 00:37

Just watched it on the BBC iplayer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/

One episode's enough for me though; I put it on a par with ITV's 'Flood'.

It must have the most dimwitted and naive oil company chairman ever portrayed on screen! He seems like a pawn in a game being played by other people. That drive up to the northern ice to see if anything was melting was ridiculous ... followed by the predicatable roll in the sack with his 'Head of Renewables' resulting in an improbable and immediate desire to pull out of the tar sands.

Shame, I was looking forward to it. 3/10 and that's generous.

mobbsey · Post by **mobbsey** » 24 Jul 2008, 04:41

I found it hilarious: if only because I've been in meetings of earnest environmentalists explaining that what's been done on climate change/solar so far is a complete waste of time, and I too have been voted out of the meeting! I thought they captured the delusion of energy/climate as well as the truth.

Factually good, but I wish they could write a much better screenplay.

My favourite bit:

"I'm surprised that you didn't plant some weapons of mass destruction" (in Iraq).

"We did but we couldn't find them again".

"Yeah, that's believeable".

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 24 Jul 2008, 08:01

biffvernon wrote:Bother, I shall be out at a meeting of Transition Town Louth, for the first episode.

Phew, missed it. But Transition Town Louth is certainly up and running.

Vortex · Post by **Vortex** » 24 Jul 2008, 08:09

Agreed that the CEO was a total twerp ... but it was a fun yarn!

Blue Peter · Post by **Blue Peter** » 24 Jul 2008, 09:28

mobbsey wrote:My favourite bit:

"I'm surprised that you didn't plant some weapons of mass destruction" (in Iraq).

"We did but we couldn't find them again".

"Yeah, that's believeable".

Completely off-topic, but that also surprised me, in the real world.

Is the lack of planting WMD, because:

(a) "They" don't really care what anyone thinks?

(b) Because it would be too difficult to pull it off - someone would blab, they wouldn't stand up to independent scrutiny, etc.?

Peter.

leroy · Post by **leroy** » 24 Jul 2008, 09:42

Did anyone see the thing on NS oil on BBC4 about half an hour afterwards - very optimistic and somewhat misleading concerning PO, notwithstanding the 2 minutes allocated to Jeremy Leggett. I had to switch it of 5 minutes before the end as it was winding me up too much. 'Oil, Lies and something or other' I think it was called, and the 'lies' related to suggestions about the North Sea running low on supply any time soon as far as I could see. They had Apache on saying how much they had increased recoverable reserves in the Forties region since buying it from BP, and generally went on about the miracle technology that was going to keep the whole thing going. There was also a Dutch(?) chap talking about how we have got 'almost as much oil left to use as we have already'. Anyone else see it?

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 24 Jul 2008, 10:14

some Dutch chap wrote:'almost as much oil left to use as we have already'

erm...isn't that the definition of Peak? When 1/2 of it has gone??

Post by **clv101** » 24 Jul 2008, 10:17

RenewableCandy wrote:
some Dutch chap wrote:'almost as much oil left to use as we have already'
erm...isn't that the definition of Peak? When 1/2 of it has gone??

Sure - but he was talking about the North Sea.

leroy · Post by **leroy** » 24 Jul 2008, 11:17

That was the most striking thing about the programme for me: that they carefully blurred the question of global and NS peak and totally avoided mentioning the implications of a decline in supply. Cleverly done, but totally transparent if the viewer thinks about the implications. The second half focused on the leaps in technology that have been made in Scotland and how Aberdeen will be a major player in future exploration both locally and globally due to this acumen. The 'end of cheap oil' was mentioned by one engineer, but she emphasised that there was still much, much more which was 'economically exploitable' or some such phrase.

Anwen · Post by **Anwen** » 24 Jul 2008, 11:34

Overall, I quite liked it. There were some bits that were quite annoying, and i'm reserving judgement until I've seen part two, and that ruddy sex scene was just silly (though I suppose if you're the BBC and you've managed to get Neve Campbell to be in your drama, you're going to at least try to get her kit off...) but so far it was quite good.

I agree that the oil chair blokey is a bit feckless, but I think that's sort of the point - remember when his friend turns up with the giant car and says how pleased he is etc, Our Brave Hero has a moment of suspicion 'is that why I got the job??' I think he's pretty much been chosen as a malleable chap who won't ask too many questions and looks good in the literature...

Bedrock Barney · Post by **Bedrock Barney** » 24 Jul 2008, 12:12

leroy wrote:Did anyone see the thing on NS oil on BBC4 about half an hour afterwards - very optimistic and somewhat misleading concerning PO, notwithstanding the 2 minutes allocated to Jeremy Leggett. I had to switch it of 5 minutes before the end as it was winding me up too much. 'Oil, Lies and something or other' I think it was called, and the 'lies' related to suggestions about the North Sea running low on supply any time soon as far as I could see. They had Apache on saying how much they had increased recoverable reserves in the Forties region since buying it from BP, and generally went on about the miracle technology that was going to keep the whole thing going. There was also a Dutch(?) chap talking about how we have got 'almost as much oil left to use as we have already'. Anyone else see it?

Missed the drama - not my cup of tea. Did watch the BBC4 documentary though. It was one of those programmes that had me shouting at the telly. It bordered on propaganda - I'm surprised the presenter's Mini Cooper was missing a Shell logo down each side.