Burn Up

Take a likable cast and put them in a dull political thriller that never really works. That is pretty much all there is to say about 'Burn Up', a show that aired in the UK in 2008.

I like Neve Campbell, I think she's underrated, but this role does nothing for her. Bradley Whitford certainly knows his way around a political drama, after his 7 year stint on 'The West Wing', but even he manages to be utterly flat here.

A bit of a flop sadly.

I can understand why a lot of viewers tuned out after the ponderous first episode, but it is a shame, as the second instalment ratcheted the tension up nicely. The drag on the story was not the the weight of polemic, so much as the human interest elements; these had some relevance in setting up character motivation and building plot, but it was impossible to care about Rupert Penry-Jones bland corporate man or Neve Campbell's simpering environmental do-gooder. Also the ending depended a lot on our accepting the relationship between Penry-Jones and Bradley Whitford, but the background to this was never explained.

The environmental scenarios in the storyline were certainly credible, the political aspects perhaps less so. The rival lobbyists played by Bradley Whitford and Marc Warren did not seem rooted in any recognisable political power structure, and it is to the credit of both actors that the characters came to life as more than two dimensional cyphers. The depiction of big oil was perhaps simplistic. Not all in the industry are opposed to Kyoto; outside of the US at least, it is seen as a commercial opportunity. The likes of BP and Shell do not particularly care what energy agenda Governments adopt so long as they send out clear signals and stand-by them, enabling investments to be planned with minimal risk. US intransigence on Kyoto is driven more by a lack of political will to tackle the average voter's seeming belief that it is their God-ordained right to consume a vastly disproportionate share of the planet's resources.

The plot reverberation with thunderous force of oil politic. The script was gift to the cast who seemed to be enjoying the opportunity to convey the serious message and the message was all too prophetic. Frighteningly prophetic consider the script was written some years earlier. If you read "Carbon Wars" by Jeremy Leggett you will learn that the politics of climate summits is all too real and you'll appreciate that anything published ever by the IPCC is diluted dribble and at least 10 years behind the real consensus of honest scientists and heartfelt politicians.

One key message it drives home at the finale moment (that maybe I should have realised before now) is that many US citizens really believe their country will survive or maybe have an overall benefit from climate change. So whilst much of the rest of planet will suffer greatly they have no need to sacrifice there living standard. "Six Degrees" by Mark Lynas tells us that another beneficiary will be Russia, but they risk getting invaded by China for their oil and expanded cultivatable farmland. And so the other key message in the programme's is that climate change and oil shortages could spark world war three.

If you live in Europe may not need to worry so much unless - you are under 25. But don't buy a less then 2 meters below sea as it may depreciate in value as the populace becomes more aware of the future risks.

This was a great drama with rich dialogue that I could watch again several times. That's the test of a good TV production, the 'watch it again' score.

How is it that in a world where David Simon can give us The Wire - and in doing so fundamentally alter my perception about how the world works, without EVER making me feel like I'm being preached to - the world's biggest broadcaster can give us such a ham fisted, drama school production? OK, so, let's be honest, with a few exceptions (cracker remains one of the best dramas ever made) British drama is dire at the best of times. But this? It turns out that oil is bad, don'tcha know? Oh and the oil companies (and in fact all corporate entities) are only interested in profits. And global warming is ... this'll shock ya ... a bad thing ...

When Michael Moore makes a documentary he wears his heart on his sleeve, he admits, even embraces his bias. Al Gore made a little movie that had a point to make and made it by ... well ... telling it like he saw it.

The folks behind this 'drama' decided that they should create (in the broadest possible sense of the term) a work of fiction because, obviously, that would convince us where documentaries had failed.

Except I don't believe the drama, the dialogue is part exposition, part school text book, part ... well, mostly actually, poor. The characters are cardboard cuts outs with all the light and shade of a thing that has no light and shade at all, and the story? Let's just say it makes the da Vinci code look WELL written. (Can you believe it?) Bottom line, the first job of drama is to engage my emotion and my intellect with the story and the ... here's a shocker ... drama. Engage me and I might let ya preach a bit, I might not even notice until it's too late if you do it well and I'm invested in the story enough by the time your agenda becomes clear. But If all you're gonna do is preach to me, without character, humour or a real feel for real people then I'm just gonna get angry ...

So angry, I'm gonna write a polemic of my own even while the awful first part of your 'drama' plays in the background.

Now. Go watch The Wire, watch West Wing, watch Rescue Me ... Watch (and I know this is gonna be hard to believe but TRUST ME) Battlestar Galactica ... ALL of those shows have an agenda, all of them have an opinion, all of them want to challenge the way I look at the world.

None of them managed to actually make me want to go out and burn a barrel of oil just out of spite and in protest against your appalling, unwatchable 'drama'.

Post Script: Just forcing myself to watch Ep2 of the UK 2 Ep version. Like the Italian designer said when walking around a truly awful 1970's UK car ... "Unbelievable, it' the same THIS side."

Not sure I excepted anything more, but I hoped ...

Sadly, part two is just as awful as part one, only more so because it's another 90 minutes I'll never get back.

There's an old industry saw about 'messages' and Wells Fargo. I don't subscribe. At its best drama can contain insight and inspiration and can create the lever by which the world is moved.

Drama can do that. This drama did not.

I thought this was an excellent mini-series. It certainly managed to hold my attention. It was well acted with no notable exceptions. It was well paced, relevant, and frighteningly believable. I cannot say I know anything about this prior to catching it on TV, and I really don't have the background to suggest how factually accurate any aspect of this might be, but it certainly is an eye-opener and a possible starting place for people to become interested in the global politics and economics surrounding the existing establishment and the impact and importance of climate change and environmental awareness.

This sort of program is what I have been expecting a move towards in a supposedly educated, modern world. I honestly think individuals fail to realize the power they have in todays society. The ability for any of us individually or collectively have our voices heard in a global forum via television, and in more recent times, the internet, is something we all conveniently manage to forget in our own personal pursuit of entertainment. Programs like this use the oft wasted resources not only to entertain, but to engage us, and even help to educate us to the fragile nature of the world we have helped to forge. At the end, we get to back to our self-indulgent lifestyle, but perhaps feeling a bit more consciously aware of our own silent participation and perpetuation of the status quo. I believe this mini-series challenges us to face the facts by confronting us with the cold reality that no matter what the ultimate reason ends up being, things will not just continue on the way they presently do. If were smart and bold enough, we will prepare ourselves to meet the challenges and deal with the issues before it is forced upon us, ready or not.