History Buffs: The Terror

Govt: Nobody knows where the ships went. Locals: Yeah, we do. Govt: Nobody at all. Locals: They're right over here. We'll take you to them. Govt: Not a single person knows what happened to them. Locals: Fine. Find them yourself, then.

I always assumed the monster was a bear seen through the eyes of unraveling sailors. like how stories of exotic animals get twisted into demons and dragons by sailors.

I think the "monster" could have been a product of their descent into madness. lead poisoning could have made a polar bear seem otherworldly

Geez, those five men who got sick in Greenland must've initially felt so bad about missing out on the expedition. Turns out they were the lucky ones in the end :x

"Yes, these are our ships, 'Terror' and 'Darkness'; we predict a jolly good time"

"Erebus" means darkness in ancient Greek. So the ships were named "Darkness" and "Terror" It was like they wanted it to be a doomed expedition

It never fails to amaze me how people who have never missed a meal, judge people staving to death.

Imagine eating your own boots just to survive a freezing hell, only to come back home and have people make fun of you for it. But seriously, I think the scariest thing here is the idea of being so sick your friends can't take care of you anymore and you can only watch them leave.

"Bear black, fight back" "Bear brown, lie down" ("Bear white, good night")

Didn't know that Caesar and Brutus went looking for the North-West passage. Just makes the betrayal even worse

The spirit bear was used sparingly and added dread to an already desperate situation. It also it allowed the creators to add the Inuit people and their culture which was a great addition.

I like to think that the "supernatural monster" stalking them was actually a polar bear, but it's form was warped by the perceptions of the lead-addled sailors. It was an entirely mundane occurrence, made supernatural by chemically altered brains, stress and paranoia.

Terror Bay was named in honour of the ship in case anyone's wondering, although they had no idea it was it's final resting place.

Remember that a bunch of men died alone in the cold. One by one. Far from home. We couldn't really understand how much they suffered all those years ago.

To speak of perfect casting, Jared Harris, who plays Crozier, an Irishman, is son of legendary actor Richard Harris, one of the finest Irishmen on film, ever. And Jared's Irish accent clearly takes inspiration from his father's. I can't think of a finer man with the credentials to play the man.

As a Canadian this story has always fascinated and terrified me. One of my honours supervisors in my undergrad was Owen Beatty, the anthropologist who helped identify lead poisoning as the cause of death when the graves were found. I remembered being a child seeing the frozen corpse in its coffin on the cover of National Geographic in the grocery store. I haven't seen the movie as I'm currently single and I am sure I would need to be held to sleep after. Like Scott's expedition to the South Pole, even living in Northern Alberta is enough to make you truly understand how powerful the Canadian arctic is.

Me, watching 10th HBO show with familiar actors: "Oh look, professor Legasov explains to Julius Caesar why Robb Stark is wrong!"

So let me get this straight. They go on two boats called 'the darkness' and 'the terror' to the inhospitable wastes of the world, led by a man whose last expedition into canada resulted in people dying and eating their own shoes, and they DIDN'T think anything was going to go wrong? How did no one go 'well this seems like a bad idea.'

The show is 100% and undeservingly underrated. the cast alone is superb. 👌

The horror wasn't the ridiculous monster. The horror was them knowing their death was going to be long and torturous in a literal hell of unbearable coldness, with little to no chance of help ever arriving in time. Much like the real story itself.