"Perfect Disaster" (Season One)

What looked like the only season produced and released on DVD, this docu-drama will teach all there is about Nature's biggest disasters on Earth.

Before I begin, here is the episode list for each DVD:

Disc A: Super Tornado, Solar Storm
Intro slogan: "A lot of people will not survive."

Disc B: Super Typhoon, Mega Flood
Intro slogan: "The destruction will be on a scale that you and I have never seen before." / "Perhaps you should press for an evacuation."

Disc C: Fire Storm, Ice Storm
Intro slogan: "The heat may soon be the least of our worries." / "The power is down everywhere."

Close to about an hour and a half total provides a DVD set looking to puncture souls with the likelihood of the perfect formations of natural disasters, acting as a parasite to invade your spines in what we, as humans, are reminded that other than death and taxes, one thing we undergo is surely certain in this life: suffering. You don't have to be religious to ask why suffering is here to stay. If other fellow, yet nihilistic, ill-fated, humans don't cause suffering, who's/what's left? I'd say it's Nature.

What have we done to Nature? Is she going through mid-life crisis? What is she telling us? That's what this excellent docudrama Perfect Disaster is bringing to us. How do we act up against a Super Tornado that measures 300+ miles wide? If your beloved cell phone, computers, even refrigerators and other electrically-required items you hold so dear stopped working, will you manage to live without them? Sure, it's easy to sit pretty on the other unaffected side of this planet, but because of death risks thanks to natural disasters, knowing that we ourselves can't group together to fight and eliminate these monsters, our only method to deter Nature's anger is defense.

So what would the biggest disaster look and feel like, and how deep will that scar be to humanity? Scientists know it's too immense, thus clocking at just a matter of when and the initiative to partake in serious preparation. Don't kid yourselves: are we humans living on the right planet?

DISC A:

On Super Tornado, features another nice day in Dallas, until something unusual happens in the weather. Winds pick up, clouds pile in and heat and dry air aren't getting along, casting the vertical cylindrical vortex of death. A man makes a decision whether to save Dallas or his family, and being that the tornado is over 300 miles wide, it'll cover Dallas "from one end to the other," says Tim Marshall—Tornado Expert and Engineer. The damage: two hospitals, forty-four schools, three stadiums and thirty-five thousand homes. This is said to be the greatest disaster to strike Texas, with the tornado's path leaving a huge scar visible from space.

The acting and the timing of the tiny discrepancies throughout the story are excellent. The presentation and inputs from the experts worked extremely well, leaving the viewer to think briefly about the strange phenomenon, then transitioning onto the graphical animation of the diagram further explaining the cause of such situation. As Marshall explains, tornadoes don't just appear; there's a setup. With the right ingredients, wind conditions and the timing as to when the super tornado builds during the day/evening, torture is just minutes away. You also learn about the Fujita Scale—a level of measurement calculating the strength and diameter of the tornado. An F6, or the super tornado, marks as the strongest. By this time, I'm sure Dallas is already aware.

Being the very first episode on the first DVD, this is most well presented episode I've seen.

It's 2013 folks, and mostly everything is easier when done online! Unfortunately, today's kids won't be able to live through a speck of what the technologically dry days were like, when I was a kid. Suppose they do, thanks to a devastating solar storm, how will they manage? Answer: they won't; everyone won't. Humanity will collapse greatly, being that we take electricity for granted. Hello, Stone Ages.

It's November 18th, 2011 (hah!) and an unidentified object crashed onto earth and landed in Brooklyn, New York. Experts realize it's nothing they've ever seen but suddenly find out only raging solar activity from the Sun could've caused this. Consequence? Burned out electricity, causing a worldwide blackout from communication systems to consumer electronics rendering useless. The mayor of New York and all authorities undergo the one decision that'll dictate their careers for good: take the threat lightly with lives at risk, or gamble with a controlled blackout—shut electricity down on purpose—with millions of dollars in ashes.

