Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 13, 2022 8:50:12 GMT -8
Meteorite Men
I found this on the Dust channel which is a free sci-fi channel composed mostly of sci-fi shorts. I just happened to look in after a couple years and this show was highlighted at the top. But otherwise I have about zero interest in the rest of their offerings.
Meteorite Men is a highly specialized show. This is about two guys (an American and a Brit) who team up to go looking for meteorites all around the world. Usually they find a "meteorwrong" as they call any nail, bolt, piece of barbed wire, or other iron object that is merely buried junk. And they find a lot of that no matter how sophisticated their equipment is.
And the funny thing is, no matter how remote they are, they find this kind of stuff everywhere. There's a lot of repetition (aka "padding") in the graphics and animations they use. And the (to my mind) overall rationale is weak about the importance of meteorites because they could have brought "the building blocks of life" to earth. Add water and time and that's all it takes. And they call this science.
But that's just a superficial gloss the narration puts over it. These guys, in particular, just love hunting for meteorites. I think the last thing on their minds is what these things can tell us about the early solar system or life on earth. Geof Noktin (the Brit) is more of a collector. The American, Steve Arnold, is fully a capitalist in regards to getting what money he can out of these finds. Some meteorites are worth tens of thousands of dollars, if only because of the olivine crystals that can be extracted from them. Apparently olivine (also found terrestrially) is the only crystal found in some rare meteorites.
There is the usual artificial faux-reality-show confrontational banter between Craig and Geof. But mostly this is done at a much lower level than the more usual obnoxious "reality" shows which overdo it to the extreme. I know why they do it. But there really is no need for it. It just seems artificial and silly. But anything to please the nose-picking Troglodyte Marvel Movie crowd, I suppose.
Despite the weak gloss of the importance of meteorites, as well as the artificial banter, the show itself is fairly no-nonsense. You get to enjoy not only a lot of interest scenery but they make repeated trips to the lab (usually ASU) where we learn some interesting facts about the composition of meteorites, as well as just enjoy their sheer beauty when they are ground and polished.
Whatever faults the show has, it is made up for by the obvious passion that both Steve and Geof have for the hunt. They include a good deal of hi-tech and homemade equipment in their search. And they are obviously fairly renowned hunters for they are sometimes given access to places that are restricted to most.
I found this on the Dust channel which is a free sci-fi channel composed mostly of sci-fi shorts. I just happened to look in after a couple years and this show was highlighted at the top. But otherwise I have about zero interest in the rest of their offerings.
Meteorite Men is a highly specialized show. This is about two guys (an American and a Brit) who team up to go looking for meteorites all around the world. Usually they find a "meteorwrong" as they call any nail, bolt, piece of barbed wire, or other iron object that is merely buried junk. And they find a lot of that no matter how sophisticated their equipment is.
And the funny thing is, no matter how remote they are, they find this kind of stuff everywhere. There's a lot of repetition (aka "padding") in the graphics and animations they use. And the (to my mind) overall rationale is weak about the importance of meteorites because they could have brought "the building blocks of life" to earth. Add water and time and that's all it takes. And they call this science.
But that's just a superficial gloss the narration puts over it. These guys, in particular, just love hunting for meteorites. I think the last thing on their minds is what these things can tell us about the early solar system or life on earth. Geof Noktin (the Brit) is more of a collector. The American, Steve Arnold, is fully a capitalist in regards to getting what money he can out of these finds. Some meteorites are worth tens of thousands of dollars, if only because of the olivine crystals that can be extracted from them. Apparently olivine (also found terrestrially) is the only crystal found in some rare meteorites.
There is the usual artificial faux-reality-show confrontational banter between Craig and Geof. But mostly this is done at a much lower level than the more usual obnoxious "reality" shows which overdo it to the extreme. I know why they do it. But there really is no need for it. It just seems artificial and silly. But anything to please the nose-picking Troglodyte Marvel Movie crowd, I suppose.
Despite the weak gloss of the importance of meteorites, as well as the artificial banter, the show itself is fairly no-nonsense. You get to enjoy not only a lot of interest scenery but they make repeated trips to the lab (usually ASU) where we learn some interesting facts about the composition of meteorites, as well as just enjoy their sheer beauty when they are ground and polished.
Whatever faults the show has, it is made up for by the obvious passion that both Steve and Geof have for the hunt. They include a good deal of hi-tech and homemade equipment in their search. And they are obviously fairly renowned hunters for they are sometimes given access to places that are restricted to most.