The Terror - BBC2 starts tuesday 3 March 2021 - thriller with starry cast - week by week no spoilers please!

[stumbledin]

Previously shown on ??? now available for those of us who cant afford a subscription service!

Based on true story of 19th Century expedition to find the North West Passage.

Supernatural? Gothic?

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0954ks6

I'm sure I read the book and really enjoyed it. Will watch on catch up and come back to thread.

I quite enjoyed this but for the wrong reasons!

Didn't like any of the characters but was fascinated by the scenery, costumes, set designs and so on.

So didn't really follow the plot (I have know the story) and they were mumbling or the usual bad recordings.

How come they still had food having been stuck in the ice for so long?

Is what they did at that time any madder than us sending people into space in tin cans. Trying to plough through ice in wooden(?) ships?

Oh yes - and have to say the same as with sci fi films really board at this obsession or turning everything into a horror movie.

So didn't really follow the plot (I have know the story) and they were mumbling or the usual bad recordings.
I put the subtitles on.

I also wondered how much food they had on board.

You are probably right about sub titles but you would like to hear the words said to get the feelings behind them!

I cant hear or see a thing! I know it's meant to add to the atmosphere but I'm struggling! I have read the popular fiction book and Michael Palins book on Erebus.
They were supposed to have food to last three years but it was badly canned and either rotted or was lead poisoned.
I think the bigger question is why did they apparently starve/freeze to death when their is evidence they had contact with indigenous people,who they could have sought help from to survive?

Arrggghhh I can’t believe I missed this 🤦🏻‍♀️ I love the book! It inspired a long term love of arctic exploration

I no longer remember the exact figures, but explorations took years, and they provided accordingly. Something like 3 years for all hands on full rations and 5 years plus on minimal rations I think. Supplemented by hunting when possible.

AAaarrghh I’m an idiot 😭

They had rations for three years and that's why despite lots of pressure from lady Jane Franklin,they waited three years to begin searching.
But going by the recent written and Inuit spoken findings it seems they only lasted about a year on the ships before abandoning them to try to trek across land.
Did they deliberately scuttle the ships when they did this? It's still fascinating.

It's on iplayer. I watched the entire series. To be honest preferred the book which I genuinely found chilling(no pun intended)

When I watch historical dramas like this I am never sure whether the representation of attitudes etc., are accurate or more what other dramas have told us they were!

But yes it is hard to fathom the decisions taken. Obviously some is because there was so much they just didn't know, but also some must have been about preserving a "correct" attitude.

And maybe if they hadn't been so hostile to the indigenous population they could have survived by asking for help. And even asking the obvious question do you know where the North West Passage is.

Sort of reinventing the wheel on a grand scale.

Makes you worry what might happen on Mars if in fact it turns out there is a life form happily existing in some way, and humans turn up and say we'll show you how it should be done!

One of the reasons why Roald Amundsen was so successful as an explorer was that he was willing to learn from the indigenous people when sailing the North West Passage. His boat (Gjoa) was frozen in for at least one winter, and there's a place in Canada called Gjoa Haven as a result. He applied what he learned to his South Pole expedition five or so years later. The British tended to look down on 'native' ways, ignoring the fact that the people who traditionally lived there would best know how to survive.

@MrsBerthaRochester

It's on iplayer. I watched the entire series. To be honest preferred the book which I genuinely found chilling(no pun intended)

I’m heading for iplayer as I type, thank you 😊

I normally ok, always prefer the book to the tv/film adaptation, but I’m really interested to see what they did with this, it’s one of my favourites.

I watched the last episode broadcast yesterday.

So is this all about "karma". ie nature paying back those who do wrong. ie stupid stuffed shirt captain meets dreadful end (only the english would bury a leg!) but the young woman left orphaned has a seal delivered to the door of her ice house* to help keep her alive!

• would have loved to have seen her building the ice house, so neat and done on her own.

There were two episodes last night and I nearly gave up half way through the first one, because the recording of voices is just abysmal.

And I think I missed a vital plot development.

So turned on the subtitles, but on my tv they are really distracting as they use different clours to show that different characters are speaking, and it was a bit like a naf 70s music video.

They dont do that for foreign language sub titles.

Also not really condusive to empathy for all those falling apart.

And I dont know how big polar bears are in real life but the vague image shown made it look as tall as house!

