Enough with the sunken ships already

jeffbabies

While sometimes captivating when it explores lost cities or missing airplanes, this show teeters more towards sunken ship exploration 99% of the time. I waited years to finally sit down and enjoy what seemed like a great concept - and I was all in for a show about geology and geography; exploring the deepest trenches and unseen landscapes we never see. Unfortunately, this show is not that. It hasn't taught me anything I haven't already learned from other historical documentaries. Too much time is spent giving a history lesson, and then the ocean is very briefly drained. I eventually found myself skipping episodes because there are only so many sunken nazi warships and u-boats I can take before the show becomes one-note. Even an episode about the Egyptian desert someone manages to focus on mysterious boats buried in middle of the desert. Enough with the boats already. There are a few interesting nuggets - such as the underwater geography of Alcatraz and how it played a part in derailing potential escapees; the search for Atlantis and the sunken Port Royal, showing all the potential for what this show should be - but episodes like that feel few and far between. I expected a more even distribution of shipwrecks, differing world coastlines, continental shelves, coral reefs, what islands really look like with water drained away, etc. Quite frankly, this show would be more accurately titled "Draining Sunken Ships" because that seems to be the focus.

score 5/10

jeffbabies 12 March 2020

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5546154/