The dramatization, compared to Super Tornado, was rather average. The transition from the story to the input of the experts' say seemed lop-sided and timing didn't feel right, sequentially. However, all the information was there. You learn about the ACE Satellite which is a device that measures the polarity of the coronal mass ejection—CME—spewed from the Sun and, the actual strength of our planet's magnetosphere. The solar storm, if action had not been taken, will burst power stations and transformers—those bucket-looking receptacles hanging on electrical towers you see on sidewalks and streets (had the controlled blackout taken place, it would take an hour until it's fully shut down) And suppose it did strike Earth, what happens? It'll take two years, which will feel like a lifetime, to replace the transformers. New transformers go to the highest bidder, leaving poor countries nearly a decade to recover. The acting was excellent as well, but it was just the sequential inputs of the graphical animation. It wasn't as fluid as it was on Super Tornado. Other than that, it was a fairly good episode.

Oh, and being that solar activity was predicted to happen in 2011, when's our next warning? We survived that, so any natural occurrences, besides the asteroids driving close to Earth, should be placed out there immediately.

DISC B:

If you thought Florida, most of the East Coast and down in Louisiana had to brace for hurricane season, many here in the US wouldn't imagine the bigger threat awaiting its growth of the circular demon measuring over 600 miles wide with winds flying at more than 200MPH, with seas levels rising as you're reading this. And that threat keeps Hong Kong on high alert as the seasons change. Because of that, you learn why Hong Kong has the most strict architectural rules placed on its buildings, having their workers frequently check its strength and stability. Experts say that a typhoon—Typhoon Vipa—that surpasses Northern Philippines and Taiwan is a signal that typhoon unlike any other. Being a city so heavily populated, a typhoon this disastrous would cost millions of lives and rebuilding costs with one of the largest price tags in the world. Not only would Hong Kong be at risk for a direct hit but a change in wind direction, the biggest fear among climatologists, could enable the typhoon to strike them twice. To add insult to injury, Hong Kong would need preparation for landslides. According to the narrator, the heavy rains from the typhoon will drop so much water, it'll be equivalent to four Olympic swimming pools pouring at Hong Kong every second.

The acting was so-so, but if you look at the credits, Annie Soho had a stunt double, to cover for some of the motorcycle scenes. Other than that, like Super Tornado, it takes place at Hong Kong's observatory laying down plans and sending out warnings to the entire city. The vendors themselves all braced together for the storm, closing their street shops and keeping the items in tact despite it becoming a weapon if caught by strong winds. The graphical animations diagramming the scenario was okay, though at times it would transition in and out somewhat infrequently.

Despite the good dramatizations, it was okay. All the information was there but the episode itself could've been a little better. This is the shortest episode of this season.

Speaking of water-related tragedies, London, England has a lung-filled threat of their own. Instead of bullet-fast winds piercing through its path, it's the Mega Flood and it's not any softer compared to water-elemental threats like typhoons. Ocean water pressures become violent depending on the storm and the excessive absorption of air/moisture. It then circulates based off of the Earth's rotation. To make matters worse come Spring Tide—the gravitational pull from the Moon's alignment with the Earth to its oceans, causing a much larger 'bulge' of water. Since there was a brief reference to New Orleans' levees failing during Hurricane Katrina, the same failure might occur with Thames' gates, built to protect the city from floods. As soon as the flood hits, it's actually England's Prime Minister to decide for evacuation. Being atop from the flood is a must, but if anyone does fall into a sewage hole, filled with contaminated yet cold water, your chances of surviving approach zero.

Though the story looks a bit similar to Super Tornado, this time the wife, Kirsty being the main character, becomes the one juggling the odds of the upcoming threat being an actual mega flood. However, a few of her colleagues think it's too outrageous, and that "England will be okay." The story seemed a little dragged out in the middle, as decisions being laid out are being tossed back and forth. This may bore some viewers. However, things turn terrifying when Kirsty's husband Doug and daughter Alice struggle to save her as the flood invades the city. As for the animated diagrams, all the information was there but it was hard to tell when they'll present the diagram; it didn't look consistent at all, in terms of editing. It's almost if they produced the entire episode forgetting that because this is a TV show, they had to gradually fade out to commercial, then fade back in afterward.

