Customer Reviews

Life After People: The Complete Season Two

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Overall, this was an enjoyable season. Of course, some episodes are better than others, but if you've seen LAP Season 1, you might like this. It's a cool look at how we have affected the world, and how different things would fare against Nature. And as anyone familiar with LAP knows, each episode is filled with puns and allusions to the theme of that episode. I have rated each episode with its own stars. Please note that '1/2' is a half star on its own.

2.01 - Wrath of God *** Overall a okay episode (compared to any other LAP episode) I'm disappointed that they didn't concentrate on other religious monuments/other religions (Jerusalem, Dome on the Rock, the Kaaba/Mecca, Buddhist/Tao/Shinto shrines, Buddha statues, etc) It was interesting learning what would happen to the Crystal Cathedral and the statue of the Redeemer. This ep also talks about snakes and black cats (since they were seen as symbols of Satan) along with sheepdogs (the puppies are freaking adorable) Why sheepdogs, you ask? Well, they protect a FLOCK (this was actually milked quite a bit by the writers for puns), and the Latin word for shepherd is pastor. Fascinating, no?

2.02 - Toxic Revenge ** Rather disappointing, actually. They talked about radiation, chlorine, and methane. The parts focusing on poisons was cool to watch, and the town with all the sinkholes was gnarly. But there's plenty of other poisons (mercury, household chemicals, chemicals at factories, etc) It was just mainly three different poisons they talked about and that's it :(

2.03 - Crypt of Civilization *** Fairly interesting episode, talking about safes, time capsules, etc. Only they didn't say what would HAPPEN to the time capsules with no one to open them. They just said a lot of people buried them especially in the 50's, but they said nothing about how long a capsule would keep its contents safe, and they mentioned that safes only offered so much protection against fire, but what of safes held in humid and warm places, or safes left completely undisturbed? Not every safe is gonna end up in a fire, anyway. So as far as this episode was concerned, it was not THAT good. I did like learning about the 10,000 year clock though.

2.04 - Last Supper **** Overall a great episode that managed to remain mostly on topic, but the one big sore spot of this ep was that they talked about some stupid sanitarium, instead of talking about what would happen to farmland, how long farmland would go to seed or which crops would survive naturally. No, they had to talk about some stupid ****ing sanitarium (moisture and mold is destroying it blah blah, same **** thing that happens to all buildings eventually), what did this HAVE to do with the theme of this episode?

2.05 - Home Wrecked Home **** Overall a great episode. It actually managed to stay on topic for the most part, so I can't really complain about this one, though I'd have liked to see how long it would take a trailer or mobile home to fall apart without maintenance. Also, this episode talked about household items - shoes, photographs, clothing, CDs and DVDs. Very cool.

2.06 - Holiday Hell *** An okay episode. I never thought fruitcake could last so long, though they mainly focused on Christmas (fruitcake and a Christmas store), Thanksgiving (turkeys), and Fourth of July (firework factories). Before this aired, its summary included Christmas tree farms, but the actual episode was lacking in Christmas trees. Also, there was no mention of Halloween (pumpkin farms, candy) or New Years (alcohol/champagne, the ball in Times Square)

2.07 - Waves of Devastation ***1/2 Overall an okay episode. It showed what happens to seaside towns (Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Santa Monica Pier) along with Sacramento (after the dam breaks) One blooper, though... the Sydney Opera House is shown to collapse before the Sydney Harbor Bridge, but when they show the bridge itself collapsing, you can see the Opera House still intact behind the bridge!

2.08 - Sky's the Limit **1/2 Overall another okay episode about aviation and sky-related stuff. They talked about a lot of things, but they never said what will happen to regular commercial airplanes or private jets (they just talked about Air Force One), or helicopters and blimps.

2.09 - Depths of Destruction ***** Really cool and fun episode, I LOVED the underwater garden, and the Bonne Terre mine was also a great place to discuss in this episode.

2.10 - Take Me To Your Leader **** Overall cool episode. If this episode had more time, it could have covered other cool places such as the Buckingham Palace, the Emperor's Palace (in Japan) more about the Forbidden City (since it's a collection of buildings, not just one structure like Versailles or the White House) and perhaps the Winter Palace or one of the other palaces that was used by the Romanovs before the Russian Revolution. (be interesting to see how this would survive given Russia's cold winters) or one of the palaces to be found in the Middle East owned by one of the Saudi royals. (which would contrast with a Russian palace clime-wise) You also learn a lot of cool trivia about the White House in this episode, as well as the ages old question of 'Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?'

