The Terror

This is a fictionalization of Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to find the northwest passage through the Arctic in 1845-1848. He has two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, filled with the latest technology. Captain Francis Crozier (Jared Harris) piloted the Terror and led the expedition after the death of Franklin (Ciarán Hinds).

This is a very good ten episode limited series. When I first heard about this series, I feared the portrayal of the native population as the villains of the story. Historically, Lady Franklin with supporter Dickens had made the natives savages while disputing the report from explorer John Rae. It would have been tragic to continue that old colonial attitude. While this has some supernatural elements, the drama is the crew itself. There is a great villain and a very tense story. The outcome is not in doubt but the journey is fascinating. The isolated atmosphere is strangely haunting. There is harrowing action. There are great characters and more importantly, there are great actors. This is a good little surprise from AMC.

ADD: Apparently, its original success allowed the show to turn from a limited series to an anthology series. The second season has new showrunners and a ghost story about the WWII Japanese-American internment. I like the unique Japanese culture. I like the moment in time. It has a feel of a mixture of the J-horror and a modern slasher horror. It does meander a bit and the story would probably be much more compelling in a shorter span. It's a step down from the first season.

The first season was atmospheric, a constant sense of foreboding and hopelessness permeated by and air of creepiness. The acting and casting was spot on and the season evolved really nicely.

Enter season 2. BORING !!!!!

Slow paced, mediocre acting, shallow cast. The story line is a little thin, the supernatural element tries to communicate intended suspense, but comes across very bland. Even the limited make up and special effects are poor.

By the time they add a tragic element to the supernatural element, it simply pours water on an ember that was barely smouldering anyway.

It may be a wonderful drama to some and some will harp on about the books.....

30 minutes into episode 8 of season 2 and i don't think I can be bothered anymore!

Going into the series with no expectations or impressions from the novel, and barely reading about the series at all before binge watching it, i was expecting a high paced master and commander type of series. And while it's set in roughly the same time period, it's unlike anything i was expecting. It's quite suspenseful and chilling. Much thanks to the great acting, casting and details. The ambient soundtrack (R.I.P Marcus Fjellström) is fantastic and really helps with the eerie feeling. There were some moments it made me feel really at unease. Right up there with the top series for sure. Well worth a watch.

The first season of "The Terror" is superb. I binge watched it over three nights and I regard it as essential viewing. There are many great reviews here so I won't bother with much detail but it is brilliant TV. Marvelous characters and a great story set in the eerie Arctic. However, I must say the second season is a completely different story that is poor viewing and is so bad that you should simply give it a miss. So as far as ratings go, season one deserves 10/10 and season two barely deserves 2/10, but the first season is so good it makes the average 9/10.

I'm a massive fan of the novel and, two episodes in, I'm a massive fan of this show.

They needed to spend A LOT of money on this to make it work, and I think they did. The actors are great, the costumes are excellent, the sets are mostly convincing and the pacing is just about right.

Although there are already some major differences to the novel, I think the changes were mostly due to the transference to a visual medium, so I am happy to forgive them.

I'm looking forward to the rest of this series.