Other than that huge flaw, this was another average episode along with Super Typhoon. Could've been better certainly but being that floods are often a forgotten phenomena, I learned a lot.

DISC C:

Now that you've had enough water, it's time to dry up. Known for having the thinnest ozone layer in the atmosphere, makes [Sydney] Australia an open oven. Sure, lots of people enjoy a warm breeze especially at the beach. Only question left is how much heat can you withstand before skin burn becomes concerning? Sydney isn't laughing about that—firestorms can wipe out the city which sits at the edge of the continent, disabling options on where to escape (other than the usual evacuations).

When I think fire storms, I think of a flame-spinning tornado. It's just that. Signs take place beginning with strange weather patterns occurring two years prior, one of them a Dry Storm—where ice forms at the highest atmosphere falling as rain, but the ground is so hot and dry that the rain evaporates before it hits the ground. The more the clouds accumulate, the more the ice particles strike each other to create lightning, striking hard enough to start a fire. According to the narrator, the lightning bolts are hotter than the surface of the Sun.

I once informed my friends with a little quote I wrote myself: "Sometimes it's not just Life. It's other people who are liable to make things unfair for you." (Provide credit where due, please.) When it comes to fire, Nature isn't always to blame. That's right: about 90% of fires are ignited by arson. And if you're a park ranger, you know trouble is waiting on the wings when one of the folks camping are either smoking or starting a campfire. Once the flames begin, unless taken out immediately, it will to mature like a newborn child growing into a man/woman. Thanks to the evaporation of flammable molecules released by eucalyptus trees, the types found in Glendale Park, the fires spread very easily. How to stop it? Lots of water...and another fire. Absolutely. The flames drive faster uphill but slower downhill and to stall the flames before spreading is to burn the trees in which the fires are approaching, leaving the flames to die out. Because you're "fighting fire with fire," it doesn't work well. In fact, the biggest fear among firefighters: crown fire. A crown fire is started when flames clothe a tree towering above it. As the winds pick up, the crown fire then lodges and burns atop other trees, like lit candles. It is the crown fire which begins the maturity of the child flames. Like Super Typhoon, if the wind changes direction, the crown fires can pile up creating a massive, large fire front and burning everything in its path, like a steamroller. The massive front can create an area called the "Dead Man's Zone," where any firefighters trapped in such area have little to no time to outrun the fire front, making these flames unstoppable. According to one firefighter, the fire fronts "sound like a locomotion;" that must be really loud. Suddenly, Glendale Park's heart-wrenching fear has come true: another fire front forms to meet up with the other. Complying with the laws of physics, these two fronts clash ascending in the atmosphere towering over 1,200 miles tall, and at over 3,600 degrees, the child flames become an adult able to live on its own with winds causing the combined fronts to circulate, just like a tornado. As noted by the narrator, the energy released from firestorms are equivalent to 30 Hiroshima bombs. However, the clouds generating from this raging heat becomes so large—Pyrocumulus clouds—and the edge of the Earth becoming so cold, rain finally gives way taking out all the flames. "What Nature started, in the end, Nature can stop."

The acting and story were very good, making this a memorable episode right up there with Super Tornado. The graphical diagrams were much better in terms of transitioning in and out.

I'd say this was a much better episode since the first. All the information is there and it's a true classic. Very well made.

With hot fever out of the way, now comes the cold. Montreal, Canada is so used to snow that having to brace for an ice storm would turn the city into a barren, ice-filled ghost town. And no, the regular hooded coat and snow boots isn't enough.

