DVD Review: Life After People, Complete Season 1
History Channel Special Gets Repetitive When Expanded to Series
Ever wonder what would happen to the earth if people just vanished?
That was the premise of the History Channel's intriguing Life After People. The ratings were so good that the cable network ordered up a 10-episode season. But the series' underlying problem is that it feels like too much of a good thing. All the points hammered home repeatedly over the season's 10 hour-long episodes were made far more economically in the original two-hour special.
Science Used in Series Questioned
"This isn't the story of how we might vanish," intones narrator James Lurie at the start of each episode. "It is the story of what happens to the world we leave behind." But critics have questioned the science used in the series. In particular, there's the issue of specific choices producers made when there were several obvious alternative paths in the planet's evolutionary future.
Not that this isn't compelling viewing. At times it's fascinating -- until you begin to recognize the constantly recurring themes and pronouncements. The result is redundancy to distraction, despite the awesome mix of CG imagery and live action footage.
The series feeds on morbid curiosity. And like the special, the episodes are purely speculative. So to enjoy it, check all doubts at the door and let the images and narration flow over you.
Episode Segments Use Time Intervals
Each episode is divvied up into time intervals. To wit: One Day After People, One Month, One Year, 10 Years, 25 Years, 100 Years, and so on.
Ostensibly, each episode is devoted to a specific topic. But the installments often stray far from those topics and become annoyingly redundant. After all, there are only so many ways buildings will tumble over time, and few radically different scenarios for how plant and animal life will overtake cities.
And it almost seems each episode -- despite its stated title -- exists to demonstrate what happens in specific cities. So if you live in Chicago, episode two, Outbreak, is for you. New Yorkers will want to see their city fall in episode four, Heavy Metal. Political wags will want to see episode three, The Capital Threat.
The series breaks down like this:
Episode One: The Bodies Left Behind. This is supposed to be about the ultimate fate of museum mummies and cryogenically-frozen bodies. But like the overall series, this episode is scattershot. We see the fate of the historic U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironsides") in Boston Harbor; art masterpieces including the Sistine Chapel; century-old huts in Antarctica; the International Space Station, and so on. Like many episodes, this one features a real-life abandoned place and how it has fared after people. In this case, it's Hashima Island, off Japan, abandoned in 1974.
Episode Two: Outbreak. Chicago is the episode's Ill-Fated Location of the Week. We see how the Chicago River's artificial controls backfire, flooding the city. We also watch as the friendly confines of Wrigley Field are overrun by wild brickthorn, obliterating the quaint ivy on the outfield wall. In a visit to Gary, Indiana -- this episode's Hashima Island -- we see how deserted neighborhoods are already falling down, as if man already was long gone.
Episode Three: The Capital Threat. For Washington, D.C., this episode is All Decay! All Flooded! All Decrepit! Watch in wonder as the Capitol Dome, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and even the Constitution itself essentially die right before your eyes.
Episode Four: Heavy Metal. In New York City, we see what happens to a huge cache of gold bullion stored in a pristine vault. There's also the morbid pleasure of seeing the subways flooded (a repeat of footage from the original special) as the Chrysler Building and the Brooklyn Bridge come down. This episode's Hashima Island is Ryelite, Nevada, a former Death Valley gold mining town abandoned in 1910 and now headed toward rubblehood.
Episode Five: The Invaders. Phoenix and Miami get the once-over. As Burmese Pythons overtake the everglades and beyond, dust storms and disaster await the desert capital of Arizona. The invaders of the title are insects and other various vermin.
Episode Six: Bound and Buried. Highlights include the fate of the Mona Lisa, the Declaration of Independence, the Liberty Bell and San Francisco's cable cars, among others.
Episode Seven: Sin City Meltdown. Las Vegas loses its biggest bet -- about its own survival. The majestic hotels on the Strip disappear and a new rat pack takes over. Ring-a-ding-ding. Meantime, you should see what happens to Atlantic City. Not a pretty sight.
Episode Eight: Armed and Defenseless. A study of what happens to the world's war arsenals, including the nightmare fate of a sunken nuke missile.
Episode Nine: The Road to Nowhere. The show goes to Detroit, which, contrary to what you may have heard, still exists today. We see what happens to the suddenly Motorless City, plus a peek at the death of cars, planes and roads. You want to see an oil refinery erupt? This is your episode. Top of the world, ma!
Episode Ten: Waters of Death. Think New Orleans had it bad after Katrina? Think again. Also, there are visits to Seattle to see the Space Needle return to earth and to Dubai, where all those shiny high-rises don't look so nice after a few years.
The three-disc set from A&E Television Networks, distributed by NewVideo, has a suggested retail price of $34.95. It is available Oct. 27, 2009.
Seattle's Space Needle teeters in humanless future
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Film & TV
Latest Articles