arms-d@ucbvax.ARPA (01/12/85)
From: Moderator <ARMS-D@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Arms-Discussion Digest Volume 3 : Issue 4
Today's Topics:
Film on effects of nuclear war: "Threads"
Nuclear Winter film; Soviet-American panel discussion
ABC Coverage of Geneva Talks
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Date: 10 Jan 85 19:44:18 PST
Subject: Film on effects of nuclear war: "Threads"
From: David Booth <DBOOTH@USC-ISIF.ARPA>
To: arms-d@MIT-MC.ARPA
THREADS
Turner Broadcasting System and Lionheart Television proudly present the
American debut of THREADS, a deeply moving, honest and realistic
account of a worldwide nuclear war and its devastating aftermath.
Employing a balanced and scientifically factual approach to its
subject, THREADS focuses on the human tragedies of a nuclear attack on
Great Britain as a result of a full-scale nuclear war between the
United States and the Soviet Union.
A co-production of Western World Television, The British Broadcasting
Corporation and The Nine Network of Australia, THREADS was filmed
entirely on location in Sheffield in northern England. The motion
picture, distributed by Lionheart Television for BBC Enterprises
Limited, aired on the BBC in late September 1984.
From the LA Times, Calendar, Tuesday Jan. 1, 1985:
"The story of 'Threads' is a personal one, centering on the
devastation of two Sheffield families -- the working-class Kemps
and the middle-class Becketts. They are watched from a month
before Sheffield is devastated and followed for 13 years. Unlike
ABC's overly sentimental portrayal ['The Day After'], however,
"Threads" is much more docudrama than movie. It is laced with
facts about the impact of nuclear war, including some that were not
known when ABC was preparing its movie."
WHAT: "Threads"
WHERE: Simultaneously, nationwide, on any cable system carrying the WTBS
Atlanta SuperStation, including Group W (channel 23) in Los Angeles.
WHEN: Sunday, January 13, 5:00-7:00pm PST, and
Wednesday, January 23, 8:05pm-10:05 PST, and
Sunday, January 27, 11:30am-1:35pm PST*
*"On The 8th Day" immediately follows the January 27 showing.
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Date: 10 Jan 85 19:45:30 PST
Subject: Nuclear Winter film; Soviet-American panel discussion
From: David Booth <DBOOTH@USC-ISIF.ARPA>
To: arms-d@MIT-MC.ARPA
ON THE 8TH DAY
The far-ranging effects of nuclear war, with its resulting "nuclear
winter," are examined by leading experts and scientists in ON THE 8TH
DAY, a BBC documentary special making its U.S. cable television
premiere on SuperStation WTBS in January.
ON THE 8TH DAY focuses on the global, ecological and atmospheric
consequences of a nuclear holocaust, linking important experiments on
these areas to form a computer model of the world after nuclear war.
The conclusions of scientists interviewed in the program on these new
developments bring into question the basis for much of today's military
and civil defense plans.
The program offers an extensive look at a "nuclear winter," a condition
in which clouds of smoke, dust and fallout from nuclear explosions
would infiltrate the atmosphere and block sunlight from reaching the
earth. The northern hemisphere would be plunged into darkness, making
it almost too dark to see, even at midday. Temperatures would fall
drastically and remain below freezing for months, covering the ground
in snow and ice. Even the southern hemisphere would not escape, as
monsoon-like winds would blow the thick clouds across the equator,
bringing winter to the entire world.
For all practical purposes, agriculture would cease to exist. Any
survivors would have to face hunger and starvation. Many species of
plants and animals, especially in the fragile tropics, would be lost
forever.
ON THE 8TH DAY uses research gaathered from the space-probe Mariner 9,
which recorded a sudden drop in the Martian surface temperature
coinciding with dust storms; climatic studies of dust clouds from
volcanic eruptions of Mount St. Helens and El Chicon; reports from a
recent investigation that sun-blocking dust clouds, caused by the
impact of a meteorite colliding with Earth, brought about the
extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago; and other
experiments conducted specifically for the program.
Scientists interviewed in ON THE 8TH DAY include Carl Sagan, Professor
of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Cornell University; Brian Toon,
atmospheric scientist, NASA Ames Research Center; Richard Turco, R&D
Associates, Marina del Rey, CA; Tom Ackerman, climatologist, NASA Ames
Research Center; and Vladimir Aleksandrov, Director of Climate
Modeling, U.S.S.R. Computing Center for the Academy of Sciences.
Other top experts on the program are Stanley Thompson, atmospheric
scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research; Mark Harwell,
ecosystems research center, Cornell University; Michael Kelly, slimatic
research unit, University of East Anglia (United Kingdom); David
Pimentel, agricultural scientist, Cornell University; and Georgiy
Skyabin, general scientific secretary, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences.
ON THE 8TH DAY, narrated by John Hedges and writen/produced by Michael
Andrews, is a production of The British Broadcasting Corporation, and
is distributed by Lionheart Television.
WHAT: "ON THE 8TH DAY"
WHERE: Simultaneously, nationwide, on any cable system carrying the WTBS
Atlanta SuperStation, including Group W (channel 23) in Los Angeles.
WHEN: Monday, January 14, 5:00-6:00pm PST, and
Thursday, January 24, 8:00-9:00pm PST, and
Sunday, January 27, 1:35-2:40pm PST*
Soviet-American Panel Discussion Follows
A live panel discussion from the United Nations featuring proponents
and oponents of nuclear weapons will immediately follow ON THE 8TH
DAY. The panel, hosted by Sandi Freeman, will include Carl Sagan,
co-author of a book defining the nuclear winter theory; Admiral Noel
Gayler; and two Russian scientists.
*"Threads" immediately precedes the January 27 showing.
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Date: 11 Jan 85 04:55 EST
From: Howard D. Trachtman <HDT@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Subject: ABC Coverage of Geneva Talks
To: DIETZ@RUTGERS.ARPA
I've noticed the ABC evening news coverage of the upcoming Geneva talks
has started with a montage of stock footage showing various and sundry
missile launchings while the announcer intones that "the US and USSR have
enough nuclear weapons to kill everyone on this planet". What rot.
Must be the Soviet influence in the media.
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[End of ARMS-D Digest]