I think this might have worked better as maybe a 2 hour film.

Would have liked that with a little side panel showing on a map how far away they were from places of importance and also showing places where indigenous were not only living but walking to travel and hunt.

It was too gory for me!

Is anyone still watching - I have lots of questions!

I'm watching but not sure I am understanding. Real problems with how being talking are being recorded. Some are so soft.

I am watching it for the recreation of the ships, clothes and loads of other details.

But am concerned it is just going to turn into a horror movie. Which would be boring.

So not sure how much I can help with a question. (I am very bad at remembering charcters names which doesn't help!)

@stumbledin I think that's the problem - there are so many characters and I'm having problems keeping track of them all. I'm now watching it for the second time around and picking up more but still there are gaps.

Where are you up to with the watching week by week? Have they just screened episode six?

Hi New Model Army! I am up to 7 as one week they only showed one episode, but usually its two, ie last night was 6 & 7.

Because of the bad recording of voices I have not tried too hard to remember everybody but just sort of go with the evolving situation.

But I do think with so many charcters it is hard to understand where they are coming from, or how much it is to do with their situation, as obviously there isn't time to do every back story.

I have occasionally looked at some web sites but its a difficult to avoid spoilers as it was first shown in 2018 (I think).

This just shows the main characters - with pictures! - www.bt.com/tv/drama/the-terror-cast-characters-jared-harris-tobias-menzies-ciaran-hinds

This has a summary of each episode the-terror.fandom.com/wiki/Season_1#Episodes

As does the wikkipedia entry en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_(TV_series)#Season_1_(2018)

But I dont think any of these links look into the characters themselves.

We started watching one episode per night this week so should be on episode 4 tonight. We're quite enjoying it but like others I'm worried it's going to end up in the realms of sci-fi/horror. I've found it very atmospheric with the almost total white-out contrasting with the very dark uniforms, there's something very eerie about the tall hats the higher ranks wear. Re; the supernatural element I wonder if it could be that some of the men are being poisoned by the off food/lead tins mentioned and if they are "going mad/hallucinating" rather than there actually being a supernatural force iyswim? I'm impressed by how many amazing actors have been cast, it's like any half decent British male actor I've ever seen in anything else is in it even with no speaking part. We've been playing a bit of "spot the stuff" ie who's going to die next! Thanks for the thread.

the almost total white-out contrasting with the very dark uniforms (and moods). I think it was episode 7 I was watching last night when this really struck me. The starkness of the white/bright vs dark contrast is central to their unravelling, don't you think?

I don't think I've ever seen Jared Harris in anything previously but I love his portrayal of Crozier as an all-round good egg (but flawed) who seems to come into his own once Franklin has died. The tougher the going the more he steps up to the challenge to my mind. And Goodsir is a very sympathetic character too. I don't warm to FitzJames at all (nor to Franklin).

But understanding the hierarchy of the officers and men (and how the Marines fit in) confuses me no end.

But I keep losing track of the characters' fates (realising that I'm not as good at concentrating on just the one thing as I used to be!).

I have now just finished watching this.

Watched the first two episodes with my 13 nad 16 year old before I realised that the educational aspect was not going to make up for the horror / trauma of it all so have said: 'sorry, no more' to them and finished it off myself.

I think the horror / Tunbaac aspect of it was overdone and took away from a story that had enough 'natural' horror in it anyway.

The men would have hallucinated from lead poisoning and then starvation, quite apart from the mental rigours of depression and anxiety about being stuck in a wilderness with little chance of escape.

It beggars belief that the British didn't accept help from the indigenous people they met. But I guess it was set around 1840/50 and times were different but that part of it is hugely depressing.

I'd be interested to know how much of it is factual re the characters and how much of it is supposition? Hickey for example? Goodsir?

There was an exhibition down in Greenwich, I think, which includes some of the items recovered when the ships were found which I was thinking of taking the kids to but I don't know if it's still on?

It's the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and the remains of Harry Goodsir are there!

I don't think I've ever seen Jared Harris in anything previously but I love his portrayal of Crozier as an all-round good egg (but flawed) who seems to come into his own once Franklin has died.

Jared Harris is immense in Chernobyl. As is Adam Nagaitis who plays Mr Hickey.

I’ve never been much interested in this kind of thing but I really enjoyed the programme and definitely want to visit the museum now!