Warm weather fronts, from the Gulf of Mexico, are responsible for locking in the cold front coming from the absolute north as the warm front overrides the cold. As the warm front produces snow atop its atmosphere, it liquifies then gets cold again falling through the cold front. It produces a very cold liquid that whatever it lands on, the liquid freezes into ice. In continuation of opening up Montreal's wound, the warm air continues to stroll from the Gulf of Mexico, where cyclonic weather patterns, holding moisture, have enough to cast its own ice storm, thus bringing all this to fall in the trapped cold front (the cause of Montreal's natural location). All these elements can also cut off communication and lose power in the city, making the city look like a war zone. However, during one expert's explanation, Mrs. Wilson is fast asleep! This is a sign of life and death: as the cold invades the area, it too invades the immobilized human body. The blood rushes to the heart and lungs to remain warm—a phenomena that saves many from hypothermia, which causes decrease in heart rate, breathing and blood pressure. If the body continues to cool, the brain dysfunctions warning the body to opening up vessels of the blood to rush to the body parts that require warmth. However, this warmth fools many people because the brain and muscles are too cold to work making one feel lazy and highly fatigued. If the body is too cold, it gives up, thus leading to a deadly sleep (comatose). Surprisingly, more people die from fire and carbon monoxide poisoning in attempt to keep warm than those who have frozen to death. The ice has taken its toll to the point where power lines require a shut down to preserve any leftover energy needed to provide those whose lives are at risk, mainly for hospitals. However, as the freezing rain continues to fall, it also continues to break off more electrical towers, like dominoes. With little electricity left, especially ones needed for hospitals, the only thing left is to knock off ice on the electrical towers...by hand. Otherwise, any sign of miracles are the only thing left to save folks at Montreal. And that's ultimately the scary part of this disaster.

The story and acting were good, though I would've liked to see more. Other than that, I enjoyed it. The graphical diagrams and transition to fade out could've been better on some parts but overall, this was a great episode. It'll propel you to take out the heater and warm up but it's no jolly Christmas season. According to Lori Graham, weather presenter for CTV, when asked about the ice storm, she said, "It's all about community." Though I understand the work of saving each other, it mystifies me a bit: would an ice storm, costing lives and money, be essential to get people to work and develop acquaintanceships with each other, or make the weather just enough posing minimal threats and go on with our own lives not caring about the concern for others?

With great acting, a good story, excellent narration and beautiful CGI graphics, make this the perfect docudrama that actually works. As great as the shows are in the Discovery Channel, this one marks as my favorite series. Only question left, being the DVD set was released in 2006, is when will Season Two arrive? I love to see a second season, witnessing the likelihoods such phenomena and how humans are able to cope, fight off and/or prevent nature's destruction, such as Asteroids, Comets and Super Volcanoes to name a few.

For those who are strict about video formats, this is presented in widescreen. However, it fooled me thinking it was true widescreen where in truth, it's a standard 4:3 letterboxed. This is going to upset a lot of people, but I'd thought I'd bring that just in case. Also, this three DVD set has become quite rare nowadays. Discovery Channel has now packaged this series on season one of Storm Chasers, so be on the lookout and shop carefully for it.

For those who are philosophical about our longevity here on Earth, those aspiring to be meteorologists/climatologists and/or those wanting to learn about natural disasters in the form of docudramas (documentary integrated in cinematic drama), this is an excellent series to have. You will learn a lot, and I promise you on that. Despite the flaws needed to become an excellent series, I still pop this onto the DVD player and enjoy this brilliant show. Beautiful work, Discovery Channel. Thus, I leave you with this quote:

"More than fear for personal safety, I felt a growing apprehension for all of us living on a planetary crust so fragilely afloat atop such terrible heats and pressures. Never again, it came to me then and remains with me to this day, would I regain my former complacency about this world we live on."
— Rowe Findley, writer for National Geographic
(quoted by John Gribbin in his book Planet Earth: A Beginner's Guide, 2012 ed, p.110. Our review of this book can be found here.)

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog made back in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming (software development) and video production, Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, playing old video/DOS games, digital video archiving, and listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

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