Part of me hopes there will be a Season 3. There's still a few things they haven't explored, but part of me also thinks they should stop now. If they ever get around to a Season 3, I hope they are more careful about writing their episodes and keeping them on topic without being repetitive. But if they decide Season 2 is the end of it, that's fine with me. Overall, I would give this entire season 3 and a half stars, 3.75 at most. Of course, Amazon doesn't let me give out fractioned stars, so I guess I'll just give it a four.

Life After People: Complete Season 2 on Blu-Ray
10 Episodes on 2 Discs, released Tuesday, July 27

If you liked "2012" and don't mind having it happen a little slower, check out "Life After People." It's a series that clarifies at the beginning of every episode that it does not know what would possibly wipe out all of humanity at once, but if everyone suddenly disappeared tomorrow, here are what the effects might be. It mostly follows the destruction of man-made architecture, objects, art, food, pets, and animals taking over.

There are two things that make this series great. One is the overly dramatic narrator who always puts things into perspective. He compares the destruction of a building or food going to waste as "perishing" or being murdered. It isn't the "end of" or "downfall of" any one thing, but a much more emotional response such as "the death of" or comments like "this kitchen where no meal will ever be prepared again." The narrator personifies inanimate objects by giving them emotions so that we too will be crushed if a building collapses.

The other aspect that makes this series thoroughly entertaining is the amazing CGI effects simulating what specific buildings falling down or exploding or flooding would look like in all its Blu-Ray glory. I watch entire episodes just for glimpses of this destruction to get my "2012"-like fix of disaster! The sequences are short, few, and far-between but definitely satisfy the need. Watching sequences of grass growing over highways in the city reminds me so much of "I Am Legend" and other CGI-friendly aftermath of destruction films.

One of the most interesting and also horrifying episodes is one based on what would happen to food as well as food-themed art and architecture. If mankind just wasn't there tomorrow, all the food would be in grocery stores, in restaurants, in houses, and unpicked on fields. Yes, produce gets rotten and grows mold. Rats move in. More disturbingly, is the revelation of the insect count within our canned goods BEFORE people disappeared and how that effects its ability to last. Frighteningly, there are a few foods that if kept undisturbed in their wrappers or containers can last for a thousand years. Eww. For some reason, pooled into this episode are what would happen to the famous painting "The Last Supper" over time as well as a giant metal donut perched on top of a donut shop.

Different historians, theorists, and scientists jump in to offer explanations for how things would go and the reasoning behind it. The show is smart not to offer a specific theory of how mankind would suddenly not be there, but sometimes entire episodes would be obsolete if certain scenarios occurred. For example, the episode on food would be pointless if mankind went extinct somehow through starvation and LACK of food and there would be none sitting around to go through all the decomposition.

There is a message here somewhere about waste and value and not taking things for granted but I think the take home message is "Life After People -- It goes on and maybe the Earth is happier without us screwing things up!" It's interesting for the visually stimulated, intellectually curious, and those of us who just get a kick out of destruction. Since it's Season 2, there must be no shortage of themes to talk about!

Bonus Features:

Whenever I see House Hunters on tv and the buyers require gas cooking, I disagree. Gas pipes always leak. There are so many mindless mistakes in home design and this season of Life After People remind me of them all over again. I think this is an okay, watchable but not buyable season. Rent it first instead of ordering it sight unseen.

i love this tv series this is a great show to watch with the whole family this is amust for any tv fan i found this tv show on amazon.

My family loved this series on television. My 9 year old grandson has convinced the rest of the family to watch it, now they are all fans. He will actually choose to watch the DVD's instead of cartoons.

My husband and I could not take this series seriously because of the overly dramatic narrator and the hilariously written script he read, loaded with deliciously bad puns. That didn't stop us from loving it though. If you want a smattering of history wedged between funny, over the top, dramatic one liners, you'll love this series. I've noticed other reviewers commenting that those who loved the 2012 film will like this and I have to agree. (We found that film comic too!)

This series is absolutely fantastic. The realistic computer generated depictions and background information are extremely educational and entertaining. A must see!